The following article by Mark Busse was published on January 31, 2014 in Design Edge Canada Magazine.
How I fondly recall the day my very first box of business cards landed with a thud on my desk. It was my first job after university and I was so damned proud to see those letters after my name followed by my title. I felt like one of the lawyers in the business card scene from American Psycho. But that was two decades ago. These days we live in an age of digital everything, where a bump of our smart phones exchanges contact info, apps can converts cards into contacts, and emails automatically extract contact details for us. Business cards have incredibly short life spans, some even argue they are hardly required at all. But that’s missing the point.
Business cards can say so much about you and your organization, but regardless of how beautifully designed and produced, they are simply pieces of paper with information on it. While useful and important, it is in that moment when you first meet someone and hand them your card that reveals their value. Instead of merely a selling device, where you want something from the person receiving it, your business card can be viewed as a gift, associated instead with what you can offer that person.
Read more at Design Edge Canada.
