I’ve been meaning to get a professional business card done for some time now, but I’ve been putting it off because the majority of my communication is done online rather than in person. As a result, I’m more likely to exchange emails and direct potential clients to my freelance writing website for samples, testimonials, and the like.
That said, to be respected as a legitimate business, there are certain things that you should probably have in place. Among these is a website of some kind (which I have), an email address at your own domain (which I also have, but I redirect messages to my Gmail), and a set of business card that you can exchange at networking events and other occasions where you make face-to-face contact with a potential business partner or client. I know that I should get business cards, so I finally took the plunge.
They say that you should focus on what you do well and hire people to do the things that aren’t your area of expertise. Not to toot my own horn, but seeing how I have freelance writing as a career, I have a fairly strong command of the written word. I’ve been called an expert reviewer and a pro blogger. That said, I’m not nearly as well versed in the visual arts, so I decided to hire a professional designer to handle the creation of my business card.
Several months ago, I asked the Internet community to recommend me a business card designer. Well, Stephen Fung said that I should contact Judy Yeung and so I did. A few emails were exchanged, a few drafts edited, and now I am quite pleased with the final result. What you see above is a “teaser” extracted from the high-resolution PDF file.
As you can see, it is a two-sided card with full color and I think Judy did a great job of capturing the look and feel of both MichaelKwan.com and Beyond the Rhetoric. The two sides are quite similar, but they are different enough that people will take a second glance. I’m particularly pleased with the prominence of the Rodin Thinker statue, because that has become the emblem for this blog.
This is going to be a bit of a rush, but it would be great if I have these cards ready for CES in about a week. Anyone know of a quality printing company in the Vancouver area that’ll be willing to do the rush job for a good price?
Email sent! Shoulda asked! You’ll have them before you leave for Vegas 😉
http://www.ooprint.com
Upload the PDF of your card directly onto their site. They call them “blank models” and you can choose from different sizes and formats.
They print within 24 business hours and can DHL anywhere in the world.
I’ve been really happy with their service.
Have a great 2008 Michael!