Are business cards that go against the norm a good idea?

Clarecat

Hey, Im in university studying animation and everyone in my class is trying to market themselves and have made business cards among other stuff. A lot of people have made different shaped cards to try and stand out such as large squares, weird shapes and the like.

I havent made mine yet as I wanted to see how everyone elses has turned out and I was wondering are cards that go against the norm of 3.5 x 2 inches annoying?

Jonas Ronnegard

Just make it look professional, I would prefer someone used a template that was created by a pro then try to be creative and fail which is usually the case.

Here in Japan most people have their business cards holders etc, if they got something that wasn't a regular sized card they would be annoyed, but not sure how it is over there.

I see a lot of students that put their art on their business cards, It usually looks really bad, but if you have really good art compared to other students then it's probably not a bad idea.

TheGabmeister

I think making a normal business card is good since that is what's expected. There's only one time that I encountered a unique business card, and that was from the CEO of a 3D printing company. His business cards were 3D printed.

Eric Chadwick

Standard is best. Just like with resumes, don't try to get creative. https://polycount.com/discussion/201726/getting-creative-with-your-resume-yes-or-no

Just give me plain white. Your name, what you do, where to see your art, and how to contact you. 

Make sure there's ample room for me to write notes on it somewhere. Often helps the receiving person to write the date and some context where they met you. 

Popol

Make it the standard shape, because if it doesn't fit in my wallet it's going straight to the trash.

PixelMasher

..I don't think I've looked at a business card in the last 10 years. people might hand them to me, but chances are the only thing they are gonna do is go through the wash in my pants pocket. 

I mean they are not gonna hurt you, yes make them standard size and clean looking. But I would say they are one of those 1% things that's easy to waste a ton of time making. same as custom made portfolio sites etc. artstation and linkedin are your modern portfolio and resume options. 

after meeting people at events and stuff, send them a DM on artstation of linkedin letting them know you enjoyed meeting them and thank them for their time. I have found this to be a much more effective way of networking and building relationships. Not once have I taken someones business card and punched in some long winded URL of their portfolio into my browser. Sliding into the DM much more effective than handing out buisness cards because your profiles (should) have instant links to your portfolio, linkedin etc where people can instantly get more context on you with little effort. 

even better, build your presence on social media so that a simple google search of your name delivers the results where you instantly come up. put out content and have people come across your stuff with zero effort. good content across relevant platforms is the modern business card and is much more effective