Geared business card

[Chung Dha]

Planetary Gear Business Card - Hacked Gadgets - DIY Tech Blog

A very interesting business card design which has paper gears. For sure it is unique and interesting however I think this might be way to expensive to produce because you have to put it together. But for a small ammount it is doable. A very interesting design and I will see too if I can produce something useful with those paper gears.

[julhenke]

You said everything... Too much money. Also, it looks like it functions but, I think it is really hard to put the gears on shaft to work...

[Winter artwork]

insanely cool!

printing these wouldn't make sense unless you're making google or microsoft money

[nili]

wow, very cool!
great idea...

[artviolator]

Great business card, but painfull to give away. It should be made for "to show only": "this is my business card, look at it and give it back".

[strato]

well said artviolator, I wouldn't want to give something like that to anyone!supercool!

[eyenod]

The way to go is to print and produce in china. Cheap business cards even die cutting!

[jecrt]

Originally Posted by eyenod

The way to go is to print and produce in china. Cheap business cards even die cutting!

SO TRUE. I do freelance for a company that produces items for the dollar store market. It's seriously amazing what can be printed for 9 cents a piece in China. I would guess that this card could be cut/printed/assembled for less than 15 cents each. The quantity would have to be around 10k or so.

very cool find chung dha!

[jecrt]

actually - I was looking at that again - it seems way over complicated. The gears are cool, but the effect could be achieved with a single disk. My wife and I assembled a similar birth announcement (around 180 or so) for our oldest son, it had a centrally located wheel that had length, weight, time, etc. on the outside of the wheel with 3 different images on the inside of the wheel. I think a business card would be just as easy (or easier) to make.

[Chung Dha]

If you want to order from china you have to make big orders always over 1000 per order. But most starting companies I've got never got money to pay for that amount. Most starting companies rather go for cheap than normal.

Also I donno about the quality though you need a good thickness of card board ,plus if you have altered this and make more unique version , you should hope that chinese company wont steal your design and end up distributed by that company proclaiming they can designed it.

Only ones who could affort is are top guys from the big brands or guys from dubai. Trying to sell any to small beginning companies is no such luck, unless they won a lottery ticket.

[jecrt]

Originally Posted by Chung Dha

If you want to order from china you have to make big orders always over 1000 per order. But most starting companies I've got never got money to pay for that amount. Most starting companies rather go for cheap than normal.

Yeah - that's what I was saying - 10k or so to make it worthwhile. But let's say they're .25/piece. That's still only $2500. And 10,000 business cards would be enough for a small - mediumbusiness. Printing in China does have it's risks (dies/art are stolen A LOT) but if you get with a reputable company that you trust, that's rarely an issue. I also find that the production quality has VASTLY improved with Chinese product over the last 5 years or so.

My client that I referred to earlier sends between 4 - 10 to press a week. (when I worked there fulltime, there were weeks we'd send 20+ projects to press per week) All of it is printed/manufactured in China. The work is generally very good. I've seen entire children's board books with internal sliding parts and specialty printing (foil/lenticular/glitter) printed for less than 50 cents per book (they HAVE to be in the dollar market - the book RETAILS for only 2 dollars) It's truly amazing what they can do. I have a feeling that, in the next few years, the cost will be rising drastically as we in the US are becoming more dependent on Asian manufacturing (mainly due to demand for better pricing from the large chain stores)...but that's a whole other thread.

That said - I believe you should support your LOCAL print shop whenever possible...except when it comes to die cut geared business cards.

[Chung Dha]

I am going to Hong Kong to work as Art Director and can finally to by the companies I want to see how they work actually. Rather than just sitting and wait till it come my way. Also it a bit of trust rather have met the company and work with them then sending vague emails.

Hope I can get into the whole scene there cause I have learn what taste the asian have compared to america and europe. Also really want to set some stuff straight in China, in the history China has invented allot like paper, inks , fireworks and more. But last centuries they are claimed as copycats. I really want to change this view of China though, cause its such a weird development if you look back into the history of china.

Also I had learned that companies actually make their packaging or the designs purposely uglied then the one they would use in Europe and America. This is so odd, but come to think if they would copy that packaging they and tried to sell fake to Europe or America they can recognize it easily, cause the packaging is different and uglier.

But in the distant future I want to have a cutting plotter next to my beautiful a3 or bigger UV printer which can print on everything and just produce it inhouse easily. At the moment I got an A3 printed which makes like easy already with packaging design and printing single A3 posters and photography on glossy papers for my portfolio.

[jecrt]

It's definitely true about things being made uglier. Although - I think that has to do with inexperience. A lot of the shops that DO steal art often don't know how to properly use it. The place that I worked had a print management team placed in HK, so they knew what print bureaus to use and who to stay away from. It still can happen, though.

A sales manager actually found a game that we had designed at a retailer that we had never done business with. He contacted the buyer and found that a printer in China that had been subcontracted stole the art/design and sold it as their own. My company then filed a 1.3 million dollar lawsuit against the supplier/printer. (they won easily, because the printer forgot to remove the copyright lines...oops)

[lad2050]

This is a very unique idea to say the least, and I agree the cost on this could be outrageous. However I think the lasting impression it would make on the client could offset the price!

[aeolus]

rather cute and rather expensive

[shajib_gm]

Though this card is simply awesome, but is there any need to do such overwhelming things in a business card!

[blackbelt135]

It is actually functional? Where is the information? I'm just wondering if you turn the gears if something more comes out the side of the card or something.

[nsenarathne]

its really cool. is it durable?

[Icarus]

Holy Fricking cool. WANT.

[pencil]

Wow. That is awesome, I would definitely hold on to that card and not forget whoever gave it to me. Worth the effort/cost, I think so.