Neat & Keen Catalog Cards

Product Design Prototype

Pre-printed heavy weight 3 x 5 inch cards for cataloging vinyl record collection

Brief: Design a catalog system for keeping track of record album spins, maintainance, and provenance.

Description: Reactions to it are often polarizing. It's either dumb or it's brilliant. Effectively it's a way to keep track of your collection and how often you listen to a record. Some benefits include:

•Keeping the cards in a box/drawer allows others to go through your collection without "going through your collection"

•If your collection is large enough that it spans different bins/shelves/rooms, denoting the location on a card may shorten the time it takes to find a record

•Keeping track of listens is fun as the dates can often be traced to memorable moments, but also how much wear a record is going through.

•Using underlining, hightlighting, or using an asterisk next to a date may help keep track of how often a record has been deep cleaned.

•The cards can be useful for paper clipping hype stickers and download cards.

Cards have standard fields for Artist, Title and check boxes for record speed. Three "Other" lines on the front and four blank lines on the back give the user options to make their own notes. Some things I keep track of include: Reissues/Remastered status, Limited Color, where and when I acquired it, what I paid for it, and if it was a gift or not. Some include personal annecdotes about the album if it is historically important to myself or loved ones. I like the idea that at the end of my life when someone is going thought my things, there is is this objet d'Art that says "Here's what I listened to and what I thought about it."

These prototype cards are still a work in progress. Stacks of cards have been given/traded/sold to a handful of users. Tests with packaging and distribution are ongoing. Due to the rising costs of everything, it is challenging to find way to ship single boxes at a reasonable price without access to a wholesale shipping model. http://jmortonux.com/contact

What do you think of the Neat & Keen Catalog card? Tell us your thoughts.