For decades, business cards have been the most popular way to share personal details for networking and self-promotion purposes. Whilst these clever introductory tools have traditionally taken the shape of a rectangular piece of paper, one young Singaporean wedding photographer, is changing the face of business cards with his innovative idea. After taking the time to research what types of creative business cards exist around the world, Klaus Tan came across several which cleverly embodied the career field of the individual. He found, for example, a cheese grater design to represent a cheese shop owner and rollable yoga mat cards for the fitness instructor and it got him thinking. How could a photographer distribute a business card which accurately portrayed their line of work? Would a simple icon of a camera on a business card make enough of a creative and fun impact or could more be done?
As he pondered these questions, his fingers happened to brush past a Polaroid photo of himself and friends, which had taken up residence in his wallet. It was at this moment, that a flash of inspiration struck Tan. “This Polaroid fits perfectly into my wallet!” As he slid the print in and out of his wallet, he realized that he had discovered a truly iconic symbol of his professional trade. With the help of a friend’s Fujifilm Instax SHARE SP-2 printing machine, Tan was able to customize a design and print his details on Instaxes. The self-confessed “youngest wedding photographer in Singapore” incorporated the Pantone colors of the year “Greenery” and “Marsala” to form his background colors.
The eye catching business cards were intended for distribution to wedding vendors and clients, however, a limited run of white cards were reserved for Tan’s special friends who had supported him since the start of his professional career. The process itself did not require any sophisticated design applications, with the design being completed by using Pages. With the use of an iPhone, the design was exported into a JPEG and then sent from the phone, directly to the printer. Each card was printed in around 10 seconds and it took only about half an hour for Tan to finish the entire first batch. Tan’s ingenuity didn’t stop there, with him transforming the empty Instax cartridge into his business card dispenser! By simply thinking outside the box, this entrepreneurial photographer and founder of the label Chuttersnap, has managed to successfully merge his creativity with his passion for the profession.
Images used with the permission of Klaus Tan
Did mine as a last minute thing for an event. Then it became my standard BC. I customise the picture depending on the event I am attending and services I want to promote
so expensive to print. haha
Customisation is a brilliant idea!
or you can make the same thing in photoshop and have a printer do them for pennies. not a real polaroid no but so much cheaper.