talkmagic.co.uk

Well Ladies, Well Gents, the time has come!

After 2.5 years of practicing and performing for mates (and anyone else around long enough to witness a 'miracle' i've been practicing in front of a mirror for two hours a day every day for the preceding two months!) the time has come to start getting paid for my hobby (or my 'obsession' as my friends like to call it!). I'm going to dip my toe into the pool of semi-professional magic. The area of interest is 'strolling' work at restaurants, bars, parties and special events like exhibitions, launches etc. I have researched this particular field for the last 14 months or so and it is the area which most 'grooves my truffle' so to speak.

I am looking to have some business cards made up but am overwhelmed by the choice and prices (how much should I pay for about 100? 250? 500?). What sort of formats and designs types (words only, cartoons, photos, etc) have you found to be most effective for getting you remembered?

A graphic designer once told me 'less is more' and so the only info I intend to put on my business card is my name, mobile number, email address and the fact that I am a 'strolling/walk-a-round' magician.

What do You think?

T

He's right, but I'd put something else on there too

moo.com are pretty good, and let you do exactly as you describe and put a picture on the back. Might be worth doing that. Maybe even a picture of you!

'...but I'd put something else on there too'

What else would you suggest, Kolm?

Btw, just looked at 'moo.com' and I'm well impressed!
Thanks for that Kolm!

T

Talk to Ade Gower of

www.monster-creations.co.uk

He does most of Alakazam's stuff and he did mine, excellent card, cost 20 quid for the design. Nothing says professional like a decent business card!

Keep it simple, clean and to the point.

DO NOT claim that you are a magician, mentalist, medium, escape artist, ventriloquist, puppet master, mime, juggler, and female impersonator a.k.a. a Jack of all Trades associated with the arts of illusion & manipulation. Pick ONE and be that thing; it causes far less confusion on the part of the public and will make your own life far more simple.

I'm about to have new cards done that are tied to the new image and programs I'm going to be offering in which the line beneath my name reads "Collector of the Curious, Odd & Haunted", the style of the card being very "SteamPunk" in design & feel.

William Larsen, Sr. points out in his book of Magic & Mentalism the importance of having a quality paper-stock for both, your personal letterhead and business cards. It is a concept that I highly recommend you consider, rather than wasting money on the low end stock or making your own cards off your PC -- we're talking about YOUR IMAGE and how people will perceive you based on this one thing.

Best of luck!

Craig Browning wrote:DO NOT claim that you are a magician, mentalist, medium, escape artist, ventriloquist, puppet master, mime, juggler, and female impersonator a.k.a. a Jack of all Trades associated with the arts of illusion & manipulation. Pick ONE and be that thing; it causes far less confusion on the part of the public and will make your own life far more simple.

I agree with this but have recently come the point where I am more than one thing, I am a magician (although some may debate this), I am a juggler and have recently become a balloon modeller (no, I still haven't figured out why myself yet!).
My first thought was simply "get 3 sets of business cards printed and just hand over the appropriate one", but then I got in a bit of a debate with myself. Can one put 2 or 3 "trades" on a business card without becoming, as you say, "Jack of all trades"? I will totally agree that listing a dozen or 2 skills is a horrible thing to do, but does this mean limiting the list to just one?
So my thought was to have a card printed that said something like

Lawrence Turner
Magician - Juggler - Balloon Modeller

(arrangement and actually titles to be confirmed)
But does including the Juggling and Balloons make the Magician part sound like the kind of magician you would only hire of kids parties and not take so seriously?

Anyway, still debating it and I think (at the moment) I will be geting 3 sets of cards printed but just thought i'd share my thought with you.
2 or 3 trades doesn't make you Jack Of All, but I think you have to list the right 3 together (and i don't think the above 3 are that right now)

Edit: I'm no where near professional and only do the occasional gigs as I work a 9 to 5:30 5 days a week and only really make a hobby of all this; so you may wish to take this into account with regards to the above.

Hey Tomdom

Fingers crossed I'll be in your position someday in the not so distant future

I'm an Artist/Graphic Designer/Cartoonist and deal an awful lot with presentation and marketing ploys etc and every so often I have the job of creating business cards/posters and things like that (although my main trade is greeting cards of the stickmen nature ;D) I have *THE* stupidly biggest collection of business cards though! It's awesome!

A few things I would make sure you do when sorting out business cards:

1. DO NOT skimp!!! PLease please please do not go to Vista Print and get 500 "free" prints! Yes yes, they're "free" (you have to pay delivery which is around a fiver)... but they do look cheap! I guess if you haven't really had many business cards to play with before you mightn't see this but really... the card quality, print quality and size is just.. not ideal!

