I never gave much attention to MOO until I've come across this little opportunity in collaboration with Smashing Magazine. Everyone I got in touch praised their quality and professionalism... so without hesitation I gave them a shot. And it was worth it.

The Cards

The business cards I've received were designed based on my previous illustrations and were made just to test their services (similar to shopping - I prefer to try, then buy). The shipment was finalized almost a week ago, much earlier than I expected and I was delighted by the packaging. As first impressions, Kudos! The materials are hard enough to hold all 50 cards and you can feel from their textures that they're made with the environment in mind. Another great surprise was to receive the cards in their branded holder (I thought I will get them wrapped in elastic or something like that).

Inside the holder you will find your cards together with two separated indexes to mark which are yours and which are for distribution - nice touch. The worst part is that the materials used tend to get dirty very easily, so watch out for smudgy fingers.

The designs are based on my illustrations.

Like I said before, I didn't spend that much time on designing them (I think around 30 minutes with the order), mostly because I used my illustrations for covers and a white, clean, simple and modern look for the contact details. Also, the MOO online card designer does a great job helping you build your own style.

For the back of the cards, I kept a simple, yet elegant approach.

The cards have a solid feel and are comfortable to hold and to play around. I didn't choose the ECO versions (shame on me, I know) mostly because I wanted to try first their renowned composition. Next time, I promise.

The paper for the cards was sourced from sustainable forests.

The quality of the print is very nice executed. A bit darker though.

The Website

Regarding the website - I enjoyed my stay. The design is clean with smart use of whitespace, no distractions, sincere and straight to the point. It doesn't tickle your ego to gain something from you - a thing I respect dearly in an interface.

The design keeps consistent through all the steps of the online shop and I love to see witty little details appear from time to time; for instance at the order details you have the status displayed in three stages - it's important to see the current status and how much you have left.

Also, in the order status you can verify the preview of your design. I think it's nice to double-check before completing your order. Even so, you have, if i remember correctly, around two or three hours to cancel your order (yet another extra point for being sincere and notifying the user).

The thing I appreciated the most (excluding the products themselves) is the card designer. You can apply different templates and add your contact details or you can start from scratch and go nuts with your very own design.

You can also edit the back of your cards. Again you have the freedom to rotate, scale, flip your design, whatever fits your needs. Also, the interface will constantly inform you about your progress: for instance you made five designs for a pack of 50, MOO tells you that you will receive ten cards for each design.

What I adore the most in an interface is the ability to surprise the user (in a good way, of course). At MOO, when you delete a design from your pack, it doesn't disappear forever, it is stored in a smaller section where you can bring it back (undo) if you want it to.

Also you can notice that the loading animation fits the silhouette of the MOO logo - again with the subtle little details. I think I should submit my findings to this little big website.

The verdict

Overall, I've got attached to this brand, mainly because of their great customer experience, honesty and execution. Will I order again, even buy from them? Yes. Until then, all I need to do is distribute the ones I got. Go check them out at Moo.com or see if you can get the free pack (if it's still available). I recommend it.