A few prototypes later...

...eTUI is born. Since the first change for the closing mechanism, i changed the system again. Without a larger faceplate at the top it just did not look right. A few of the prototypes also had some stability issues when opened/closed too often. The now final design looks like a traditional sheath and should be sturdy enough to be used quite a while.

This picture shows a template prototype i created for a friend. You can see the closing mechanism which is a flap you insert into the sheath. The whole top cover has additional flaps for stability inside. The opening at the top body part doubles as part of the closing mechanism and is used to be able to remove business cards with ease from the sheath with your thumb. There are a few other tiny things that are adding to the usability, I'll explain when i release the template.

The use for the sheath is to customize it as a gift for people, to pose as a sheath if you have to handle more then one type of card (eg. personal & company) and in addition i see a great use for them if you hand out stacks of your cards to people in your network. I don't know about you, but i keep small stacks of business cards from people i trust because of their good work and/or work together with often. So if someone asks me about someone to do a certain task, i can hand out cards from others to advertise their work. In my opinion this adds more value to the reference then just naming a website. Shouldn't it be great if you can hand out your cards in a nice sheath? Will make it even easier for others to advertise you.

business card sheath, WiP

The earlier mentioned iPod Shuffle papertoy is on hold for a while. The design is nearly done, but i lack the inspiration for the illustration at the moment. So in the meantime i went back to the business card sheath out of paper. It will be able to hold approx. 25 business cards. While not exactly a papertoy, it will be easy to customize and might be a great gift for friends or business partners. I had quite a hassle with the closing mechanism, while my initial idea of a kind of paper-hook-flap works very well with larger models, it's not really "durable" on a tiny thing like a sheath. The template design is done with the fact in mind to hold a few days on a fair and you'll open/close the damn thing quite often. The mechanism i decided on now is a bit different from what you can see on the picture - which show the evolution from the earliest models - which is a bit of a bummer, as i wanted to have a kind of larger shutter so you can use it as a part of a mouth design. But as paper itself is a bit fragile, the main priority is that it can be used for some time and won't fall apart. I did not decide yet if I'll post the empty template right away or finish a small series of designs first... I'll keep you posted.

BC Butler

My first own paper model was supposed to be a kind of kung-fu bunny (an hommage to Usagi Yojimbo), but after recently thinking about functional papertoys i got inspired by the C3 Biz Card Holder and the toxic-myk model and put the bunny on hold. Therefore i decided to create another model first, my own business card display: The BC Butler.

I tried to create the model sturdy enough to be of real use offering business cards and not to collapse after a withdrawal. An additional challenge was to split up the model as it won't fit on one page, being designed for a certain size of business cards. The model will hold approx. 50 cards in his tray. I'm not satisfied with the look of the hands holding the tray - tried to use white gloves - but I'm not much of a illustrator. I'll upload an empty model for customization tomorrow, maybe someone will create a better texture - or an alien for a scifi-shop.. hehe. Of course feedback on the model is welcome.

Download here:
BC Butler original
BC Butler blank
(just choose the FREE option)