Business Cards

In another recent professional studies session, we were asked again to join small groups and discuss together business cards. We had previously to this been asked to bring in our own examples of business cards that we could collect from peoples shops etc. We were also gives a small selection from our tutor. In our teams, we were asked to discuss which we felt were the strongest and weakest business cards.

Although I do not have any images of the cards to illustrate my feedback on this session, I did find that it was useful as in the past I had never really considered or put much thought into the idea of business cards. I now have a greater understanding as to what makes a higher standard card and what a lower one. For example, the majority of the cards we were given to look at were the size of a credit card or smaller, meaning they could fit comfortably within your pocket or purse and you, as a customer, would be more likely to keep hold of it. One that we were given however was much larger than this and possibly twice the size, which we discussed was a negative feature about it.
Important things to include on business cards is a simple variety of contact details. It is good to supply customers with an email, telephone number and social media details, however it is important not to overload. A particular card we looked at supplied various options for email addresses, which we decided was not a positive thing as it becomes unclear to potential customers how to contact them with enquiries, due to not knowing which email they should use.
Colour is important on cards, as well as text and font, including sizes. Also layouts, should be considered, and whether or not you want to supply an example of your work on the card or not. It should be considered how much information you wish to supply within your card, one of ours we had gathered depicted two independent businesses, one of each on either side of the card which was quite interesting.
Overall they should remain professional, and find the balance between simplistic and overly detailed. The card is a very important thing as it can very much determine how many customers a business may end up with etc.

I can now appreciate what does and what does not make a successful business card, and will be able to address this in the future when receiving them and maybe even when designing my own.