Practical Card Holder for U-M Student

Isn’t it annoying to have a separate MCard and Housing Card? As much as we’d all like to have Housing make these into one thing, for now, our pleas go unheard. In addition, as someone who doesn’t carry a wallet on them, having my two cards just sitting in my pocket is a lost MCard waiting to happen.

I decided that ending up as another “Lost MCard” post on the school’s Snap Story wasn’t for me, so I CADed and 3D printed a holder for my cards. I first modeled the MCard and Housing Card, then designed a holder around those constraints.

3d rendered image of M housing card
Screenshot of 3d modeling program with CAD design in progress

After a first failed design/print (turns out the MCard and Housing Card have different thicknesses), I had my final holder. And it works great! There’s a separate slot for each card, a bar for a lanyard to clip onto, and the magic of friction to keep the cards in place.

Hand holding 3d printed lanyard card holder with M card inside

Working with the Shapiro Design Lab team was a great experience. Getting trained via Canvas was quick and easy, and everyone there is super nice with helping out and answering questions. I highly recommend looking to them for any design projects you want to pursue.