tilak patel

Tap Cards

[FILL year]

Startup

10-week sprint

[FILL your role]

An NFC app that turns one tap of your phone into a real connection, taken from idea to launch in ten weeks.

One tap, no hassle

THE IDEA

Handing out your socials at a party or mixer is clumsy, and business cards feel dated. We wanted the first step in networking to take one tap, so we built around NFC.

THE IDEA

Handing out your socials at a party or mixer is clumsy, and business cards feel dated. We wanted the first step in networking to take one tap, so we built around NFC.

THE PLAN

We had ten weeks to take the idea to market: a marketing plan, a prototype, user research, and a startup launch.

THE PLAN

We had ten weeks to take the idea to market: a marketing plan, a prototype, user research, and a startup launch.

THE GOAL

To fit it all in, we split the ten weeks into five sections, each with its own goal, so nothing got rushed or skipped.

THE GOAL

To fit it all in, we split the ten weeks into five sections, each with its own goal, so nothing got rushed or skipped.

Finding our niche

Digitizing business cards meant taking on an old habit, so we looked at the card market and surveyed students at UCSD about how they actually share contact info.

The market

About 27 million business cards are printed every day, and most are thrown out within a week.
Digital cards cut the waste and can be sorted and saved for later.
A card shouldn’t signal status. What matters is who you are, not the size of your business.

The survey

Everyone we surveyed shared contact info in social settings, and most did professionally too.
What you share with an employer is different from what you share with a new friend.
So a Tap Card can change with your goal: networking, making friends, or finding a job.

The competition

Mobilo

Social Tap

Popl

VICE

Price

Custom card $40

Pro $20/mo or $199/yr

$20 sticker

$57–$140

Accessibility

Card purchase required

Needs a QR board

Physical sticker

Physical card only

Audience

Big businesses

Stores

Business professionals

Contact method

Smart card scanned by phone

Scannable QR board

NFC sticker

Smart business card

Pricing as of our research.

Who we built for

Our three biggest user groups became our personas.

Johnny Wins

The Student

A UCSD freshman from Colorado who doesn’t know anyone yet. He wants to make friends at campus events and mixers, and keep in touch with people he meets in class.

Johnny Wins

The Student

A UCSD freshman from Colorado who doesn’t know anyone yet. He wants to make friends at campus events and mixers, and keep in touch with people he meets in class.

The Networker

Business professional

A business professional who meets a lot of people and needs a faster way to swap details that doesn’t end up in the trash.

The Networker

Business professional

A business professional who meets a lot of people and needs a faster way to swap details that doesn’t end up in the trash.

The Recruiter

Event hiring

Meets dozens of candidates at events and needs to find and follow up with the best ones, fast.

The Recruiter

Event hiring

Meets dozens of candidates at events and needs to find and follow up with the best ones, fast.

From sketch to screen

Sketches

Low-fidelity

What testing changed

We had people run through adding a new card on a live prototype, checking every step against Nielsen’s heuristics.

The Generate button was getting covered on the customization page, so we moved it.
Added an option to hide your card when you don’t want to be found.
Added favorites for people receiving a lot of cards.
Added notes and tags so you remember where you met someone.

Journey map