20 posts tagged “businesscards”
After giving you the story behind Perch's MiniCards, we thought we should catch up with photographer, Simon Warren. Also featured on our MiniCards page, he's been taking advantage of the latest features and comparing them with the larger Business Cards he's been using (and loving) for a while. Here's what he had to say:
Simon Warren is one of the UK's top location photographers. He's been using MOO's Business Cards to showcase his outstanding graphic images: bold exteriors, sleek interiors, arresting construction shots and more.
Though happy with the size and scope of the Business Cards, he's recently been experimenting with MiniCards, with positive results.
A hardcore Business Card fan, Simon was initially worried by the slimmed-down dimensions of the MiniCards (about half the size of a full-size business card.)
"At first, I was concerned that the cards would be simply too small to showcase my photos effectively", he explains. "But actually, this can work very well. The cards show snippets of images – almost abstract – giving a hint of information, but (quite literally) not the full picture."
Rather than being a hindrance, this fits well with other design aspects of his brand. "My website works in exactly the same way – visitors are shown an interesting or intriguing section of an image, which they click to see in full. It’s a simple but effective way to get people involved and interacting with my work."
He also likes the impact the MiniCards can have when shown together. "Once you have a whole bunch of cards spread out on the table, the viewer is able to get a better impression of your work than a single image can provide, so that's how I like to show them. Then I let the viewer choose whichever one they want. The fact that they've been involved in the choice often helps them remember your work better than if you simply thrust a card into their hand.
"I often refer to my MOO Business Cards as my ‘mini-portfolio’. My MiniCards are now my mini-mini portfolio!" he laughs. "Sometimes when you're carrying a full set of business cards around in a holder, it can be a little clunky. At a very basic level, they're physically easier to carry around with you. As a photographer, you carry so much equipment with you - that's a big plus."
Simon's also pleased with his MiniCard holder. "It swings open sideways and then you push the cards out with your thumb. It's unusual and I think people like that.
"At networking events so many people are handing out conventional business cards in conventional holders. Sometimes that's what you want, but other times it's good to stand out a little. MiniCards can help you do just that."
Thanks for chatting with us Simon!
Find out more about Simon's work, or check out his portfolio.
Business Cards can be a great way to show off your company’s products. But what if the product you’re selling is a little more… esoteric than that? What if you’re selling knowledge, expertise, experience? What if you’re selling a bit of shazam and a lot of pizzazz?
Well, you could go generic – stock photos of grey-suited businessmen striding purposefully towards a breakfast meeting, maybe, or an abstract blue shape with your company name in the bottom right corner. Or, you could get interesting. You could get creative. Like PR company Ruder Finn.
The pictures on the back of the Corporate and Technology team’s business cards are random in a good way. If a member of the Corp / Tech team gives you a business card then you might end up with a picture of a ginger orang-utan, or a Thai fertility shrine, or a cute kid in a 70s jumper, or a kitten. Forget bland stock images – these are business cards with a twist.
“Why didn’t we use generic, corporate images on our business cards?” laughs Becky MacMichael, head of the Corp / Tech team. “We’re not a generic, corporate bunch! Clients buy our experience, our energy, and our personalities, so we thought, why not extend this across our business cards too?”
“When the time came to renew our cards, we knew we wanted MOO cards but decided rather than have a standard picture on the back, we’d come up with a set of categories that gave us free rein as to the images we used.”
Those categories were a favourite place, a pet, a childhood photo, and a funny image, and results include a picture of a mini Stonehenge on a beach, the aforementioned fertility shrine (full of phalluses), and a Test match cricket ticket.
“When it comes to spare time”, Becky says, “Ged loves all things Asian and design-related, Paul is mad about cricket and Mat manages a band. Despite being very different, we have a really strong united team. We wanted the cards to reflect this.”
As well as the ability to create unusual Business Cards, Ruder Finn appreciate the short runs, paper quality and print finish MOO offer.
