Business cards!

[photo guy]

I print my own at home since am not a pro photographer. I have actually had a number of people who expressed how they like them. I custom made mine to reflect my fire photography.

[TPF Sponsor]

[cgipson1]

I use these.... seem to work

[borisnikon]

Go on to moo.com and you can muck around and make one with a photo on the back if you want, and I'm sure you get some free

[Aloicious]

some nice card designs here. I recently made some up for my small business (automotive journalism mainly), I don't have a scan of them but some advice that I'd recomend, and things I'd wish I would have done differently, keep in mind my goals in a card are a bit different than someone who is running a photography business (like portraits,etc), but here are some things that may help...

-keeping it simple is ideal in my book, a small hook like a foil logo or die cut or something is great to catch the eye, a simple image is good, but if its too busy or cluttered it looks unprofessional IMO.

-since most of the associations I make in regards to my business are automotive/tool/DIY guys, I spent extra for some fancy paper that was supposed to look metallic (I wanted it to look like brushed aluminum, or at least just solid medium grey with mild reflectivity, which is what I was under the impression it would look like), wish I didn't, since I ordered them online I didn't have a physical proof to inspect, the paper was high quality, but it looks sparkly, which isn't want I was going for and I don't really like it much. luckily I only did a small run so next time I order I'll get a different paper.

-regardless of the color/texture/etc, get a good thick paper, The thin paper cards just feel cheap and unprofessional IMO, plus thicker paper will hold up better when handled, and will retain looking good for longer in the client's hands (thin paper will bend/crease/rip easier), when I was at the SEMA show in vegas I got several dozen cards from people while I was going around the convention, and after being in my pockets while walking around, and driving, and riding the monorail, and being packed in a suitcase, etc, when I got home and sorted through everything, the higher quality cards I recieved, I found the thicker paper cards maintained their crisp and clean look much better than the thin ones.

-Leave some room to write info or something on, preferrably on the back. when I made my cards I put a simple silouette image of a truck on the back that took up most of the room, it looks good on the card, but I found when I'm at trade shows or when I'm covering an event, people like to ask you questions then write down info on the cards to help them remember you when the show or event is over. I eliminated virtually all the area to do this on, wish I hadn't.

-colors will look different on different colored paper, request a physical proof for approval before the full production printing to make sure everything looks the way you want it.

[adam68]

I think it should be kept clean and simple. You do not want it to be crowded with information and images, beacuse then you would just confuse the customer. When I got my business cards made from CardsMadeEasy, they helped me alot in the process of making my own business card

[printisnotdead]

Clean is good. Look at Google's home page - only the basics are shown. They don't clutter things up with all sorts of extranious information. I'd also include an image or example of your work, if possible. It's especially good in art and design fields to show off what you can do.

[uduxdigi]

Hi Dom,

Do you have any samples of a slightly black business card? Or a dark color or blue?