Bring it! Business Card Inspiration

When I started writing this post, it was all about tips for the best business cards and what to think about when you are designing your own. But then I realized the cards kind of speak for themselves. So I’ll just tell you a few stories about the amazing people I met and share a handful of the best business cards that I received at Alt…

Letterpress. (above) One of my favorite cards from all of Alt was this one above. It’s a double-sided letterpress card (husband and wife team). One side shows Mike with his website and the other shows Alma and her website. I had dinner with them the first night. I didn’t really get a chance to talk to them (there were 12 other people at that dinner), but they seemed very nice.

Perfectly minimal. Piper from One Sydney Road (bottom left of image above) is really good friends with someone else I met at Alt, Lillian (who I’ll mention later) and we had lunch together the first panel day and hung out throughout the rest of the time in Salt Lake City. Love her. She was also speaking on a panel one of the days and I heard it went really well. Go Piper!

And right next to the One Sydney Road card is Studio Sweet Studio. This card is proof that you don’t need tons of info – the only info you really have to have is your url. People will find the rest on their own after some investigating.

More Perfectly Minimal. Bow Tie and Bustle is Jenn’s event planning business and blog. I met her at the Seattle airport before jumping on the plane to SLC. Isn’t that logo sweet?

Oh, and you can see Ghostly Ferns in this image too. Meg is awesome! She has tons of projects going on (like Studio Sweet Studio) and plenty of business cards to go around.

Pushing Packaging. This one came in a sealed envelope and held not one but two cards inside (a team of two fab ladies with an event planning business). Below is what was inside the envelope. They were at dinner the first night too. And they were having a good time. Definitely the life of the party.

More cards…

Unique Materials. Heather from Joy of all Crafts is someone I met through Danni. Cute card! Each one had a piece of vintage fabric sewn to the back.

More Unique Materials.  This card from Katie of Salt + Pine is amazing and as it turns out, I almost had my cards printed on the very same wood from the very same Etsy shop. But then I chickened out (didn’t think I could get them in time). And as luck would have it, the first person I met for Alt (before even getting on the plane) had the exact cards that I had originally planned on getting (or course the design was different). This card is beautifully designed + it’s letterpress + it’s printed on balsa wood. So amazing.

I met Katie at the airport on the way to Salt Lake City (she lives just outside of Seattle). We talked for hours, sat next to each other on the plane (along with Jenn) and then met up with Brianne later that night. Slumber party!

Represent! Jenean is another woman that I met at dinner the first night. Once she passed out her cards and I saw her last name, I realized we already knew each other. We had worked together via papernstitch a while back and she is such a lovely person.

Her cards had tiny holes punched in them all the way around. Fun and colorful – just like her.

More Representin’. Love the signature on Miya’s card. And the gold. This is actually the back of the card, but it’s my favorite part. Miya is one of the founding partners at You + Me.

Freebies. Unstitched is Lillian’s blog, who I met thanks to Danni. And she is absolutely adorable. Her card came in a glassine envelope with a wooden bookmark, which I love, but forgot to take a picture of that part. Woops.

More Freebies. And finally we get to Danni (above and below)! Danni’s blog is Oh Hello Friend. I hung out with her quite a bit in SLC (though it seemed like not enough). Of course, her business cards are awesome. Perfectly packaged with extra goodies – a little dala horse paper clip and an inspirational decal, along with her card. So lovely! Just like her.

Final Advice: In terms of business cards, I’ll tell you one thing…

The final design that you choose can help you make a great first impression. BUT if you don’t stick around and talk to a person long enough for them to remember you, your amazing business cards aren’t going to make a lick of difference.

You want people to remember YOU – your amazing personality, kick ass shoes, and beautiful smile. Not just your card, right?

The more they remember (and like) about you, the more likely they’ll be to do business with you in the future.