Choosing the Right Business Card

Recently I ran out of business cards I had been meaning to go to a local printing shop and get some new ones made up, but I just did not have the time. I wanted to put together a real simple but engaging card with the right font, color and flow, similar to how I create my slides. The problem with this is that in most places unless you want to pay a lot for the custom set up then you are stuck with picking a card out of a book. This is not always a bad thing as most places have a large collection and you can usually find something that fits your needs. So what is the big deal? Well, to me a card is an important part of who you are in the eyes of your prospective clients or customers. The card may be the one thing that they take back with them to remember who you are. That being said I wanted my business card to reflect me and what I wanted to portray to the clients and the world. Here is a clip from a movie featuring Christian Bale (now known as Batman), this clip shows how “important” choosing a card is and how picking the right elements can make you the envy of your peers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoIvd3zzu4Y

While I was putting off my decision, I received an email from vistaprint.com they were offering 250 free cards you just pay shipping and handling. I decided to check this site out. Of course I got to the site and the “free” cards were a small sample of what they had to offer, and in my opinion not really what I was looking for. Most had the cheesy clip art, (and if you have been reading my blog you know how much I hate clip art) some had actual photos but unless you worked in that industry the pictures could be a distraction or confuse people about who you are or what you do.

As an example I am an ex firefighter AND I worked on an ambulance. This company offered two cards for a firefighter and one for an ambulance my problem with them was that they narrowed you down. This is what I mean one of the cards hat a traditional fire helmet it looked real nice but the shield on the helmet had a specific department lettering and the company (what we call the type of truck you ride on, engine, squad, ladder etc.) number on it. Not bad except that I have never worked for an HFD or was never on an Engine 10. So someone could look at that and maybe think I am misleading them, The one with the ambulance also had specific unit information. Also by narrowing down I mean that I don’t just work with fire departments any more I also work with hospitals, Law Enforcement and other agencies by including a agency specific logo or design you box your self in to a particular specialty or area of focus.

I think that the more simple and clear your card is the better You wont have any distractions and your information is more easily found. Guy Kawasaki has a great card you can see it here:

If you do choose a card with a picture on it or even one without look closely at how it flows some cards were not balanced and some drew my eye to one area first, This may not be the most important information or what you want someone to focus on at first glance. I don’t want anyone to have to search for the information they need I want my card to flow, just like my slides. Use the same principals when creating a slide and using a photo, have the photo looking towards your text directing the eye towards the words not away from them.

A few other designs I saw that screamed out at me. One was like a comic book, This to me says I am not serious, I am still a kid playing around…… ok so maybe I am but they dont need to know that!
One had a spiral that went into a whole, kind of like the black holes in movies, just kept going down. To me this seemed to send out a negative message as well. One had cats on it, Cats! I hate them! And of course the clip art, Just shoot me!
One I did like had a Bald Eagle on one side the Eagle looking into the card, it was strong. I just did not like the way the text was being grouped together. The one I wanted was all black clean, different. I did not choose this one because of the font and color of the text, It was a green computer like text, like something from the matrix, (I found out afterwards I could of changed the color and font type….. ohhh well maybe next time).

So in the end I went with a white plain card the flowed and directed the eye to where I wanted it, seeing the information in a logical order.

What does your card say about you?