“We usually go for the ‘green’ cards. They’re less glossy than the others, but it’s good to have the option to be eco-friendly. And MOO’s short runs are really handy if we want some cards designed for a specific event or a particular project.”
At the moment it’s only Ruder Finn’s Corporate and Technology team who are using this style of card, but they’ve been such a hit with colleagues and clients that there are now plans to introduce the cards to other teams within the company. After all, the aim of good PR is to get people talking about a product, so why not start people talking the second you hand over your business card?
“Do our clients like the cards? Definitely!”, says Becky. “At meetings I tend to pull out whichever ones I remembered to stuff in my wallet that morning, and let the client choose which card to take. They’re a good talking point – the client usually asks why the cards are all different, or what the image represents. And they’re a great ice-breaker at networking events. Especially the fertility shrine!”
Read more about the stories behind Ruder Finn’s MOO cards on their blog.
If there's one thing we like at MOO it's good ideas. And it's been a little while since our last post sharing ideas from our creative community - so we thought now would be a good time for a catchup. So, sit back and take in some of the cool ideas we've spotted recently.
Peta Love is an author, and founder of Biliopet, an indie publisher of gift books for pets. Her most recent tome, Beef Casserole for the Dog's Soul is 'a treasury of stories that your dog will love'.
Sadly, as most of you know, it's the owners - not the dogs - with all the money, so Peta has created these fantastic MiniCard tags as a promotional tool to catch the owner's eye.
Using the simple Text-o-matic tool for the front of the cards, each card has an area to fill in with doggy details on the back, and a little ring to attach the card to a dog's collar. Just like Jack Hooker's Business Cards, Peta rounded the MiniCard corners with a corner cutter.
We love the idea of creating multiple cards for people to personalise - it's a great value-for-money marketing tool, as you can get so many cards from one pack. We mentioned these last Christmas, but the idea still makes us smile:
These are personalised playdate cards, created by photographer Robyn Pollman. Originally designed as a Christmas gift, they work as both a client 'thank you' and a referral card. (And if you're looking for more inspiration for referral cards, we covered some cool ideas here.)
Readers of the MOOsletter might've spotted these super-cute magnets already. (If you'd like to sign up to the our MOO newsletter, there's a sign up box on the homepage at www.moo.com). Made with magnetic tape and MiniCards these feature fashion fucsia's own illustrations, and are for sale on Etsy:
What better way to promote your artwork and get your work into potential clients hands, than creating beautiful (saleable!) products?
These stylish MOO Postcards are also for sale on Etsy, created by artist and designer, Dee Adams.
And this display was created to accompany an exhibition of work by Natasha Newton. Also a MOO Designer, Natasha tells us not only did her exhibition go well, but her postcards 'sold like hotcakes!'.
Are your MOO Cards more than just Business Cards? Let us know what you're up to - we love to hear about innovative uses of our products, and featuring the brains behind them.
Well, I suppose it makes us more agile - in that we move from our desks to the meeting rooms more often...
The dev team here at MOO started using the Agile Scrum methodology for managing our software development projects at the beginning of the year, and it's been a very enjoyable experience so far. Imagine my glee when I found out we weren't the only ones making Planning Poker cards from MOO Business Cards :-) And they're not the only ones either, our friends at Made By Many said of their cards:
"We used MOO to make up printed agile estimation cards because we were fed up with scraps of badly-drawn paper. Each estimator has their own individual colour, and selects a card with his/her personal estimate. It makes the process feel much more professional! "
Planning Poker is a different way of estimating projects. In my previous lives, I've used hours, days, weeks, sometimes months, and the ever popular "pull a figure out of the air and double/triple/quadruple it, depending on how hard you think your project manager's going to work you" approach. Scrum uses a funny unit called a 'story point', where a story is a piece of work and the number of points the story is worth is how much effort the piece of work will take the team to produce.
