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Wee CD-ROMs

My very first Seattle freelance job involved CD-ROM business cards. You may have seen these little discs about the size of your palm. They actually hold close to 100MB of data and are a nifty marketing tool. They come in all kinds of shapes and customized artwork can be printed onto the CD. My personal favorite is a house-shaped CD-ROM. The most elaborate one I’ve seen looks like two dragon wings that was a promo piece for StarTrek Nemesis.

In a city as hi-tech and gadget happy as Seattle, I would have expected to get these types of CD-ROM business cards all the time. I imagined greasy salesmen gripping miniature CD cards and approaching me in every Starbucks. Not so. Even in Seattle, home of Technology giants, the traditional kind printed on paper is very much the norm. Then again, CD-ROM cards are just as easy to misplace, and they require that extra step of inserting it into a computer to access most of the information. Plus they cost significantly more to produce than regular paper business cards.

Though they may not be the most economical option as straightforward business cards, these little CD-ROMs are a great way to promote your business or artistic venture (particularly ideal for musicians wanting to create a snazzy demo piece). I thought about other way to use them:

  • All shiny and pretty, they would serve nicely as Christmas ornaments.
  • Miniature frisbees
  • Coasters
  • Mirror – perfect for slipping it into your purse for those emergency lipstick moments

No? They are still a good idea and I’m planning on making a few for myself soon…

 

 

 

 


All Articles:

What's That?
Ode to Fashion Plates
Flash for the Novice
I'm a girl
The Very World Wide Web
Joys of a Wee CD-ROM

About

SANAE ISHIDA: children's illustrations, cd-rom and fashion illustration

Sanae Ishida creates children's illustration and fashion illustrations, CD-ROMs, Flash designs, websites and much more. She currently lives in Seattle, Washington. Sanae has been drawing for as long as she can remember and is heavily influenced by Japanese design and art. Her first exposure to children's illustrations came in large, telephone book-sized Japanese comic books. She also loved Japanese folk tales with woodblock print style images in somber colors that are not often seen in children's illustrations. As she grew older and the love for Japanese comic books gave way to a rather unhealthy obsession with Seventeen magazine, she started to draw fashion illustrations. She initially copied the fashion spreads in the magazines and gradually added her own design elements. She has been a professional doodler for over 20 years. For more information about Sanae's children's illustrations and fashion illustrations, contact me@sanaeishida.com.