Most business cards are designed to slip neatly into a pocket, but Rotherham-based online print company Instantprint recently produced one that needs a van to transport it.
In fact it's a business card that's so big that it's earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records. With dimensions of 2.3m by 1.5m it was an incredible 728 times larger than the standard size of the 450,000 business cards that Instantprint produces for customers every day.
The giant card was the brainwave of the company founders, James Kinsella and Adam Carnell, who were casually chatting one day about showing off the company's printing capabilities by producing a card that was too big to be of any practical use. This idea grew, quite literally, and led to the pair turning to Guinness World Records to ask what criteria they needed to meet to become record-breakers.
These included making it at least 400 times larger than normal, ensuring that it was rigid and including all the normal information that you'd expect to find on a business card.
They then set about producing the card with the help of the company's print experts. Using a huge printing press and 5mm thick foam board which was rigid enough to meet the Guinness rules, the card was produced. Amazingly, the actual printing process itself only took six seconds from start to finish.
Once it had rolled of the press, it was time for the official judging. Local chartered surveyor Gavin Sampson was on hand to confirm its measurements and reported his findings to Guinness World Records official, Pravin Patel, who adjudicated and handed over their certificate. The judging ceremony was filmed and Instant Print even delivered supersized business cards to unsuspecting customers and recorded their reactions.
Understandably, everyone at Instantprint is very proud of the achievement - and they're also interested in hearing from any wallet maker who might be able to produce one big enough to hold the record-breaking card!
