Five Ideas for Designing a Business Card That Won’t Get Thrown Away

When you go to networking events, you will end up handing out a lot of business cards, but it’s likely that many of the people who you give them to will either stuff the card in their pockets, or just throw them in their briefcase and forget about them. These ideas will help you to build a business card that you can

 

1 – Use a Standard Size

As cute as those ‘half size’ and ‘over size’ business cards are, you will find that they are more likely to get lost or discarded because they are harder to file. Standard sized business cards fit in a holder, so people can look after them more easily.

 

2 – Make Them Easy to Write On

While it pays to make them thick and durable, you should choose a matte finish, so that people can write on your business card. This lets them make notes about why they talked to you and what they need to follow up with you about, so you won’t be forgotten.

 

3 – Match Your Business Personality

Make your business card match your business personality – serious if you work for an accounting firm, fun if you work for a PR Company, for example. The more memorable your business card is, the better.

 

4 – Add Value

If you have the ability to do so, make your business card act like a ‘voucher’ at the same time. Offer a discount with it, or a code for a free sample. This works particularly well for online retailers, and for people who work in the IT industry, since they can simply put discount codes or product keys on their cards.

 

5 – NFC and QR Codes

Alternatively, instead of discouraging people from throwing the card away, try using NFC or QR code technology, so that people can immediately transfer the information from the card to their phones. This means that you can be confident that people have your details – which is all the card was supposed to help with anyway.

 

A business card is a tool to help make you as memorable as possible, and encourage people to follow up on that initial meeting. You still need to work to make a good first impression, and you should do your own follow ups too, if you want to make the most out of networking.

What is it that Makes The World’s Most Iconic Logos Work So Well?

Iconic logos enjoy that definition for a reason – they are the logos that everyone recognizes, and that span continents and even break through language barriers. Iconic logos earn their status through clear, eye-catching design, consistency, and a clarity that their rivals lack.

When most people think of iconic brands, they think of Nike, Coca Cola or Pepsi – brands that got there partly through seniority (The Coca Cola lettering has evolved over time, but is generally similar to the original, decades-old design) and massive ad-spending. However, there are other designs that are also iconic, and that are universally recognized.

The logo for the Red Cross, for example, is known the world over – and it is simple; a red cross. Apple’s logo is an Apple. Both of these are simple, clear logos that embody what the brand owners want to represent.

At the other end of the spectrum, you have Google – a company who represents its brand image through the Google lettering, and the regularly updated ‘doodles’, which are educational, fun, and a little way of spicing up the plain and almost empty Google home page. That emptiness, again, is a part of the brand.

While some companies do use words for their logos, this is a gamble. Uniqlo, for example, uses the English spelling of their name on their English and American logos, but in Japan they use Japanese characters to phonetically spell something very similar to the English pronunciation of their name. This is a clever way of making their brand accessible to a massive audience. It does mean that the brand has more than one logo, but there can be a good pay-off for brands that want to reach massive audiences.

If you are thinking of getting a logo designed for your business, then you should take a moment to think about what you want to represent for your brand. Remember that changing a logo in the future is an expensive proposition, so it is better to come up with a timeless design. One that you can keep for many years. Clean, simple and un-dated, the best logos will last forever, and won’t include anything that will tie it to a specific year, cultural event, or technology – giving the brand time to grow and evolve as the economic landscape they operate in changes.

2016 Top Trends for Wedding Invitations

Weddings are very exciting events for everyone involved. If you are planning one for yourself and your beloved or are assisting a friend or family member with wedding details, you need to know what is trending in 2016 for everything, including the invitations.

Although recent years have seen many people copying the styles seen on the Internet or with the well-publicized royal wedding, many forecast a change in 2016 as more couples wish to show off their own styles and interests. This is important to keep in mind when you are deciding everything, from which invitations to use to the perfect honeymoon destination.

One trend that gives you a lot of room for personalization is metallic colors. You can incorporate them in multiple ways to ensure that you are able to accent your invitations perfectly. Whether you have a classic design in mind or something fun and funky, you can use metallics in the print or design itself as an eye-catcher.

Perhaps instead you want to create the feel of a certain special city for the event. Many couples have an interest in recreating the city that they met in or the campus where they went to college and fell in love. If creating a destination styled wedding, you should start with the invitations. A picture of the cityscape done in two tones or something similar may be just the thing you need!

If the wedding is going to have a romantic theme to it with soft lighting and a more formalized dinner, then your invitations need to have a similar feel to them. The use of neutral colors and subdued fonts is definitely in order here. You may consider rose gold print to highlight the information against a sepia toned background.

The most important thing to remember is that the invitations need to reflect the experience guests will have at the wedding and reception. For instance, if you are planning a beach wedding, then an invitation with embossed sea shells would be far more appropriate than a black and white formal one.

This is why it is important that you work out the theme early on. You and your guests will know what to expect and the invitation will become a treasured keepsake to remember the event with. You and your guests are sure to love whatever you choose if you remember that!