New Business Cards (and Their Purpose)

February 24, 2008

A confession: Hello, my name is Nubby and I’m a business card junkie.

While some people dislike business cards and have never owned one (I know some folks who think they’re tacky and unnecessary), I think these compact pieces of thick paper deserve more credit than they often get! In the digital age where thank you cards and personal correspondence have been replaced by email, I love the old-fashioned exchange of a beautifully designed card.

The weight of the cardstock, the choice of typography and the finish all send signals about who you are (or, who you’re striving to be). Last year in NYC, I met a stunning girl with a perfect sheet of white blonde hair and she handed me her Kate Spade business card; the cardstock was impossibly thick and featured a subtle embossed logo and shimmery green ink. She (and her card) immediately won me over!

Last week I decided to order a new set of cards that feature my tagline and a more direct mention of my blogging (I love it and I’m not giving it up any time soon). It was important to keep the instant recognizability of the graphic shoes and typography from past designs (as to not mess with the brand equity I’ve established) while still putting a fresh spin on things.

The pink bar was originally transparent, but once the design was uploaded, it became muddy so I went opaque:

To drive home the relevance of business cards, MoreMerchant uses the example of how it’s possible to gain a significant blogging audience by regularly handing them out:

Have a goal to give away 10 business cards a day, and you better believe that most of those will come. They come because they are interested. If you get half of these to come this will translate to 150 new visitors a month to your site. 1850 visitors a year! Many of these will come back many times resulting in thousands of daily views.

In my opinion, it’s way more professional when meeting someone new to hand them a card than to haphazardly doodle your information onto a napkin or drink coaster! I’m one of those folks who carries a business card case in my purse at all times. And believe it or not, I’ve been contacted by people who took my card many years before!

What’s your take on business cards in the modern age? Hopelessly old fashioned or still relevant?

23 Responses to New Business Cards (and Their Purpose)

1. Lisa says:

   I really like business cards as a concept, and I agree that they are much more professional than scrawling details on a scrap of paper. Done right, a business card can be a great little introductory piece of design leading people to more information on your website.
   I find it really hard to design for myself though, I am definitely my toughest critic!

   Reply
2. Bex says:

   I Love.Love.*love* business cards, and collect them!
   I agree with the above comment, you tend to throw out little bits of paper but definitely take more care with business cards – especially if they are mini-artworks!

   What do people think about have business cards without a registered Business name?

   Reply
3. Martin says:

   Business cards are very important, as they are essentially personality representations. A well designed card says a lot about you.

   Love your designs Nubby, but might I suggest you replace your hotmail address with your own .com email? In my experience, many potential clients/companies consider a webmail account to be unprofessional, regardless of the person’s talent.

   Reply
4. Nubby says:

   Lisa: Agreed; and it’s funny how easy it is to design for other people, but when it’s for yourself, for some reason it’s 10 times harder…

   Bex: Cards without a registered business name? Like a personal business card not related to a business purpose?

   Martin: Thanks for the advice; I’ve heard the argument countless times against using a free email account and have considered using my domain one, but honestly, it gets loads of spam and I don’t like the layout. I also don’t like the idea of constantly shuffling through multiple accounts. I’ve had the Hotmail one for 8 yrs. and it’s full of folders of important information, so I’m not so sure I want to do away with it….

   If people don’t want to hire me based solely on my email address, then that’s their loss.

   Reply
5. kristina says:

   I think their very relevant.
   Everytime I take a picture for my street style blog, I give them a card. It takes much less time and is less bothersome than writing it down, especially if thier or I’m in a hurry.

   http://therebelwaltz.blogspot.com/

   Reply
6. pinkrock says:

   your business card looks so great Nubby. I also think they are still relevant & important. By the way, i cant believe i’ve never noticed your tagline! It’s so witty!

   Reply
7. Bec says:

   I LOVE business cards.

   I’m just trying to come up with a concept for my cards for a new business I’m starting at the moment.

   I love your design.

   Do you design for others?

