3D-Printed Superhero Figurine Business Cards

3D Printing & Imaging Workshop
3d printed business cards3
“With this we know for sure these cards won’t end up on just another pile and stay top of mind. Or at least top of desk.”

When you’re out networking, you could hand someone a plain old flat, rectangular piece of paper with your information printed on it. But wouldn’t it be much more awesome (and memorable) to hand them a 3D-printed figurine of you as a superhero, with your email address on the bottom?

That’s what the folks at the Amsterdam interactive design agency Resoluut did. Each employee illustrated his or her own superhero character (or had a colleague draw them) — the superheros represent a specialty or characteristic of the person. The illustrations were then sent to 3D printing company 3Dwergen to render in 3D and print. With just 20 copies of these unique “business card” per employee, “We’re running out fast, so we’re starting a new batch shortly,” says Resoluut art director and partner Micha Commeren.

3d printed business cards5

resoluut-deborah

The person's email address is printed on the bottom.
Each employee’s email address is printed on the bottom.
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The entire Resoluut team, in superhero form.
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The real-life Resoluut team, holding their superhero figurine business cards.

22 thoughts on “3D-Printed Superhero Figurine Business Cards

  1. tjanderson says:

    yeah, but what happens if/when someone hands this to you at a networking event? You carry around a little action figure all night? What about carrying them around to hand out? Are you going to walk into an event with an entire bag full (which equates to 20-30 cards)? It’s really cool, but not practical for most scenarios where a business card is appropriate.

    1. Laura Cochrane says:

      I’m thinking you take a few somewhere when you know you’re going to meet someone important — a person you really want to make an impression on. You’re right, for everyday use, they are impractical.

      1. roewe says:

        EXACTLY. 90% of the time, when you are meeting with customers you are presenting a business card to people you are already in contact with. Giving these 3D cards is a much smarter gift.

  2. Ross says:

    Agree with Laura here. These are an intrinsically “high value” networking artifact that you deliver to people who are likely to value it.

  3. Micha says:

    Hi Tjanderson,

    Obviously they aren’t going to fit a wallet soon and usually we give them to people in an office scenario. So, i guess we don’t treat them as business cards but more as business gifts. Still, we love to give’m away and people really appreciate getting one:)

  4. Jon says:

    Interesting idea but not very practical… as most things 3D printed these days but I’m sure that will change very soon as the novelty wears out.

    Jon
    founder of CNCKing.com

  5. JustPlainJim says:

    I like them. Like others said, they’re a bit impractical to hand out to everyone you meet at a conference (for example), but I like them.

    Could we combine this idea with more traditional business cards? Cut some layers of cardstock so a figure can pop out and be folded into a superhero standee, and unfolded to pack flat again?

  6. Daryn says:

    They’re neat and will go well on the toy shelf in my office, but many of my colleagues will take them home and give them to their kids (and I suspect the kids will access the email addy on the bottom and try to get the rest of the “set”). Since the information will be on a shelf and not in my rolodex, I won’t have ready access to it. But slap a bar code on the bottom, or some other way that I can easily import the info into my contact list and you might have something. Much better than another paperweight or coffee mug.

  7. roewe says:

    This is a brilliant idea. Not only would I want the entire set (thus meet your entire team), I would want to meet all of your new employees too.

    A great gift for client relations- at least for the Super Hero fans like myself.

  8. Micha Commeren says:

    We’ve been trunking around normals cards for about four years now and in our daily networking endeavour they don’t have much use. We simply don’t “cold sell” but believe a lasting, positive impression is much more valuable. So our cards got printed and shelved, at our office or, occasionally at the office of our (potential) clients. Furthermore we usually share a quick contact digitally via LinkedIn or other native medium.

    Our new business cards are meant to put a smile on a (potential) clients face and to be very impractical by choice. This way they’ll stand out. Literally.

    And we just dreamed about having our hero’s turned into real action figures for years ;)

  9. Pat Scott says:

    I think if you handed these figures out–first you would need them in a box, and second you would need to include a regular business card with a picture of the figure on it for back up…
    I think they would make quite an impression–perhaps to an arty audience.

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