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Ask HN: Advice on Business Cards

7 points by sputknick ↗ HN
Do the freelancers on here use business cards? What information do you include/not include? Are they plain or fancy or clever? Can you post links to images of examples? Any advice on creating business cards would be helpful.

8 comments

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braum
If you have a business. You should have a professionally designed and printed business card. If you don't have time for a custom designed card just go old school. White or offwhite linen with raised black lettering with your basic contact information. It may not look fancy but at least it will FEEL like a quality piece. At a recent conference an SEO contractor (solo) handed me his business card. It had multiple primary colored areas and looked like it was from an 80's pop band. I did not call or email him for a quote...

Things to include: Business Name Your Name Title if needed, if solo just leave it off or say "Owner", don't use corp titles like CEO, President, ect.. when you have one or two employees (self included). Business Address (if its your home get a po box) Email Cell or Business Phone If you have a set schedule include that like M-F 9-5 or "anytime via email". The MOST important thing for a freelancer is an online portfolio of previous work or design/code examples.

incision
I had some personal cards made up last year.

Prominent: Name and a one-liner describing what I do.

Below: Email, google voice number specific to the cards, link for people who want to know more.

I kept the card quite plain.

I've seen thousands of cards over the years. I'm sure some of them used novel materials or designs, but I'd be hard pressed to remember any of them, much less the people they represent.

I don't think a nice design hurts unless it makes the card harder to read/scan or less usable in some way.

That said, I think a "designed" card should be professionally done. Do it yourself if you have the skills, contract someone if not.

Also:

* I think the back should be left blank and white or something approaching that (it's for notes).

* I'd stay away from cute titles. I've seen them make a negative impression more often than not.

* Half height or unusually shaped cards are a pain in the ass and destined for the trash.

* If your info changes, make new cards. A card covered in corrections looks incredibly unprofessional.

* Professional printing please. Using perforated or hand cut homemade cards is surely one of the worst a businessperson could hope to save money.

jamesjguthrie
Definitely get cards printed. You'll need them more as you do more networking.

Mine are:

Simple front with company logo and contact info on corners, i.e. phone number, e-mail, Skype address and website. Blank on the back for notes.

LarryMade2
Why have just one?

I have three business cards presently; one for my web project, one for my overall business, and one hawking just tech support (don't knock it, it pays the bills).

It's easier to hand out a card focused on what you want to project to the potential client than a generic card where you have to explain what it's all about (which they promptly forget).

If you want to go for all in one - Here's one of the ultimate business cards: http://larrymade.tumblr.com/post/53856373481

tptacek
We have nice looking business cards (ours have a hex ASCII chart on the back) but I haven't used one in at least 3 years.
wikwocket
Here's a stupid little tip that would have saved me some frustration: don't use a graphic that bleeds off the page, or that is aligned with the edge of the card.

Many printers won't do cards with bleed, or won't do them well, or will charge more. And any error in the printing will be very obvious to the eye.

mike-cardwell
Mine have:

  1.) My name
  2.) My email and xmpp address
  3.) A link to my website
  4.) Fingerprints for my public PGP and XMPP OTR keys
  5.) A small cheesy photo of my face
I don't care how "professional" it looks. I only care how useful it will be to the recipient.