Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Business cards and business card holder

By Chris Marston


One of the most important things you'll ever need out of the office, beyond your phone, beyond your laptop is your business card. Business cards can be given out, put on display in a suitable business card holder, written on with special messages (or notes if you're collecting and given them) - business cards are, in fact, still one of the strongest tools in a business person's arsenal.

Card holders and displays are designed with the proportions of cards in mind. Whether you're designing a card holder to hold and store a few cards, or a lot of cards, the most important thing is that the cards actually fit the display stands. Card holders should therefore be designed to ensure that they not only fit the cards but allow them to be removed without damage. Once this design basic is met, the next most important concept behind business card holders is that they should be austere.

Pocket holders are designed to create optimal storage conditions for your cards - protecting them from marked or torn, or otherwise damaged. They come in a myriad of formats - designed in part to express unique individuality alongside protecting the products stored within. Business card holders are therefore, very important to business people - as no one likes receiving a scruffy, marked card. They are designed to hold a set of cards - not too many, but enough to allow the person to hand out cards that are fresh and clean to their contacts.

While business card holders contain some cards, you should always keep spares in the box that they arrived in, on your person - on a successful night, the last thing you want to do is run out of business cards to hand out, and you should never assume that the amount you're carrying with you will last long enough to create a larger buss about your business. Personal business card holders are designed to be used in conjunction with hidden stores of cards. Whether you keep them in the same pocket or another pocket and keep refilling, or draw from your box and keep your business card holder ones as spare, you will always find that the ones in your pockets are kept clean and safe

A few years ago, people started wearing badges at events with 'hello, my name is' and then their name written in marker or pen. How about taking that one step further and the next time you're asked to wear a name tag, wear your business card instead? You may also need to wear a name badge for people to see, but wearing your business card gives an instant visual link to you company and you. You can also use your business card at your name place - consider either propping it against your actual name card or slotting it into a purpose designed stand. You can buy these simple pieces of desk furniture with ease, but they can make a massive impact - almost as much as wearing your card on your lapel.

Business card stands are often designed to be flat and plain, but if you work in an industry where plain is a detriment - say with children - consider decorating the stand that you're placing your business cards on. Whether you put glitter or wrapping paper on them, design something eye catching and that serve your cards well. People working with cloth may want to 'dress' business cards for display, highlighting their talents as long as creating a talking point for their business cards. Plastic stands can be designed to either support or augment designs that highlight your specialities, without interfering with their function - which allows for greater creativity.

Even if you store your actual business card information on your computer, having business cards that you've collected is often a good way to remember people - especially if you take advantage of any space on the back to write notes about people - such as their business, or other pertinent information. Business cards that you've been given are also a great way to gauge design, and start your own - while you should never copy the logos of your colleagues, they might give you inspiration for font type, or overall design look and give you an inspired starting point to work from. Having all of these cards stored in an easy to locate place is tantamount to leveraging them fully.

You can also use business cards to refer other people to contacts you've made. In some cases 'swap meets' are organised, and in others you may just have an idea of an ideal person for a project or colleagues need. Whether your business cards are a collection of colleagues, service people you've used in the past, or both, ensure you keep them in a business card holder and leverage them to ensure that your business gets the best out of them.




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