What’s in a business card?
I found myself in an interesting conversation about the relevance of business cards the other day, and it got me thinking. Beyond the obviously utilitarian aspect of a business card (always handy to let a client know your name and how to reach you), I began to wonder what the real value of a business card was in today’s world of websites and social media – a world where information about a potential business partner is just a click away?
What can possibly be achieved in such a small space and in such a short amount of time, all with a piece of paper that is likely to be discarded once the contact info has been transferred over to someone’s smart phone?
A place to start is to imagine showing up at a meeting without a business card. If cards don’t matter, then what’s the point of having them on hand?
The obvious answer is that a business card is a way to provide your client with information about how to reach you – it’s most basic reason for being.
But handing over a business card also says more than that. It’s a statement of intent, both towards your business (you care about your company and your company is a real, tangible thing) and your view of the value of the relationship you are forming with a potential client. Can you imagine handing out your phone number to a stranger at the supermarket? Of course not. But you can imagine handing over your contact information to a potential business partner because to give your contact information is to say, “I’m interested in getting to know you and what you’re about.” (BTW: this is exactly what the stranger in the supermarket would think!).
Utilitarian, yes. But the act of physically handing-off a business card is one filled with positive intent. As a side note, I was taught in improv that all the best on-stage relationships start off with positive intent. And handing off a business card starts a relationship off on that exact footing.
That’s nice that you care, and that it’s real, but why “design” it?
All graphic design is both a function of communicating information (what is tangible) and expressing intent (what is intangible). Even something as dull as a page from the phone book will reveal both elements of design. The phone numbers are tangible (fixed), but the columns, type size, font, colour, placement, are intangibles – those things which are not fixed, and so must be chosen, or designed. While they can be measured, their cohesion (or lack there of) expresses their intent. The phone book’s “brand” is one of clear, immediate and organized communication. And while it’s visual problems will have less variables than say, designing a logo, it still contains variables – the intangibles of font, colour, column width, etc. – that are expressed through the tangibles (the phone numbers themselves).
While a business card can be viewed as utilitarian as a page from the phone book (in many ways, they serve a similar function), to see them solely in this way is to overlook their potential beyond utility.
Business cards provide you with three opportunities…
To make a first impression through all aspects of design and production
To reinforce your brand/offering through continuity of messaging via all channels (your website, your Twitter page, your LinkedIn page, etc.)
To speak for you in your absence after the initial meeting, or in an instance where you card is passed along to another person
As with the phone book, the tangibles (the various pieces of information about your company and how you can be reached), are designed using intangibles: colour, font, etc. Tangibles are generally conscious (the colours on their website and their business cards match), whereas intangibles are unconscious, or, emotional (I like/hate this colour). Intangibles work together to create impressions, emotions and reactions that are usually immediate and generally very personal.
Design is always an interplay between the tangible and intangible: between information and emotion. One cannot be separated from the other. Even if you attempted to extract all “design” from a business card, you’d find yourself with an impossible task: you still have to chose a size for your card, the paper it would be printed upon, a font to use and a colour. You’d have to decide where to place the type and how big to make it. You’d find yourself mixing the tangibles with the intangibles. You’d have to make fixed and non-fixed decisions, and those decisions will have an effect on the recipient.
… but their biggest opportunity is in communicating what you can do for your client.
Your company is more than a collection of names, emails and phone numbers, so why not use your business card to reinforce your offering? Keep the messaging consistent across all channels. Your business card should reinforce your brand. Business cards are tight spaces, but they can still pack a punch if they contain a message to the receiver that says something far more important than how to reach you. Like everything you create for your company, your collateral – including the tiny, often times forgotten canvas that is your business card – should always circle back to what clients really want to know: what you can do for them.