Business Cards: The Next Level

Very clever format.
During the fantastic V Conferência Brasileira de Tradutores do ProZ in Recife, Brazil, last month, Judy had the opportunity to spend some time and share some drinks with Portuguese translator Elenice Barbosa de Araujo. We'd both had the chance to meet her back in 2010 at the ATA Conference in Denver, Colorado, and we remember being very impressed by her creative business cards, which were actually a bookmark (brilliant, since she translates a lot of books). When Elenice saw Judy again in Recife, she gave her the new version of her business cards -- a very slender, slick, work of art that's in a much different format than we've ever seen before. Judy's quite standard cards pale in comparison. We have included two pictures of Elenice's card next to Judy's so you can see the difference in size -- and you can also see how much cooler they are.
The front of Elenice's card.


Elenice told us she ordered these cards from Moo.com, and we've seen their work before and find it quite fabulous. She even has a cute card holder that's just the size of her business cards! I think it might be time for us to switch from good old Vistaprint to very cool Moo. 



What about you, dear colleagues? Who designs and prints your business cards? Is it time to up the ante? Dagy already has, and hired a designer to come up with her new business cards. We will blog about them soon!


10 comments:

Alina Cincan on September 9, 2013 at 8:19 AM said...

My business cards have been designed by a graphic designer and so far I have been using Vistaprint, but having seen that a lot of people have been talking about Moo.com (and the great looking cards they produce), I think it is time for a change.

Arline Lyons on September 9, 2013 at 8:48 AM said...

I'm a huge fan of Moo and have been using them for years! I have photos of Japan on the back of the cards, and Moo lets you upload as many photos as you like so that each card is unique. I've also used their minicards, postcards and greetings cards and their customer service has always been very helpful.

Emeline Jamoul on September 9, 2013 at 8:52 AM said...

I have designed my business cards myself, however I do not exclude hiring a designer in a few years because it's not my area of expertise. I too have used Vistaprint and personally, I'm pretty satisfied with the outcome result! It's great that you can upload your own design and not stick with pre-customized one, which, in my opinion, you have to run away from!

Marie Brotnov on September 9, 2013 at 9:57 AM said...

I think the bookmark function is brilliant!

Judy Jenner and Dagmar Jenner on September 9, 2013 at 12:43 PM said...

@Alina: Thanks for reading and for commenting. We've also been very, very happy with Vistaprint and have used them for years, but needed a bit of fresh air, so Moo might be it. We love their designs and their high-quality paper stock. :)

@Arline: Thanks for your comment! Great to hear from a Moo fan on this forum. Fantastic about the images -- that was actually a question we had. We might just give Moo a try one of these days.

@Emeline: Thanks for your comment! We also love Vistaprint, and all our cards and other materials have been fantastic, so no complaints there at all. However, it's always nice to try something new! And we agree: graphic design is definitely not our area of expertise either....

@Marie: We agree -- outstanding idea, isn't it? We really enjoy learning from our very talented colleagues. Thanks for reading and for commenting!

Silvia DAmico on September 9, 2013 at 2:45 PM said...

I've had the Moo mini cards for about a year but was contemplating ordering regular size business cards before ATA54. I heard somewhere that unusual sizes aren't the best idea. After your post I might actually keep them!

Lindsay Skipper said...

A creative graphic designer friend introduced me to Moo (I had used Vistaprint for years) and once I received my first shipment, I knew I would never go back for two reasons:

First, the quality of their standard cardstock, as you mentioned. I've been amazed at how many people notice the weight and feel of my card, even inquiring about where where I ordered from!

Second, the website user's experience is simple and clean. Their site is aesthetically-pleasing and streamlined. You're not bombarded with ads, offers to buy more products upon ordering, or design samples that look dated.

Third, when you get your first order, you'll love the details of the packaging, including several business card holders (sleek black boxes that hold about 100 cards). They also do a great job of including some coupons for your next order.

Thanks for posting about something so practical yet so important!

Lucy on September 9, 2013 at 11:52 PM said...

Business cards are important to us, freelancers. We should carefully choose them (I had a designer help me with mine).
But I have heard about Moo a lot lately, they seem to have original ideas, format, designs, etc. so I think I will give it a try, probably postcards or greeting cards to start with.

Elisa Bonora on September 13, 2013 at 4:21 AM said...

Mini-cards are cool, you have your business and contact info in half space, meaning that less paper is used: ecofriendly :) Another nice format I have seen is a small single-sheet brochure folded into four: when folded, it's the size of a regular business card, and when unfolded it has four panels. That means you can fit in more info while keeping a business card size. Cool and practical!

Judy Jenner and Dagmar Jenner on September 18, 2013 at 11:55 PM said...

@Silvia: Thanks for your comment! We don't think there are really any hard rules on too many of these business card aspects, but different seems to be a good thing. It's all about standing out, so don't second-guess yourself too much: if you like the cards and potential clients seem to like them, too, then keep on using them! The only potential downside we can think of is that perhaps they might get lost in the shuffle because they are so small.... Hm....


@Linday: Thanks so much for sharing your very positive experiences about Moo! We have heard nothing but positive feedback, and we think we will be in your same position (post-switch, never going back) in a few months here. While Vistaprint has been great, the offers are really quite annoying, and we've never quite been satisfied with the quality of the paper, even when we pay for the most expensive option. Here's to fantastic business cards! We are always tinkering with ours, BTW!

@Lucy: Thanks for reading and for commenting! Let us know how it goes. :)

@Elisa: You are so right -- they are eco-friendly too boot; how awesome. Love that! And the fold-able card that you describe sounds kind of revolutionary and fab to us. Thanks for sharing!

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