   Reply
8. Vicki says:

   I think business cards are still exceedingly relevant in a digital age. I’m currently in my final year of a degree in Publishing with English, but since it’s run through the Information Science department we frequently discuss the possibility of the digital format eventually taking over. It always comes back to the same conclusions however; digital information can be lost in an instant, people like to have something tangible, and paper format is still a lot easier to read than digital. This mostly applies to books of course, but I think the same principles can apply to why the business card is still highly relevant.

   BTW, you can set up your own .com email address to forward automatically to your hotmail account, that way you won’t lose any of the folders etc.

   Reply
9. Jami says:

   I think they are still very relevant and I keep my friends’ business cards tacked to my wall so I can reference them when I need to or pass on their information to people I think would enjoy them.
   Right now I am a fan of MOO cards where you can put different pictures of your art on one side and your contact information on the back. I haven’t received mine yet, but I look forward to it.

   Reply
10. b. anca says:

    where do you get them printed these days?

    Reply
11. Nubby says:

    kristina: That’s a fantastic idea so they can find their image! Makes total sense to have a business card handy.

    Bec: Yes, I design for others! Business cards, logos, and anything related to branding / press kits are my favorite things to design. Let me know when you’re ready and we can talk specifics!

    Vicki: You’re right about digital information and that it can be lost- I never really considered that.

    And you do have a point- I just realized last night that I can do the forwarding from my domain email to the Hotmail address. Oops! I’ll probably make the switch later this year once I run through my stack of cards!
    

    Jami: I love MOO cards! They ran a free special right when they launched and I got 20 of my choice. They’re so cute + compact.

    Reply
12. Nubby says:

    bianca: I’m still a big fan of Overnightprints.com because they’re always running specials. Often, I can get free shipping or even 100 single-sided cards for $10.00. I never order more than 100 of a design anymore because it’s so fun to change up the designs!

    Reply
13. Audrey says:

    I love love love business cards. I think they are especially great for designers. What a perfect little snapshot of your design philosophy. I have a little collection of my favorite designed cards that I still look at today even though I’m sure the info is outdated.

    Reply
14. marz* says:

    PINK!

    Reply
15. Nubby says:

    Audrey: Nice way to sum the purpose of business cards up!

    “a perfect little snapshot of your design philosophy”….

    I’ll have to remember that; exactly what I wanted to say originally.

    marz: I KNOW!!!!

    Reply

16. Pingback: Business Card Information and Deals » Blog Archive » New Business Cards (and Their Purpose)

17. jaz says:

    have you seen american psycho?

    Reply
18. Nubby says:

    jaz: Ha, no…I rarely watch movies!

    Reply

19. Pingback: “Personal” Business Cards « Cristina Says…

20. Cristina says:

    Hi! I just stumbled across this article while looking for relevant links for a blog that I recently put up (see “website” link). There aren’t a great deal of business card enthusiasts that I could find on the internet! I happen to love them. I carry a few around with me in my nifty business card holder; it’s like wearing a watch or a ring. I feel naked when it’s not with me.

    Currently, I am waiting on a new pack of cards to arrive, and I’m really bummed that I won’t have them handy when I take my vacation this week. So many missed opportunities to plug myself! Better luck next vacation, I suppose.

    Reply
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22. Allene Croker says:

    The designs looks very cool. I like to have Business Cards like this. It makes me feel good having such type of cards in a high society.

    Reply
23. bandsxbands says:

    My friend and I were recently talking about the ubiquitousness of technology in our daily lives. Reading this post makes me think back to that discussion we had, and just how inseparable from electronics we have all become.I don’t mean this in a bad way, of course! Ethical concerns aside… I just hope that as the price of memory decreases, the possibility of uploading our brains onto a digital medium becomes a true reality. It’s one of the things I really wish I could experience in my lifetime.(Submitted from Nintendo DS running [url=http://will-the-r4-r4i-work.wetpaint.com/]R4i[/url] 6Post)

    Reply

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