TAPTAG

The last business card you’ll ever need

THE OPPORTUNITY

A business card is one of the quickest ways to connect with new people. However, traditional cards made of paper are easily disposable, and often fails to make a memorable impression. At TapTag, our mission was to empower customers with the ability to share information in a delightful way through Near-Field Communication (NFC).

In short, our goal was to create a better business card.

My Role: Co-founder, CEO, CTO
Tools Used: Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Wordpress, Quickbooks

THE PROCESS

Understanding the problem
After doing research among our peers, the team learned that traditional business cards were a frustrating to use in a world where information is dynamic. We also became aware of the waste that traditional cards left behind, and determined that a solution should be reusable. We named TapTag’s flagship product ‘Card’.

Producing Cards
Creating cards presented an interesting challenge to our team. We wanted to give each user the power to customize their card, so we designed our own Card production process. Once orders were received through our online platform, information submitted by customers were sent to our Operations team, who designed the cards, coded the NFC chips, then packaged them for shipping.

To the naked eye, a TapTag was designed in the same fashion of a standard business card - company logo, name, number, email, website - but had functionality never before used or known to many of our customers. 

Organizing and executing
As the CEO, I led team meetings, set product vision and strategy, and ensured the cohesive communication between department heads.

I also served as TapTag’s CTO, where I explored the technical requirements for Card, created prototypes, and built a WordPress site to enable online selling.

THE OUTCOME

 

Card was unbelievably simple to use - with just one tap, contact information stored on Card would import to the target device and save automatically. Card also did not require an app-install to be used, which contributed to a painless user experience.

TapTag worked through constraints of time, production, and an unclear design process to create a product that users still value today.

IN RETROSPECT...

  • Failure is important - our team learned the most by pivoting after numerous pitfalls and production delays

  • Bringing a product from concept to reality is no easy task; with support from team members and advisers, it gets a tad bit easier

  • Success metrics and goals are key, but should not detract from the process.