Behind The Hashtag: Hashtag’s New Name Card
Why would a digital agency even bother with printing name cards you ask?
Well, although it may seem redundant since most of our contact information is readily available online, there is a certain value to handing out a name card that most people fail to realize.
For one, name cards are cool. When executed properly a well-designed name card can leave a great lasting first impression.
Second, having a name card lets us widen our reach in the real-world, because not everyone is as savvy with technology. Most of our clients come to us because they need help with going digital, this allows us to bridge that gap so they can reach out to us.
Lastly, name cards say a lot about our values, it implies that we came prepared to meet you and that we are willing to go the extra mile, just for you. Sure, the nature of our work is meant for the digital world, but Hashtaggers pride themselves in developing deep and meaningful relationships with our clients in real-life, having name cards help us drive that message forward.
To us, it’s not just a card with our contact details, it’s a way to make a great first impression that you’ll remember. That’s why, when Mina and Vince, our Managing Partners, came to us and asked us to design name cards for the team, we knew it wouldn’t be a simple undertaking. It had to be creative － a real
The team had several brainstorming sessions where we listed our ideas. And, just as all Hashtag brainstorming sessions went, we started from the most insane, impossible concepts, then worked our way down to something that we could actually execute given our timeline.
Reality Bites<br/ >We had really grand, truly amazing concepts. However, after a few quick calls to different printers we learned a harsh lesson: It’s one thing to design something never done before in your head, another to do it on your computer and a completely different animal altogether once you get in touch with your printer. Reality took a huge bite at us so we had to take a step back from our big idea. Fortunately, however, Hashtaggers bite harder because after a few quick tweaks to the master plan, we were able to adapt our designs to something that’s physically possible and within budget.
Hashtag Interactive’s New Name Card<br/ >It’s in our company’s DNA (and name) － interactive. Our name cards had to interact with whoever we gave it to. It couldn’t just be a static card with boring print. We wanted you to be part of the magic. Hence, we opted for a card that utilised moire animation (or slit animation), an animation style that lets you take part in the process. Every time you pulled the card out, the slits will cover one frame and reveal another, giving the illusion of motion.
We created several prototypes which had thinner slits, which meant more frames and more range of motion. Unfortunately, various printers rejected them because they thought it was impossible to execute. While other teams might have just moved on to another concept, the Hashtag team kept tweaking the designs and bugging different printers until we found someone who was willing to risk it. Mon, our designer had to travel for several hours just to reach their shop to coordinate, give them the design and pick all the cards up once they were done with printing. All in all, a task that proved that our team is dedicated to do anything to get the job done.