It's called planning *poker* because after talking about what's involved in the tasks, each of us gets a set of numbered cards, decides secretly how many points we think the task is worth, and puts a card down, face down. The ideal aim of the game is for all of us to know each other and our codebase so well that we all agree first time around when we turn over the cards. Since ideals are very hard to achieve, we more likely end up arguing the case to the rest of the team.. Shouting can sometimes be heard. Biscuits are eaten in anger and frustration, and sometimes, happily :-)
We caught the design team on a good day and plied them with biscuits too, and they made us these. Not just in pink either...
So if you've had similar fun with your planning poker cards, send them over to the Flickr pool or let us know, I'd love to see them!
Recently, Toby, one of the MOO Crew's developers, had the pleasure of meeting Jack Hooker. In usual fashion, Jack gave Toby one of his business cards . All of us back at MOO Studios were very impressed with Jack's cards and excited to find out that Jack had made his cards with MOO. So, we asked San Sharma* to find out a bit more about Jack and the story behind his cards for our business ideas section.
We couldn't wait for Jack's story to go live in our ideas section so we've shared it as a sneak peak here on our blog. Here's what San discovered...
Jack Hooker is a freelance graphic designer, working from a social collaborative space in
Lewes, East Sussex. Co-working, he says, gives him the chance to meet other creative professionals - and with his MOO Business Cards he makes sure that everybody knows Jack!
Jack uploaded complete designs for the front and back of his MOO Business Cards in four variations based on illustrations of himself - as the Jack in a pack of playing cards.
As a freelancer, Jack is used to appearing in different guises. He works for a number of design agencies and private clients, on projects as diverse as packaging, print and promotions. He also designs for newmedia, creating sites for bands and brands.
In fact, Jack got the idea for his business cards at The Farm, where he found that many people were already using MOO for themselves. "I saw that you could have different designs on the back of each card," he said. "So, I emailed MOO to see if my idea was do-able and they replied, explaining how to use the PDF uploader on their website. It was easy!"
Jack then used a corner cutter to round the edges off his Business Cards so that they looked more like playing cards. "The response I've had from the cards has been great," he said. "If I give one out at an event, I often get two or three more people asking if they can have one too!"
The cards are a perfect way to show off Jack's creativity, as a master of his trade, without breaking the bank. "They're very affordable," Jack says. "And MOO offers small print runs too - perfect for trying out new ideas to see how they'll look, and what kind of response they'll get." And, as a conversation piece, they’re an ideal ice-breaker, especially if you’re a nervous networker!
Jack played his cards right by using MOO. As a freelancer, first impressions are everything, and with these cards, Jack’s always sure to have a winning hand.
*Interview & Post by San Sharma. San helped create Enterprise Nation, the UK home business website, in 2006. He was its Creative Director for four years and editor of its Technology channel. He now helps people and companies make things work better, on paper and on screen, as a writer, designer and Social Media Consultant.
There's something fantastically James Bond about these Business Cards. In a world where we're all dressed head to toe in black, jetsetting around on covert missions, we'd leave nothing but a card like this behind for our frustrated enemies to find.
Taking the card carefully out of its case with gloved hands, we'd place it on the table and smile secretively to ourselves as we abseiled out of the window, landing deftly on a motor bike below. We'd head straight for the nearest impractical stairway we could find, and drive down it shouting triumphant phrases in multiple languages.
Our card of course, would contain no traditional names and numbers, just a beautiful, graphical representation of our unique DNA. You want to find me? Match up my DNA first!
Well. Something like that anyway.
In real life, a company called DNA 11 made these cards - and they're a lot more practical, and a lot easier to produce than you may think. They can already create unique artworks from your own DNA, so they decided to make themselves some Business Cards with the same images.
Each image is created from a real-life swab (you get your own kit when you sign up!) The DNA is then extracted from the swab and run onto gel. A raw image is captured, which is then digitally enhanced and coloured.
The images they used for their own cards have been coloured in different ways - it makes a great looking pack and is the perfect way to showcase their business. They've also made some with fingerprints too.
If you like the idea of coloured packs, but not the idea of handing out your biological signature, we've recently added lots of new packs to the ColourLovers portfolio! You can mix and match designs, or buy Ready Made packs, with different colour themes.
