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Tips for Business Card design
My Business Card Journey
Most people know they need a business card to help their contacts remember who they are and what they do. Many times, they get the help from an online business card service like www.vistaprint.com because it’s FREE or virtually free for their basic designs. Usually, you end up paying more for some extras like double-sided printing, glossy finish, card stock, etc.
My first batch of business cards I ever did was 250 personal business cards. I started out with their standard template, then I customized it. Some people might say I went a little overboard with the information. It was packed with information on the front & the back of the card.
My second batch of business cards was a similar experience as the first. I chose a template that I felt would represent my business, then I proceeded to add too much information to the front & back. After all, I wanted everybody to know everything I did.
When creating the other two batches of cards, I had never though about using it in different media like paper advertising or Social Media. It wasn’t until I started talking with publications that I realized my previous decision to go with a vertical card wouldn’t fit in with advertising. Most advertisers require a horizontal business cards; not vertical.
Faced with the need for a horizontal design plus the fact that my vertical cards were running out, I decided to re-design my business cards. This time I decided not to use a template but to have them designed from scratch.
Tips for first time business card design:
Use one-sided design – People like to write notes on the back of the card
Less is more – Too much information will overwhelm your customer
Design for the Media – Plan for using the design as a card and for Social Media
Good Design takes time – Don’t expect for it to happen overnight
Communication is key - Be as detailed as you can. Images, Color Samples, Font Styles
Be patient - Unless the designer knows everything about you, the first proof will not be anything like what you wanted
How to Convert Hi-Def photo for Social Network
Many cameras today take Super High Quality or High Definition pictures. This is great for making posters, but not so good when you want to take a picture for a social profile. Most of us have received a great picture taken by a friend that is either too high definition or the picture orientation is rotated by 90 degrees. This post is a tutorial using Microsoft Office Picture Manager to resolve some common photo issues so you can use your photos with Social Networks like Facebook, LinkedIn.
Slow down and be S.M.A.R.T.
Over the last couple of weeks, I noticed that many people try to complete jobs by doing everything at once instead of breaking the job into smaller manageable tasks. Many times they get stuck trying to figure out where to start. Some people get so overwhelmed with trying to start that they end up procrastinating. This is especially true if the job isn’t time-critical in their eyes. (more…)
How to remove bathtub stickers
This weekend I was given the task of removing adhesive bathtub decals or stickers. These stickers had been attached to the tub for at least 7 or 8 years since we moved into our current residence. Who knows how long they were attached before we moved in. The stickers weren’t peeling, they were just ugly and had to go. So how do you remove stickers from a bathtub? (more…)
How to guard your data
What’s on your USB drive? Many people have their entire life on their USB drives – contracts, proposals, resume. What would happen if your USB drive was destroyed or got into the wrong hands? Many times each day we take our technology for granted.
That used to be the case with me until recently when I lost mine without knowing it. Many USB drives have a little ring that attaches to your keyring. It gives everybody a false sense of security. It will stay on your keyring right? Unfortunately, the stock ring they include with the Cruzer is not made to stand up to the punishment most people dish out when they handle their keys.
How do I know? The other day, I discovered my USB drive sitting on the ground next to my car. It had to have been sitting there for at least 24 hours. I’m lucky it was only mangled a little bit. (more…)
How-to: Fix your LinkedIn profile visibility
You’ve created a LinkedIn profile. It’s looking pretty good you think, so you decide to pass on the profile to a friend for review. They tell you, they didn’t find it. Or it’s not displaying any information. What do you do?
Later in this post, I present two common problems that most people might encounter while sharing their LinkedIn profile address with someone else or even worse put it on a business card before confirming it works correctly. (more…)
How-to: Get Google to recognize your published Google Document
Earlier this month, I posted “How to: Publish your resumé using Google Docs,” I went through the exercise of posting my resume on Google Docs and then publishing it. The link to my published resume is http://docs.google.com/View?id=dd5zbk2d_3cxzd24d8. But Google hadn’t found it at the time of this post. There are two ways to help Google find your published resume. (more…)
How to: Create pdf files for FREE from digitized images and Word docs
A while back, when applying online for a job. I had to submit digitized career documentation. It was all online, No paper anything. Not only did they want the documents in digital format, they wanted them in pdf format. At the time, I didn’t know of any solutions to create the files in pdf format. I needed something quick and easy, so I ended up purchasing a pdf printer driver called Win2PDF. Since then, I have discovered two free options for converting your digitized documents to pdf.
How to: Get a digitized image on Google Docs
You have paper letter of recommendation. You or your techie friend used a scanner or one of those multi-function printer/FAX/Copier/Scanner machines to scan the dcoument to a jpeg file on your USB Flash drive. You wanted to upload the image file to Google Docs, so you go through the steps to upload the file and press the upload button. Google Docs churns for a little while then throws up a message that your file is too big. What went wrong & how can you fix it? (more…)
How to: Publish your resumé using Google Docs
We’ve been talking about online storage as a place to store important documents. Did you know that you can actually publish your GoogleDocs so they’ll be public. In this post, I’m going to cover the steps to get your résumé uploaded to GoogleDocs, then publish it.
(more…)