Problem

When working on a startup, one has to face certain problems. The core is the ever-changing requirements.  

There is an idea and a final goal to which we strive, but new ideas and improvements may emerge along the way from A to B. They need to be quickly analyzed, considered and integrated into the work plan. 

Our team worked closely with the Customer: we offered our take, thought over implementation options, discussed the benefits of the service for users and benefits for business.

Idea

It is no secret that business card exchange apps already exist. ViCard needs to offer its users something new to be in demand. This “trick” is NFC data exchange.

NFC (Near Field Communication) is a short-range (up to 10 cm) high-frequency wireless technology that allows contactless data exchange between devices at small distances.

You meet NFC when you pay with a card or smartphone. It’s actually a standard data transfer. The customer thought, “If we can transfer payment information, why not transfer the contact information?”

That’s what we did!

Analytics

Analysts have determined that the use of the selected data transfer technology is possible but limited by certain conditions: iOS devices can receive data over NFC, but cannot share it. Having this information in mind, we have corrected the introductory task by adding alternative transmission methods. We decided to do NFC only for Android devices for now.

Solution

Immediately after registration you can receive other people’s business cards, they are stored in the Business Card Holder.

The design of the virtual business card repeats the appearance of real paper: a rectangular block with minimal personal information.

Advanced search helps you quickly find contact by business area, business card date or added tags.

Let’s imagine that you are visiting the event today. A large number of acquaintances and contact exchanges are expected. You can set a specific tag for all incoming business cards on the Business Card Exchange screen, so that you can easily find them later in the overall list.

Clicking on a business card opens up full information about the person.

Creating your business card

Before you hand over the business card, you have to create it first. Only the name is mandatory, the other fields are optional. This allows you to create and transfer your card in less than 1 minute.

Design settings

You can change the look of your card to highlight it in the Business Card Holder of other users or save your corporate identity for a digital business card. The design options are displayed at the bottom of the screen. Clicking on a section opens its settings. All real-time changes apply to your business card and are displayed above.

You can change the background and text color and use sliders to change its brightness, saturation and hue.

All design settings are intuitive. Editing the business card design is currently available on iOS only.

Business card exchange

The main application screen is Business Card Exchange. Here you can send and receive business cards. All user’s business cards are displayed in a carousel. You send the one that is currently on the screen. You can swap to the right or left of the other business cards.

If both devices (which transmit and which receive the business card) support NFC, you can send the business card without touch. All you have to do is bring your smartphones to each other and “swipe” the business card up.

Done! You exchanged business cards in a couple of seconds!

There are standard ways for users whose devices do not support NFC: by reading a QR code or sending a link to add using the messengers, social media or mail available on the device (Share Business Card button).

The design of all iOS screens has been developed separately.

The app is still being developed. We plan to make the Android design functions and think of a contactless transfer option for iOS. There are improvements both in appearance and logic of work.

But you can already create digital business cards and exchange them at one touch! And the most important thing is that such business cards will not be lost, unlike paper ones.