Thursday, April 19, 2012

A Lesson Learned @TxSC: The Business Cards I Wish I'd Had but Didn't [Part 2]

In part 1, I discussed the types of cards that I personally found the most helpful for remembering fellow TxSC participants. Now let's brainstorm on some visual aids to memory and design some cards with me as the guinea pig. 


First, your important information. This can all go on the back side, maybe with a graphic from your blog.
most likely the graphic will have to be B+W. oops.
Make sure your card has:
Your name
Your blog URL
Your twitter handle
Bonus points for: instagram handle, Facebook page, etc
And make sure it's easy to read! NO SCRIPT FONTS PLEASE!!!

The front is where the fun stuff happens...  Remember, my focus here is on cards with your picture on it...
Here are some questions to ask yourself to get inspired... (I had more questions but realized they went outside my "visual of self" criteria and better served a card with a less specific purpose -- I'll add them at the very end without visuals, maybe you can use some of the ideas)
Disclaimer - most of my samples here I did quickly at 72dpi. Don't zoom the images!


Do you post Outfit of the Day photos? No brainer!

Do you have a certain accessory that is a signature look?


Me, in my gigantic glasses
photo credit: Shimelle

note: you will be seeing a lot of that squiggle print background
in my samples below. just warning you!
or my handful of rings --
my hand over my keyboard is a good "blogger" cue
Do you blog about a certain thing?
I do crazy pattern mixing.
If I know for sure I'm wearing a certain outfit,
I could put that mix on the card
(very limited use!)
Does your blog have a unique stylistic thing or special kinds of posts?
I've got my SpyGirl sketches that are also self portraits
there's the self portrait that is my Blogger avatar
Do you have a DIY you might be wearing or that you are known for?
Can you give mini-visuals of the steps?
not mine, not entire image -- source
Do you sell a product? Will you be wearing a sample?

my scarf design I'm pimping
Maybe you have less visuals and more writing? A headshot and your tag line perhaps?

(if you zoom this, it will look pixellated. just warning you)
tag line is legible on my header at top!

Keep in mind -- fashion and beauty bloggers are primarily visual people. They will remember you by what you were wearing, your fabulous shoes, your amazing earrings, your incredible hair style, your style in general, etc, etc.
Help them remember you!

MOO Cards let you do 50 different designs so you could have an array to fan out for someone to choose... let your imagination run wild!

We were given an offer of 50 free cards prior to the conference.
So what did my cards look like for TxSC?










(drumroll)













hint...













this is what I was doing in my motel room at 5pm Friday night of the conference










voila!
>cue awkward silence<

yes, they are the size of a 1 x 3" mailing label
DIY! Information FAIL! (do I at least get points for the QR code?)

What happened, Anne the SpyGirl?
I froze. I procrastinated. I had too many choices. I waited until the last minute. Was I the only person that handed out a weird sized thing (not even card stock) with raggedy edges? Did that make mine memorable? Ha - it certainly became a topic of conversation during card swapping.
Next time I'll do better, I promise myself. I'll start working on them NOW! [I vowed in March]

Did I? No.
At least I'd written this out so that now I'm under a deadline, I won't forget anything important!
When I get them all uploaded, I'll post my designs. That'll be Part 3!
To be continued...

here


ps: more questions/themes -

Do you blog about a certain thing?
I've been working on a 365 photo project. Maybe one of those images?

Maybe one of your Instagrams, one that you're really proud of or one that got a lot of likes or comments?

A trend board?

A "favorite things" visual?

Something from your Pose app?


Did I miss something?