AR business cards

A business card that introduces you.

Hand someone your card and let it do the talking. When they point a phone at it, a short video of you plays just above the card, and a row of buttons below it saves your details, rings you or opens your site. It runs in the phone's browser, so nobody installs anything to meet you properly.

Start your 14-day free trial

Design and test your own card on the 14-day free trial, which includes 5 credits and asks for no card details.

A video business card on a phone: the video plays above the printed card, and four buttons sit below it, Call, Email, Website and Save contact. Call Email Website Save contact

From pocket to contacts

What happens when someone scans your card.

  1. They scan the code on the back

    Their camera app reads the QR code and opens a page at ember22.com. No app store, no sign-up form, no email address asked of them.

  2. They aim at the printed side

    The page turns the camera on and looks for your card's design. Once it has a grip on it, your video appears in the space above the card and moves with it, as if it were part of the paper.

  3. They tap what they need

    Below the card sit your buttons. Save contact hands their phone a ready-made contact card, so your name and number land in their address book without anyone typing.

  4. They can put the card down

    If the card drops out of view, your video pauses in a small window and the buttons gather in the top-right corner of the screen. Nothing is lost while they reach for a pen.

The buttons

Up to six ways to get in touch.

You choose the buttons and the words on them in the Studio. Each kind does one thing, and only that.

Save contact
A vCard, the standard contact file every phone understands, written from the fields you fill in: name, company, job title, phone numbers, email addresses, websites and a postal address. One per card.
Call
Opens the phone's dialler with your number already in it. The caller still decides whether to press the green button.
Email
Starts a new message to your address in their own mail app, so the first note they send you comes from a real inbox.
Website
Any secure web address: a booking calendar, a portfolio, a menu, a price list. Call it what you like, such as "Book a call".
Directions and social
A maps link to your shop or office, and a profile link to the network you actually answer on.

Layout

Your face above the card, your details below it.

The Studio's Business card layout puts the video over the top edge of the card and the buttons under its bottom edge. That keeps the printed card itself in plain view, which matters: it's your logo and name, and it's what the camera holds on to.

You can move things around. The video can sit below or to one side instead, or play on part of the card's own face if your design leaves a photo-shaped space for it. The buttons can also stay out of the way until the clip has finished. Placing the video beside the card needs your own print design, the same file you'd send to the printer.

Designing the card

Four things to settle before you order a box of them.

  • Give the camera something to grip

    A card that is mostly empty white with a thin logo is hard to recognize. A photo, a pattern, a strong block of colour with lettering across it: those give the tracker texture to lock on to.

  • Decide where the QR code lives

    The back of a card is the natural home for it. A corner of the front works too, as long as the code stays clear of any area the video plays in.

  • One design per person

    The camera tells cards apart by how they look. If five colleagues each want their own introduction, that's five designs and five credits, and each person's card plays only their clip.

  • Matte stock

    Soft-touch and uncoated papers keep glare off the design. A heavy gloss or a foil stamp can flash white under office lights and hide the details the camera is looking for.

What to film

Say what the card can't.

The card already carries your name and number. Use the video for what print is bad at: your voice, your face, a glimpse of the work. A builder can show a finished kitchen, a photographer a few frames from a shoot, a consultant thirty seconds on the one problem they solve.

The free trial allows clips of up to 30 seconds, and Business allows up to 3 minutes. For a card, shorter usually wins: most people will watch while standing in front of you, or later while deciding whether to call.

The camera recognizes the card the same way it recognizes any print; how it works covers the light, distance and finish it likes.

After the print run

New job title, same cards.

Moved offices, changed your number, started a new service? Update the contact fields, the buttons or the video in the Studio and publish the change. Every card already handed out saves the new details from the next scan on, which is something a printed phone number can never do.

The card's design is the exception. A new design means the cards you already gave away no longer match, so the Studio warns you and asks you to confirm that you'll reprint. Your dashboard shows how often your card is scanned and which buttons people tap.

AR business card questions

Does the person I give my card to need an app?

No. Any recent iPhone or Android phone opens the card's page in its usual browser after a scan of the QR code. They never create an account or give their email address.

What does Save contact put on their phone?

A contact card with only the fields you filled in. Ember22 writes it from those fields when you publish, and it's the same file for everyone who scans that card.

Can I print the cards with any printer?

Yes. You download the print file and the QR code from the Studio and order the cards from whoever you use now, on whatever stock you like.

Will my cards keep working if I stop paying?

Cards published on a paid plan keep playing while your Ember22 account stays open, even after a cancelled subscription. Cards published during the free trial pause when the trial ends, so publish the real run on a paid plan. Plans are on the pricing page.

Can I see who scanned my card?

You see counts, not people: scans, unique visitors, how much of the video was watched and which buttons were tapped. Nobody who scans is identified to you.

Make the next card you hand over the one they keep.

Upload your card design and a short clip, print one at home, and scan it yourself.

Start free trial