The Wellspring

So you know that if you’re attending large events, business cards are a good idea. But most young people don’t have business cards they can use - they don’t have an employer who provides personalised cards, or their employer is not in a relevant field to the event that the young person is attending.

There is, of course, another option: get some business cards printed yourself! It’s not as difficult as you might think, and, oh, the benefits: having business cards saves you the time and effort of writing your details on a napkin, and being able to oversee their design ensures that you’ll have something you can be happy with, which will leave an impression and provide a little more information to a potential contact.

And with some looking around, you should be able to find printers who’ll do a run of 1000 good-quality full-colour double-sided 310gsm cards (you probably don’t want to go much thinner than that, and 360gsm is probably getting towards as thick as you’d like it) - which will last you a few years - for about $200; well worth the price. I like the earthiness of wood-free stock (ie recycled card), but if you’d prefer something a little more hard-wearing try a matte cellosheen finish (which gives a slight plastic-y feel to it). Unfinished cards look like they’ve been done on a home printer, whilst glossy cellosheen looks over-the-top.

What information to include
At a minimum, your cards should contain all your basic contact information. If you move around a bit (and remember that one print run will probably last you a few years), try to list only information that isn’t going to change - pen lines hastily scribbled through outdated contact information is nasty! You might consider inlcuding your name, city (and country if you attend lots of international events), email address, website address (have you set up a personal website yet?), and mobile telephone number. Postal addresses and landline telephone numbers aren’t that useful anymore, having been largely superseded by email addresses and mobile telephone numbers.

The question of whether to list a position is a little more difficult. Many young people don’t have a relevant position that they can list, or their positions change so often that a listing would soon be outdated (which means more nasty pen lines!), or else they have so many positions on various committees and organisations that listing them all would look pretentious. If this is you, there are a few options: you can leave the position out altogether, you can put something general onto your card (like ‘youth advocate’) or you can do what I do and instead use the other side of the card to introduce yourself in a little more depth, and without the pigeonholing limitation of a position name. The small size of business cards gives you about a paragraph to clearly state who you are (it might be worth noting that you’re a young person), what your interests are and what you do.

The introduction on my cards reads:

Alan Wu is a young Australian working with a range of government, non-government and intergovernmental organisations to build a more socially just society. He’s especially interested in:

• the role of international institutions in promoting human development,
• building social capital and the capacity of communities to engage in decision-making, and
• innovative social and political applications of new technology.

Sound interesting? Get in touch.

A longer introduction like this is likely to be more informative then a mere position name, more memorable and lead to better follow-up (which is, after all, what you’re really looking for).

Other tactics to get your business card retained include using the reverse side to display useful information (for example, a calendar of major events in the sector, a chart of organisations, or a list of useful websites), a colourful banner graphic or space for notes. I’m especially fond of the last idea and include a little box on my card that says ‘Contact me regarding ….’. I figure that you’re most likely to give your card out at the end of an introductory conversation, and that reminding the person of a reason to contact you can be helpful. If Ive got nothing in particular to follow-up on, I can always fill in the space with something generic, like ‘Contact me regarding anything you like.’

Design considerations
Design is another difficult area for young people. Without affiliation to a specific organisation, you’ve got a lot more freedom in determining how you want your business card to look - and this freedom can often be difficult to deal with.

Ultimately, only you can properly judge what your business card should look like. You should consider the type of events you attend, the type of people you’re likely to give your card to, and the impression you want to convey. You probably want a design that speaks to your youthfulness but that still looks professional and credible. I find that bright, simple and clear designs work well.

There has been a tendency towards longer, thinner cards, which I think look a little more modern and accessible. However, consider also the many accessories that have been built around the standard business card size (90mm x 55mm) - wallets, business card holders, etc. Whilst a square card may look elegant, it’s not much good if the person receiving it can’t put it into their card holder because it won’t fit. Whilst a thin rectangular card may look funky, it’s not much use if it’s more easily lost within a pile of other cards. It may be better to try to stand our by using more vibrant or interesting graphic design, rather than by using non-standard sizes or shapes.

Also be aware that design of your business cards is not usually included in the price of printing. Whilst you can usually pay a little more to get the printer’s in-house designers to design your card, I’d highly recommend designing it yourself (call your printers to ask how they’d like the design - most accept emailed .pdf files created in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop). If you do create it yourself, start with an image that measures 93mm x 58mm (the extra 3mm each way allows for any printing offset) and is set at 300dpi. The greatly increased level of control you can get from being able to play around with your ideas for a few days and ask friends for comments is invaluable, and can often make for a much stronger design.

Business cards are a vital tool in developing your networks - a little investment of time and money to design something you won’t be ashamed to show others is worth it. Good luck!