DESCRIPTION Corporation Pop Business Card CLIENT Self Promotion DATE May 2009 DESIGN CREDITS Corporation Pop PRINT CREDITS Foil Blocking: Foilco Waterjet Cutting: Gee Graphite Sheet Material Supply: Smile Plastics TYPE CREDITS ITC Lubalin Graph, Trade Gothic Condensed

QUANTITY PRODUCED 500 PRODUCTION COST £1,100 (US$1,800) PRODUCTION TIME 10 Days DIMENSIONS: WIDTH × HEIGHT × DEPTH 85 mm. × 55 mm. (3.5 in. × 2 in.) PRINT METHOD Foil Block PAPER STOCK Confiscated illicit CDs crushed and then dispersed in a pale blue transparent polycarbonate recycled from blue water containers NUMBER OF COLORS 1 spot color OTHER Waterjet Cutting, Hand Washing

For most designers a 130 lb. cover business card is a glorious achievement in hefty weight, it becomes a card that gets noticed as it is handed and its, at most, eighth-of-an-inch thickness can be imposing. Manchester-based Corporation Pop has gone beyond any set of conventions for their business card and have produced an almost half-inch business card sculpted from a joyful concoction of crushed illicit CDs and water containers. As if that wasn't enough for it to stand out, it is foil blocked (foil stamped) in the brightest orange this side of the sun. The only caveat is that you probably can't fit more than, say, five in your wallet.

Oh, the excess!

If I was handed one of these, I'd have to keep it. Throwing it out would only compound the wastefulness.

Good work. Very distinctive. Man it would suck to have a typo on a set of those. lol.

Beautiful. It's such an appropriate solution, and I especially adore the recycled CD discs. Would love to see a sample.

Question: what does it weigh?

ha now i want one just for the novelty of having such a unique business card in my possession

That's the way to go guys. Totally unique. Inspirational. Well done.

It's actually not as heavy as it might look, coming in at 71 grams. It's a pretty low density material – except when you're carrying all 500 of them up the stairs!

I'm usually all for breaking convention and making an impact using unique, novel materials, but is this really all that great?

I can go silk screen, laser etch, or stamp some 1/2" thick piece of acrylic, recycled aluminum, bamboo, or whatever I can get cut to size at an enormous cost.... I just think that at some point it becomes a lot less about design, and more about how hip you think you are vs how much money you can spend. It just seems heavy handed and not all that clever of a solution.

Maybe i'd have a different opinion if there was some type of concept to it, other that gigantic block of plastic + name & contact info ...the fact that the material was once "Confiscated illicit CDs" dosen't do anything for me - maybe I missed some core attribute of the company.

What are Illicit CDs anyway? Who was confiscating them?

It's pretty evident that this company is all about being environmentally sound. However, I can't help but think that it took an absurd amount of energy and waste to create cumbersome business cards that have more chances of being thrown in the trash than a paper one would (by shear reason of function - not exactly a paper weight at 71 grams and doesn't fit in the average wallet). They should've used post-consumer recycled paper and natural ink of some sort, which would've made a heck of a lot of more sense, albeit typical.

I love these. Ridiculously expensive to produce, but if I were someone who got a business card from them I'd not only remember them, but I'd save the card. Genius but pricey.

The water theme throughout (so not only the recycled water bottle material but also the water-jet cutting) was a play on our company name, which is a euphemism from the north of England and particularly Lancashire, meaning 'tap water.'And with some research this actually worked out cheaper than us foil-blocking the thickest card you can get on the market at the moment, which in our opinion wouldn't have been moving design any further along in terms of finding and working with new and interesting materials not necessarily intended for what you want to create out of them, surely that's what this game is all about? Our company also works within the music sector so the cd aspect not only seemed apt but we felt added a beautiful tactility overall. As for the thickness, we've so far had really positive feedback from our clients who have told us they're a real talking point (standing up!) on their desks. Times are a changing and I no longer carry around business cards like I used to. I meet someone, take their card, store their contact details in my mobile and the card is left redundant. So we thought why not make a card that had an initial AND lasting impact and was a talking point to hand over with the backstory behind the material choice.

i think the lubalin and trade gothic complement each other really well . . .

I like it. Thinking outside the paper.

But what are illicit CD's?

Illicit CDs, I would imagine, are bootlegs sold on the street, etc.

This is all sorts of amazing; I would love to have one. The bright orange is a perfect contrast to the color of the card. I could also see it working as a business card for someone working in a planetarium, or at NASA; the sparkling shards in the plastic make me think of the night sky.

The two biggest problems we face are image resolution and color problems.

People want to design their own business cards mississauga, but don't know how to do it so they end up sending Word files with 96dpi jpg images.

It's very hard to convince them that we can't print their file.

Marvelous!
Well done and thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the feedback everyone, good to get a bit of a debate going and hopefully I've answered the questions posed.

Sorry, it's kind of ugly.

This is an extremely nice business card. Pure extravagance, the way it should be.

''It doesn't fit in a Rolodex because it doesn't belong in a Rolodex''

Hi Jo, really good idea and loved the finished product. Could you send me one of those and I will remember you forever!! How much do I need to send you for Post?Packaging??Ha
My Address is:
AB/Wellan Studios
1, Grange Valley Road
Batley
West Yorkshire
WF17 6GH

Thanks

Jonathan

£2 a pop! Seems a bit OTT. I'm not sure how many of those i'd fit in my wallet, mind.

Still, at least there's some craft there.

Oh, The Neighbourhood have some rather natty ones printed on thick cardboard. Each one appears to be a different illustration. got one knocking around the office somewhere.

Ours are very simple, clean and have been designed to actually fit into a wallet. Novel, huh?

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