Inspiration…
Last month I was brainstorming some redesign ideas for my website & branding and really got hooked on alternative/extreme business cards. I searched around to see if there were any electronic ones and here are some really cool projects I dug up:
Image by Tom Ward (via Instructables)
Tom Ward of LightBox Technology has made some Instructables for an autodialing card, flashlight card, and a dot matrix card.
Image by Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories
Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories makes some nifty Business Card Breakout Boards.
Image via Adafruit
Another great PCBbusiness card as posted on the Adafruit Industries Blog.
Results…
Tonight I sat down and played around with some felt I had hanging around and made a fabric ‘business card’ prototype. I used a CR1216 battery & holder I had left over from making LED bracelets awhile back, which I like because they are a lot smaller than CR2032s. I made little flower sequins out of bipolar LEDs and sewed them to a top layer of felt and then to some pushbuttons made with conductive fabric . The bottom felt is some really stiff stuff I got from the dollar storewhich makes a great cardstock-like backing for structure. The text on the front is my nickname; the design is how I used to sign my art projects when I was a teenager, so it’s a little fun piece of nostalgia. When you press the buttons, the LEDs light up, the right button makes red, the left makes green, and pressing both at the same time will make an orangey-yellow.
Check out some more images on my flickr page.