# Business Cards



## W.Y.Photo (Dec 17, 2014)

I'm about to print off business cards and I was just wondering what people think should be included in a photographer's business card.

Personally I'm thinking I'll keep it simple with my email, website, and maybe my twitter.

Should the card have photos or just simple design elements? I obviously want it to match my style as a Photographer but should I use my fine art work even though the card will be mostly be handed out for commercial purposes or should I risk narrowing down my potential clientel by using some of my more specifically branded commercial imagery? 

What did you guys do for your cards?


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## D-B-J (Dec 17, 2014)

I went the unconventional route and included a photo. I've handed out many, and most comment on the photo in some way or another or tell me how they think my cards are unique. It was a gamble but I think it works pretty well. 







Try and keep them simple and clean. That's my suggestion. And for these I just made them all in Photoshop and then saved them as JPEGs, rather than try and use a companies software.


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## runnah (Dec 17, 2014)

Simple is better. Subtle off white color, raised type and a classy font.


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## W.Y.Photo (Dec 17, 2014)

Looks good Jake!

It's good that the image goes along with your name and its easy to read making the information easily accessible.


Good point runnah. Don't you think having something to make it stand out is a good idea though?


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## runnah (Dec 17, 2014)

W.Y.Photo said:


> Good point runnah. Don't you think having something to make it stand out is a good idea though?



Considering everyone does a fancy business cards now a simple elegant one might stand out more than a flashy one. Besides, cleanly laid out text never goes out of style.


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## W.Y.Photo (Dec 17, 2014)

That's a good point. A friend of mine modeled his card after Patrick Bateman's from American Psycho and I'm sure that gets him a ton of notoriety.


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## Gary A. (Dec 17, 2014)

I created a logo.


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## dennybeall (Jan 1, 2015)

Name and contact info along with an unambiguous word like Photography. I've seen many that have fancy scrolling words and a business name like "High Ridge" or "Magic Memories" and those are hard to read and not memorable.
Having a non gloss back with some white space where a note can be written can help also. One idea is to have sections in your website for different efforts like weddings or sports or whatever. Then on the back of the card have the basic web address with a blank area where you can write in the url extension  www.blah.com__________ You could write in "/sports"...


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## W.Y.Photo (Jan 1, 2015)

So I got a bunch of these printed. I left the bottom back blank to write on with a silver sharpie

Anybody like?

Edit: they're about the size of a playing card


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## dennybeall (Jan 2, 2015)

I like the card, it's creative and covers name and contact info. Can see where having a silver sharpie handy could be a bit of a problem. Don't know about the larger size. Years ago folks kept cards in like storage devices in alphabetical order for reference but now most everybody just looks it up on the net.


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## W.Y.Photo (Jan 4, 2015)

Thanks for the input Denny. I really wanted them to stand out so I thought formatting them to the photos aspect ratio would be good. I'm still unsure about the back but I'll work on it and next time I print them I'll change it up a bit.


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## Granddad (Jan 5, 2015)

It's time for me to get new cards, too, so I'm liking this thread.


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## MichaelHenson (Jan 5, 2015)

This is what I went with... Wanted something straightforward but immediately recognizable as pertaining to photography... Looking at it now, I wish I wouldn't have put "photographer" on there now as it seems redundant... 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




I now have a logo that I'll use next time...


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## 407370 (Jan 5, 2015)

I like the idea of 2 sides being printed. Could not resist having a play in C4D:

Front:


 

back:


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## imagemaker46 (Jan 5, 2015)

I use a few different cards, here are two of them, one is very basic, I also have it in black with white text. The other is a football card. I've had several of these done over the years by the card company I shoot football for.


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## RDenhardt (Jan 5, 2015)

I like the simple approach, in fact I really like this one...


MichaelHenson said:


> This is what I went with... Wanted something straightforward but immediately recognizable as pertaining to photography... Looking at it now, I wish I wouldn't have put "photographer" on there now as it seems redundant...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



And I think they need to be able to fit in the wallet, otherwise they will get tossed in my opinion.  I also like to include a phone number on top of things like email and website.  But I run a landscaping company not a professional photography place.  Maybe include what you specialize in whether it be weddings or sports or something like that


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## Designer (Jan 5, 2015)

W.Y.Photo said:


> Don't you think having something to make it stand out is a good idea though?



IMO you can spend a lot of money creating something special, but most people don't keep business cards the way we did years ago.


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## MichaelHenson (Jan 5, 2015)

RDenhardt said:


> I like the simple approach, in fact I really like this one...



Thanks! Glad to hear it!



Designer said:


> W.Y.Photo said:
> 
> 
> > Don't you think having something to make it stand out is a good idea though?
> ...



^^ Agreed. That's mainly why I went with a simpler approach. I ordered mine with a metallic sheen to the front and a plain backside (mhm)...got like 250 for $20 (or less?) 

To date, I've given out about 5....to friends and family...If I were going to spend a bunch of money on marketing, I would focus on my site or on attending networking events, etc. Business cards seem to be somewhat of a necessity still but it seems that they're more of a temporary, ready-made contact card for someone to get from you really quickly. They'll most likely hold onto it until they can get home or to the office and save your information to their phone, computer, etc. before throwing the card away...

IMO, of course.


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## W.Y.Photo (Jan 5, 2015)

They are exactly as you stated Henson but living in NYC I have already handed out an enormous amount of these. It seems like everyone in NY is looking for you to at least have one so they can get your contact info when they are interested in the work you are doing.


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