I received this charming businesscard from Nobi at a blogger’s meetup last night. The cards are from a Tokyo stationary shop called Winged Wheel.

Readymade graphic design systems (otherwise known as templates) are often frowned on by designers for their mediocrity, mentally shelved somewhere next to clip art and stock photography, but this card reminded me that templates offer quite a lot in exchange for having to share with strangers, and can in fact be beautiful.

Printing costs alone for a 3-color embossed card in 3 variations would be prohibitively expensive for most individuals and small businesses, expecially with staff, addresses and phone numbers changing as often as they do. Nevermind what designers like me charge for the card design and illustration/logo.

What circumstances require an entity to have a custom, unique identity, website or print collateral. Is it simply the budget to pay for it?

What makes a template successful and what are the limitations of even the best template designs?

Photo by Nobi Hayashi