We're rather attached to this pack, Dreaming in Green, which looks great when fanned out as you offer them to a new contact:
And this City Slicker pack is good for a more 'traditional' businessy approach. Read what ColourLovers have to say about the new packs and palettes, on their own blog.
"Finals!" "Portfolio reviews!" "End of Year Shows!" "Jobs!" "The World!"
If this is a snippet of what is going through your mind at the moment, we can sympathise. It wasn’t that long ago that we were busy, eager, just a little nervous, and heading for graduation ourselves.
For design, art and photography students, now is the time to pull a whole year’s work into one exhibition; impressing tutors, fellow students - and more importantly, VIPs that might have jobs (and a pay cheque) up their sleeves.
So how do you make the most out of your end of year show? What materials do you need to help make a good impression?
One of the first places you could start is with an invitation. Maybe you're having a group invitation, designed in tandem with your course - or perhaps you can work on a design of your own. If you have a list of people you know you'd like to invite, Postcards can be great for this. Available in small packs of 20, or larger packs of 60, you can put a different image on every one. Want a packaging company to see your show? Send them a shot of your packaging work. Want design agencies to come too? Send each agency a different example of your work that you know will appeal to them. One of the best things about using MOO is the chance of printing multiple images in one order, at a reasonable price.
These Postcards are a great example - they're invitations to a solo exhibition, created by Ladydesign. Each has a striking image and really makes the most of her strong portfolio.
Once people are at your show, of course they're going to love your work! But don't forget, they'll be seeing a lot of different artists, so giving them something smart to remember you by is the next thing to think about. Business Cards and MiniCards are perfect for this - they can feature your work on one side, and your details on the other. New contacts can take away their favourite piece of work in your folio, and have a good way of contacting you in the future.
We've shown this shot by the awesome PhotoCharlie before, but it's a colourful set up, easy to create, featuring MiniCards, and Postcards. As you can see, you can show a wide range of work, and each item is easy to unclip and take away:
Simple washing line and pegs are also eye-catching, interactive and effective - as you can see here, in this great shot by °Giulietta°
Or, when space is tight or more formal, a simple card dispenser on the wall is a handy addition, as demonstrated by rachelmoon:
When money is tight too, make use of the FREE Business Card holder you get when you buy MOO Business Cards! Our lovely ex-MOO-project manager, Iain, took this shot, when he spotted a case being used as part of a small art installation:
Another great idea we've seen to get people to interact with your work and take it away are these bookmarks, by fashion fucsia. Featuring beautiful illustrations and brightly coloured ribbon, they're quick to make and *really* appealing!
These are wonderful too - by redmeg8, they're different examples of work, joined in one corner. A take-away-folio!
Once the show is over, don't forget to keep a pack of Business Cards or MiniCards with you at all times. You never know when a chance to show and share your work might strike - as this great post (also full of tips!) demonstrates. As David Moore found out, with different examples of your work on every card, it really is like a mini portfolio for your pocket.
However you do it - GOOD LUCK!
You might also like to know, some of the very best art schools in the world (University of Arts London and Pratt, NY) have joined up with MOO to offer their students some extra good deals on these products, as they prepare for their shows.
If you attend an art or design school, or teach at, or are affiliated with one, and want to put together a special offer for all the students in the school, why not get in touch? We’d love to help.
And in the meantime, why not think about attending an end of year show near you? They’re a great way to network, find new talent, meet other creative types and possibly blag a little drink or canapé!
Here are a few that we've spotted;
London, UK: University of Arts London.
May 18th - July 10th
NY, USA: Pratt Institute
May 12th - May 15th
NY, USA: Parsons School for Design
May 15th - May 23rd
California, USA: Caliornia College of the Arts
Throughout May
Rhode Island, USA: Rhode Island School of Design
May 30th
We have no idea how you figured it out, but yes, our 'new product announcement' yesterday was just for April Fool's day. I must admit, we had far too much fun planning and making it - and that was doubled by reading all your comments.
