Business Cards Land

Tomorrow, as I’m sure you are very aware of, is Halloween!  That means we’re going to have a whole lot of ghosts, goblins, witches and even some bad angels with a black halo wandering around our streets asking us for candy.  Here’s something cool I just found, however…right now OvernightPrints.com is actually giving away some free Halloween Safety cards to help spread the safety message and make sure everyone, everywhere has a fun-filled and emergency-room free Halloween this weekend!

Nevertheless, if you head over here and add them to your cart, they will indeed show up as absolutely free.  You can’t find many free things in this day and age, so why not go over and grab a set.  If you’re in the market for your own business cards, why not use some of the amazing tips and unique samples we’ve found on this blog and design some of your very own.  My recommendation, go for the rounded corners, they really do make a world of difference!

Nevertheless, from all of us here at BusinessCardsLand.com we hope you have a very happy and very safe Halloween!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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I mentioned Mark Drogin collectible business cards in a recent post and wanted to mention another type of cards I personally enjoy collecting – aptronyms!

According to the dictionary:

aptronym (AP-troh-NIM) noun. A name that is especially suited to the profession of its owner.

In fiction, some of the most famous examples are Mr. Talkative and Mr. Worldly Wiseman in John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress.

So for a business card card collector, it’s simply a business card where the person’s name suits the listed profession.

I was at a local Neighborhood Watch Block Party one time.  City police officers often visit such events to get acquainted with the people on their “beat.”  One of the officers had the last name “Justice” – aptly suited for a law officer, right? – and I got her business card for my collection!

There’s a used car dealer in Kansas with the name “Rusty Eck” – would love to get his business card.  It’s a great aptronym, albeit in a negative way!

Other examples of aptronyms might be a neurologist with the last name of “Brain” or “Head”, or a supermodel with the last name “Fox”.  There’s poet William Wordsworth, singer Bill Medley (one half of The Righteous Brothers) … and you could even consider Bernard Madoff an aptronym.  (After all, as an architect of the world’s biggest Ponzo scheme, he “made off” with billions of dollars of investor’s money.)

Start looking at business cards you come across, and you’ll find one of these every once in a while – and save ‘em for me!

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We’ve all seen them, heck we’ve featured a TON of them on this site…those nifty cards with the cutouts somewhere on them.  Whether it’s a cutout of a star, initials, or just interesting cutouts on one or two corners.  There’s some good news and some bad news when it comes to these cutouts.  First, the good news:  They DO help your card, they DO make it look extremely interesting and more creative.  Now, the bad news:  They are a lot more expensive.  Laser or die cutting can cost a great deal more money than traditional business cards and as such, make it not really worth it for the vast majority of us.  Until this tip, that is.

Here’s a money saving business card tip for you…you can do the cutouts yourself!  See the business card above? You can have those cut-out letters they have for a lot cheaper than having them professionally die-cut for you.  Yes, it will take a lot more time, yes, it will get extremely annoying, but yes, it will save you a great deal of money.  Say you ordered your next batch of 500 business cards from OvernightPrints.com.  This alone will save you a HUGE amount of money over those expensive printing houses while keeping the quality just as top-notch.  If you wanted to achieve the very same results as the card above, why not include those letters “y” and “k” in black on the original card and then when they arrive, take an Xacto-Knife and with a few small cuts you can have them cutout too!  Save you a bundle and still have awesome effects!

So, why not experiment with some designs that allow you to do the tedious cut0ut job at home?  I know it will be a pain the the rear, I know it will take a great deal longer, but the bottom line is, it will save you a ton of money while keeping the quality extremely high!

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Every so often we find a business card that really impresses us, shakes things up and makes us step back and say, MAN, why didn’t WE think of that.  Today, we just so happened to kick off the week with one that did exactly that, and more.  Basically they took the genius behind scratch-and-win Lotto cards and brought it to their business card and the effects, to be quite honest, are simple and stunning.  I would LOVE to be handing out these cards just as much as I’d love to be receiving them. 

The brilliant scratch-n-reveal cards belong to a graphic designer named Megan Cummins.  It seems that if we were to tally the all-time great business cards we have featured on this blog, graphic designers are most likely in the lead for most creative and most innovative so far.  Nevertheless, on a simple, smaller than average business card, she managed to incorporate the widely known scratch-off material that allows you to answer the question that she really wants to you to know:  “Scratch here for the answer of life. Please note, resulting joy may prove overwhelming.”

A bit of scratching later and the simple “Hi” that starts the business card reveals the true answer to the question:  “Hire Me.”  Genius.  Be honest, if someone that was seeking a job with you handed you that card, wouldn’t you be thinking that when it comes to creativity, they are a step ahead of the game?  In the world of graphic design, that’s exactly what you need to be.

Think about that as you design your business cards…are you showing off the kind of skills you should be to get the jobs you want to get?  Think of your business card as a way to make a great first impression over, and over, and over again.  Don’t let it be a bad one.

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It’s Friday again!  Finally!  Now today we’re going to tackle something a bit different…instead of business card tips, we’re going to throw a bigger, broader tip at you that you need to have complete before you even THINK of your business cards:  Your logo.  That’s right, if it is YOUR company you’re designing business cards for you absolutely must have a logo for that business and we all know that the logo goes right on the cards, so how do you come up with a great logo if you don’t already have one?!  Glad you asked.

We just found some excellent tips on how to go about designing, or having your new logo designed.  Head over and check out the full article, but for now here is a brief paraphrasing of how to go about creating, or having created for you, the perfect logo for your business!

