A short history of the business card, from visiting cards to QR codes
By Online Business Cards Editorial Team | Published | Updated | Explainers
Visiting cards, trade cards, photo cards, the Rolodex, the vCard and the QR code: a short history of how people have shared their details, and what it means today.
The business card is a small object with a long history. For more than three centuries, people have used printed cards to introduce themselves, advertise a trade and make it easy to be found again. The format has changed many times, from engraved visiting cards to desk card files to contact files and QR codes, but the job has stayed much the same. This is a short history, and what it suggests about sharing your details today.
Visiting cards: introductions on paper
In 17th-century Europe, visiting cards were part of polite society. A caller would leave a small card at a house to announce a visit or show they had called. By the time of Louis XIV in France, they had become part of formal etiquette, and the custom spread across Europe.
These cards were social rather than commercial. They carried a name, sometimes a title, and little else. Their purpose was to introduce someone and leave a reminder behind, which is still most of what a business card does.
Trade cards: advertising a shop in London
Alongside visiting cards, tradespeople began printing trade cards. By the late 1600s, London shopkeepers and craftsmen were handing out engraved cards that named their business and showed where to find it. Street numbering was not yet common, so many cards gave directions using nearby landmarks or the sign that hung outside the shop.
Trade cards often had decorative engravings showing the goods on offer, and some were used as receipts or for writing notes. Large collections survive, including those gathered by Sarah Sophia Banks and Sir Ambrose Heal, now held by the British Museum. They show businesses doing what businesses still do: saying what they sell and how to reach them.
Calling cards and photographic cards in the 1800s
In the 19th century, calling cards were a fixed part of middle- and upper-class social life in Britain, with detailed rules about when and how to leave them.
Photography added a new kind of card. In 1854, the Paris photographer André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri patented a method for producing small portrait photographs mounted on card, roughly the size of a visiting card. These cartes de visite became hugely popular in the 1860s. People swapped them with friends and collected them in albums, and they have been described as an early form of social media. For the first time, a card could show what someone looked like.
The 20th century: standard sizes and desk files
As business grew more formal, the business card settled into the familiar printed format: name, job title, company, address and, later, phone and fax numbers. Sizes became standardised. In the UK the usual size is 85 × 55 mm, while in the US it is 3.5 × 2 inches.
Keeping track of cards became a problem of its own. Rotating desk card files, best known by the Rolodex brand from the 1950s onwards, gave offices a way to store and flick through hundreds of contacts. In Japan, the exchange of meishi, or business cards, developed its own customs, such as offering and receiving a card with both hands and reading it before putting it away.
Contacts go electronic: the vCard
When contacts moved onto computers and phones, they needed a common format so that one device could read another's address book. In the mid-1990s, a group of technology companies known as the versit consortium created the vCard, a standard file format for contact details. Responsibility later passed to the Internet Mail Consortium, and the format became an internet standard, with vCard 3.0 published in 1998 and vCard 4.0 in 2011.
The vCard is still in use. When you save a contact from an email, send someone a contact by AirDrop or tap a "save contact" button on a digital card, a vCard is usually doing the work behind the scenes.
The QR code: from car parts to phone cameras
The QR code was invented in 1994 by Masahiro Hara and his team at Denso, a Japanese company that made car parts, to track components in factories. Denso chose not to enforce its patent, which let anyone make and read QR codes freely. Mobile phones in Japan began reading QR codes in the early 2000s, and the iPhone's built-in Camera app started recognising them in 2017, with iOS 11. Today, most smartphone cameras open a QR code without any extra app.
That change made QR codes a practical way to share details in person. Instead of typing an address or saving a contact by hand, someone can point their camera at a code and open a page. Our guide to QR code business cards explains how they work on a card today.
What the history tells us
Looking back, a few things have stayed constant:
- Cards are about being remembered. From visiting cards to digital profiles, the point is to leave something behind that reminds people who you are.
- They are about being found. Trade cards gave directions to the shop; a modern card gives a phone number, a map link or a booking button.
- Pictures help. The carte de visite added a face to a name, which is why a photo is still worth including.
- Formats change, habits stay. People still hand over cards at the end of a conversation, whether it is paper or a QR code on a phone.
What has changed is that a digital card can stay up to date. A printed card is fixed the moment it is printed; a digital card's link stays the same while the details behind it change.
Paper is not finished
None of this means paper cards have disappeared. Many people still like something to hold, and in some settings, such as formal meetings in Japan, a printed card is expected. A sensible approach is to use both: a short paper card with a QR code that opens your digital profile. Our guide to putting your QR code on printed cards covers how to do that, and our article on the benefits of digital business cards compares the two honestly.
Today's digital business card
A digital business card is a web page with your details, links and contact buttons, shared by link or QR code, with a button to save your details as a contact. It opens in any phone's browser without an app. If you are new to the idea, start with what a digital business card is and how it works.
The business card through time
Era | Format | What it was for
1600s to 1700s | Visiting cards and trade cards | Introductions and advertising a shop
1800s | Calling cards, photographic cards | Social calls and portraits
1900s | Standard printed cards, desk card files | Business contacts
1990s | vCard files | Contacts on computers and phones
2000s onwards | QR codes and web profiles | Cards that open on a phone
Which plan you need
Our cards are digital only, built and hosted by our platform partner. Brand Presence (£45, one-off) includes your details, social links, documents, gallery, testimonials, templates and analytics. The Business Plan (£90, one-off) adds tools such as bookings, enquiries, contact leads, a card scanner and a CRM. Both are one-off payments. You can compare them on our plans, or see how the digital business card works.
Read next: Are paper business cards obsolete? An honest answer and a practical changeover plan and Digital business card ROI for professionals. You can also browse all our guides.
For what is already changing, and what is worth planning for, see the future of networking: what is already here.
Frequently asked questions
When were business cards invented?
Visiting cards were used in 17th-century Europe, and London tradespeople were handing out trade cards by the late 1600s. Both are early ancestors of the modern business card.
What is the difference between a visiting card and a trade card?
A visiting card was social: it introduced a person and showed they had called. A trade card was commercial: it advertised a business and explained how to find it.
What is a vCard?
A vCard is a standard file format for contact details, first created in the mid-1990s. Phones and email programs still use it to share and save contacts.
Who invented the QR code?
The QR code was invented in 1994 by Masahiro Hara and his team at Denso in Japan, originally to track car parts during manufacturing.
Are paper business cards still used?
Yes. Many people still use them, and in some settings they are expected. Printing a QR code that opens your digital card lets paper and digital work together.