An NFC business card, and everything behind it
AnimaNext is my own product. A matte black card you tap to any phone, and your profile opens in the browser that is already on it. No app, no QR code. I designed the card and the brand, then wrote the API, the frontend, the checkout and the shipping integration that puts it in a box
[ What it is ]- Role
- Founder, Product Designer and Full Stack Engineer
- Timeline
- Ongoing
- Scope
- Product design, Brand, Full stack engineering, Payments, Fulfilment
The challenge
Nobody installs an app to receive a business card
Every digital business card I looked at asked the other person to do something first. Scan a QR code, install an app, sign up to see your details. That is a wall between two people who have just met, and in Japan, where the paper meishi exchange is a genuine ritual, it is a wall nobody will climb. The product only works if the person receiving it does nothing at all.
What I did
Put the whole thing in the browser, and own every layer under it
Tap the card to any phone and the profile opens in the browser that is already on it. That is the entire interaction. Underneath sits a Django and DRF API with Google, LINE and LinkedIn sign in, Stripe checkout in both redirect and embedded modes, live yen to dollar conversion, Cloudinary image handling, Apple Wallet passes, and Ship and Co for Japan Post and Yamato labels. Orders come in, labels print, cards go out.
Building the product and the business at the same time changes what you design. The shipping form is not a form, it is the reason a package clears customs. The profile layouts are not themes, they are the difference between a salesperson and a studio using the same card.
Outcomes
One tap opens a live profile on the other person's phone, with nothing to install
- The person receiving the card does nothing. The profile opens in the browser already on their phone.
- Live checkout on animanext.com: $20, one payment, no subscription, shipped worldwide.
- The site and the app run in Japanese, English and Spanish.
- Update the profile once and every card already handed out shows the new details.
- Brand, API, frontend, Stripe checkout and shipping labels, all built and run by me.
Works on iPhone and Android, with no app on either side.