1. Starting the Logo – Sketch out ideas, hash out exactly what you have in mind before you start.
2. The Design of the Logo – You want a clean, simple and to the point logo.  Avoid overly complicated, overly colorful and overly intricate designs.
3. Hiring a Designer – Money is an issue but look instead at quality.  It’s not worth saving a few bucks for a terrible, generic logo!
4. Protecting your logo – Head to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Offices…you want to keep that beautiful logo YOURS and yours alone.  It’s worth it.
5. Conclusion – It’s not as hard as you think!  Start with step one and you’ll be there before you know it!

There you have it!  5 simple tips on how to come up with a great logo that sums up your business quickly and creatively!

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Tyler’s post a few days ago with the photo of the cool dentist’s business card made me think of Marc Drogin – an American illustrator, writer and calligrapher whose original business cards are highly sought-after by business card collectors.

He specializes in whimsically illustrated business cards for dentists and physicians.  They’re almost always black type (calligraphy) with red or blue accents, on white or off-white card stock.  Quite a few of them I’ve seen are oriented vertically rather than horizontally.

The following cards are from my own Marc Drogin collection – cool, aren’t they?  I have one of his personal business cards too, and it’s even autographed by him on the back!

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Simple or extravagant, cheap or expensive, no matter how you choose to go about your next batch of business cards, today we have just one tip:  This next batch, go the extra mile.  Yes, the “extra mile.”  Now, this probably needs a bit of explaining, and lucky for you we are happy to do so!  Going the extra mile, when it comes to your business cards, or anything in the world of business and marketing really, means doing that something special extra that elevates whatever you’re doing from ordinary to extraordinary.

Case in point, the business cards we found above.  Quite obviously the business card above belongs to a company that actually makes DVD and CD based business cards.  The amazingly cool thing about this card, and the cards they make, is they actually can hold 450mb of data on them!  The “Extra Mile” however is the simple fact that with those cards they decided to put them into a miniature jewel case just like a REAL DVD.  I know it’s simple, and it’s most likely unnecessary, but nevertheless that extra mile adds SO much to this business card setup and more than that, it shows that when it comes to their business, the company is willing to go that extra length to make sure they do the best job possible!

Whatever your company may be, whatever industry or niche of business you find yourself in, remember this simple tip:  Go the extra mile on the little things and your clients, both potential and current, will know that when it comes to the BIG things, you’ll have no trouble going that extra length.  No trouble at all.

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I just read about this idea and I must admit it had never occurred to me.

You might INTENTIONALLY create an ugly, generic, “vanilla pudding” card – and give it to people you don’t especially want to develop a relationship with!

Sometimes, an exchange of business cards are expected – but it might be that you don’t really want to do business with this person or their company.  Or maybe you’d just rather stay “under the radar” and not attract attention – but you don’t want to be rude.

So you COULD create and print a business card that’s rather bland or uninviting, and carry two sets of cards with you – your typical “Wow!” business cards and your brush-off cards.  And just give out the one that’s appropriate.

Use this idea at your own risk – since you never know where a business card will wind up, it’s possible that your ugly card might get in the hands of someone you WANT to impress!

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When was the last time you dipped into wherever it is you store your business cards you’re given on a daily/weekly and monthly basis to see just how many you Actually have acquired over the years?  If you’re a person that saves them, like we are, the chances are good it’s an unorganized mess of cards that just grows each week.  There’s no organization to them, there’s no style to it, it just becomes a Where’s Waldo to find the persons’ card you’re actually thinking of.  The good news is, this doesn’t have to stay the same, as we just found the coolest little tool to help rid you of that problem.

Check out the awesome little Business Card Filing Cabinet we stumbled on!  First off, it’s amazingly inventive, second off it will look beyond cool sitting on your desk and third and possibly most importantly, it will actually keep those business cards Organized!  The fact that this little beauty is under $15 should make it one deal you’re not hesitating even a little bit to seal.  $12.99 for a perfect tool to not only keep your life organized, but also look awesome on your desk?  How can you beat that?!

That actually brings up a question that all of us here at BusinessCardsLand.com want answered:  How DO you store your business cards that you acquire?  Do you copy the information into your address book and then throw them away?  Do you scan them?  Please, sound off, we’d love to hear your storage solutions!  We’re anxious to hear some great ideas!

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It’s Friday and as you well know that means it’s a short but sweet post today on exactly how you can maximize your business card’s success rate without maximizing how much you actually spend on it.  Obviously we’re large supporters of buying all your business cards at OvernightPrints.com as they are not only extremely affordable, they’re extremely high quality and your cards always, yes, always, look brilliant and beautiful.  That said, how can you show off your business and its purpose on a simple in expensive card?  Check it out…

These cards belong to a dentist, that much is extremely obvious, and if you look you can tell it’s just a cool design on a traditional rectangular card.  Where this guy really set himself apart, however, is when he designed the bottom half of the card to look like teeth and then inserting little pieces of dental floss in and out of the teeth drawings.  In short, Genius and amazingly creative!  It just goes to show that you don’t have to pay huge sums for die cut cards, laser cutting or even embossing, sometimes all it takes is a great design and a little out-of-the-box thinking to transform a rectangular card into a brilliant and spot-on representation of your company.

Check them out, then head over and start thinking outside the box for YOUR business cards.  You never know how brilliantly you can think until you try.  Show us what you come up with, show us your designs, we’d love to see them!!

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