Just incase you didn't know, we do sell real Eco Friendly Business Cards, which we think are quite super. We just don't WRITE THE NAME IN CAPITAL LETTERS and they actually do come 'ready assembled', with both the words and the pictures attached:
The stock is 100% recycled and 100% recyclable - and the free holder is 100% recycled pulp board and recyclable too. For anyone in the USA worried about the airmiles, you'll be glad to know that soon we'll be printing and shipping in the USA, and so not only will your cards arrive much quicker, but they'll have less distance to travel too.
These are some customer shots of our Eco Friendly Business Cards:
Colourful photos, by Laura A
Antiqued images showing the beautiful jewellery of >kotomigd
And technobiosphere took a shot of the free holder - the wraps are recycled, and removeable, so you can use the subtly branded case to carry your cards safely in your bag.
We also know from experience, that you need somewhere to keep the cards people give you - so the holder comes with two little index cards, ready to help you store other people's cards, without getting them mixed up with your own - you can see then here in another nice shot from technobiosphere. One says 'mine' - and the other, 'theirs'.
As you can see, we like to have some fun (all be it practical fun) with our non-April-fool's packaging too. Why not? Getting your own Business Cards should be exciting and special - and to be honest, the plastic boxes we received our business cards in before we started MOO were neither exciting, nor special. We hope this packaging might be something you want to keep, re-use and make the most of.
Anyway.
Time to get cracking on the USA launch now, thanks for dropping by and joining in yesterday's fun!
Those who subscribe to the MOO Newsletter*, will have seen that last week we were talking about different things you can do with your cards, over and above the 'usual'.
Of course you can use them as regular business cards (that's what they are, after all!) but we've spotted some people using both MOO MiniCards and Business Cards as a form of packaging for small, handmade items.
We mentioned these beautiful bobby pins, mounted on MiniCards, for sale by Nestdecorating:
And since then, we've spotted a few more examples...
These colourful buttons made by Polka Dot Cottage are hand-stitched to Business Cards...
and ready for the yarn shop
These ceramic clay magnets by Lauren Denny are also attached to Business Cards, and ready to sell at a Handm@de Fair
We've seen MiniCards used to great effect at craft fairs in the past, like the ones in this shot, used to mount earrings, made by Julie Bug Designs:
And even used as simple hang tags, like these, by Claudes Creations
So, the question is: what are you doing with *your* cards?
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* Not subscribed to the newsletter? Oh. Well, if you'd like to, you can sign up in the box at the bottom of the homepage. We usually send it out twice a month, and it has special offers, MOO news and creative ideas for yourself, or your small business.
We've had a very busy time of it here at MOO Towers recently. Some of the MOO Crew were at SXSWi, while others were working on the new MiniCard box - and additional packaging ideas to be revealed soon. The dev team are all hard at work preparing for the USA launch, and others have just hopped on a plane to Photoshop World, in Boston.
The Recruitment Crew are hard at work, reading CVs for our recent UK and USA job postings - and have asked me to mention that if you haven't got response to something you've sent us, please don't worry. They're reading everything very carefully, and hoping to respond as soon as they can.
The lovely folks in the warehouse are still sending out orders as fast as their little legs will carry them and we're still seeing beautiful Cards and Stickers flying out the door.
It's been a little while since we last held up that mirror to show you how great you are, so look! A little round up in pictures, from you, the MOO community:
supercoco9 has been decorating a mini-laptop with Stickers:
While Buster shows us what Stickers are really meant for, in this photo by absolutely small:
And Seattle Roll shows us just how cute MiniCards can be...
While Chameleon Designs goes for understated elegance, using photos of her own creations on Business Cards:
I received this fantastic MiniCard in the post, from the lovely Cole:
And finally, these beautiful invitations were created by Lady Design for her forthcoming exhibition, using Postcards:
If you're feeling creative and you've just received - or are about to receive - some MiniCards in the post, don't forget our mini-competition!
