Should I get some business cards?
A business card is a great analog piece of information in a digital world. Sure you can tell people what your instagram is, or website, and I do from time to time. But having something smart that represent your business that you can just give someone for them to deal with later, is a great thing to have. A business card also shows a potential client that you are willing to go through the effort of getting some cards made. We as Artist are viewed as a bit of a joke to most people, I can’t tell you how many times people asked me “if I got paid for doing this“ so anything that will make what we do a bit more relatable to people’s idea of a real job, is going to help.
How much should I spend on them?
I get mine made by moo and they cost about 50p per card. It’s a bit pricey but they allow you to have multiple designs on one side, the colours are good and the feel is nice. I got some cards from Solopress once and the red was bleeding on the back of the next card making them a bad first impression, so they got binned. To be original I also made some plastic tokens with my website on them, it made people stop and go, oh cool. Which is always a good thing, you want to make an impression. Unfortunately they didn’t fit in shopping trolleys, which was a mistake on my part. You will see tons of adverts for vistaprints, I would be careful about ordering from them since it’s all in the US and they take a long time to get to the UK, the quality is shocking and also they say they’re free but by the time you’ve paid for the shipping you could have gone to somebody my better like your local printer, moo or also instantprint.
You shouldn’t spend too much money getting some gold relief of multiple layer cards, as they are too thick for people’s wallets and they also put you in a position of superiority, which is never the best way to come across to your clients.
So which cards should I get?
You need your cards to be a nice quality paper, not too thin, so 400gsm or around that is good. Anything original is a great thing! A carpenter having thin plywood cards will be a success, same as an artist with pieces of canvas as a business card (though be minful of the smell that they will gather, so keep them in a pouch).
1. A design that represents what you do
2. Round corners so they keep their shapes
3. QR code for easy access
4. Logo
5. Name and job title
6. Email address
7. Phone number
8. Website
9. social media handle
They are by no means a standard to follow, but I will walk you through why I chose certain options. I like a square design because it’s a bit different to the typical 85cm x 65cm but they don’t fit in regular wallets as easily. The square corners allow them to keep their shape for longer and I often have a few in my back pocket or wallet so that’s handy. The smooth velvety matt look looks premium but doesn’t get dirty like a full matt porous paper. It’s also not gloss, which looks very cheap and often the gloss coatings peel off, so I’d advise against it.
I like to have a design that represents my work without text nor logos on one side.
On the other side, I like to have a White background with Grey or Black writing and my logo. As far as the info you put on it, that’s up to you. In my opinion, these 5 are the most important things to include.
1. Website
2. Social media handle
3. Name
4. Logo
5. Email address
You can have a job title if you want, but your main picture can and should show what you do. Phone number is up to you, I often don’t have it, I went with it this time. The QR code is a nice idea and I thought I’d try it, but I would hand people a card and they would type my instagram or website on their phones as opposed to taking a picture, so I might not use that again as I prefer a clean look with less on it. But that’s part of learning what works and what doesn’t. Some things will work for me, different things will work for others.
So to sum up, have something that doesn’t look cheap, but don’t have something overly premium or you’ll get the wrong outcome. Get something nice, slick, and straight to the point as far as what’s on it.