2. Listen to what your Graphic Designer said Less generally is more. I would focus on what you've said so far - because I'm a relative noob to the magic industry I would take on the advice above about what to put for your title as I'm not really sure what's a good plan (as in magician/close up/etc), but the other details you've suggested so far sounds good (Name, Mobby, potentially landline - your choice really, Email). Do you have a webby? If so, plonk that on too

3. Layout. Really really focus on your layout. Less is more but it completely fails if it's not punchy! If you find a print company who can do you some cards - speak to them too. They'll generally mock up an idea for you for free and they deal with this kind of stuff day in and day out

4. Photos.... be reallly REALLY careful with photos! Personally I think they're a bit cheesey, but can fully understand why they'd be used on magicians cards (easier to remember the name/face) and would probably say it's a good plan. Some people put the most atrocious pictures on business cards though and it's just not good at all! It makes me cringe! If you're going to do it, make sure it's a simple, clean cut, uncluttered photo (preferably not many colours... unless you're going for kiddywinkle parties and things... but you sound like you'd be more interested on the oldies?)

5. Colour scheme. Don't go mad! Pick a couple of bold colours and stick with them (once again - this is in the view of your target audience being adults )



I could go on and on actually!! People sometimes do not think about business cards as being a complex thing and just bash something together.... but they're so so so important!! If they're smart and eye catching and decent quality, people won't throw them away and they will remember them! I spent.. about £40 on getting about 500ish done (full colour front and back) but that was going through a printer friend I know... I reckon I would have paid an additional tenner on top if I didn't have an acquaintance in the business

Invest in it though! For you, I'd suggest 500-1000 as you will be handing out loads to groups of people where ever you go and will get through them in no time. I reckon start with 500



If you want me to have a play about for you I will happily do so! (As in, in a friendly-way not a charge-you way!) I probably canny do so this week though as I have an exam on Tuesday (accounting... how fun!) and then am off playing with balloons and close up the rest of this week... but I could do next week? Depends on how desperate you are I could probably direct you to *the* best printers for business cards in the world and wangle a good quote for you too!

Fleamail me if you're interested! csouthern@akettleoffish.co.uk



If not... once again I cannot emphasise... DO NOT SKIMP! PLease please please please with cheese and chocolate and and beer and all things nice! ;D

Pheebs!

The numbers 1- 40 printed on the back.

Gary Dickson wrote:The numbers 1- 40 printed on the back.

Arrrgh!


Lawrence, do understand that I was exaggerating a tad in my previous post but then, I have seen a few cards that were almost that cluttered.

Several of my multi-faceted friends have just one very nice card that reads ENTERTAINER... that's it! It allows them to put on whichever hat that's required for the gig. My buddy Jon Stetson is a very accomplished Mentalist but he's also a world class Comic that's worked many a date without doing a single effect, just shtick (and he gets paid top dollar for it).

When it comes to "the market" that one is pandering to, it is such that will tell you what is appropriate for your card. In Laurence's case I'd assume he's a children's/family performer and makes most his money with the kiddies e.g. being a magician, juggler & balloon twister makes sense, it's likewise simple and nothing within the titles "conflict" psychologically and thus, shut people down.

As Vernon used to say, KEEP IT SIMPLY STUPID!

Craig Browning wrote:In Laurence's case I'd assume he's a children's/family performer and makes most his money with the kiddies

And I think that's the reason I'll be having 3 sets of cards printed (or, as you say, one with "entertainer" on) as I cannot stand doing magic tricks for kids; but will happily juggle or make a balloon for them.

Craig Browning wrote:William Larsen, Sr. points out in his book of Magic & Mentalism the importance of having a quality paper-stock for both, your personal letterhead and business cards. It is a concept that I highly recommend you consider, rather than wasting money on the low end stock or making your own cards off your PC -- we're talking about YOUR IMAGE and how people will perceive you based on this one thing.

Best of luck!

Docc Hilford has some facinating thoughts on the buisiness card.

He refferences the movie, American Psycho, and how the guys on there judge each others cards .

WOW!

There are many reasons why I love this magic forum above all others, and your response to my humble (but important) request is evidence why my love for this site remains so strong!

I will certainly be taking on board all the advice offered and probably
PM-ing some of you for further advice, as whatever I come up with for a business card I will be carrying through to any stationary I have produced.

At a recent magic seminar in Southport a great guy and magician from Bradford (Steve Naylor), spared me some of his valuable time to offer advice in the area of strolling/table-hopping magic, and on his card he describes himself as a 'Magical Entertainer'. This is along the lines suggested by Craig and although I want to target restaurants and bars, I do understand the wisdom of this approach as it does cover a multitude of sins and open up a greater range of gigs (cocktail parties, exhibitions, product launches, weddings, etc).

I want to get this right so any more ideas would be warmly received!

Until then, I will research all the advice given so far, get in touch with some of you (Watch out Pheebs, I could be coming your way in a week or so's time!) and let you know how I get on!

With Warmest Thanks To You All,

T

Why put a 'job title' at all?

Also, check this out for some creative solutions

http://creativebits.org/cool_business_card_designs

Thanks for that MrGoat!

Some great 'stand out from the crowd' ideas there!

More creative ingredients to my business card soup!

Thank You,

T

mrgoat wrote:Why put a 'job title' at all?

Because when someone has a bunch of business cards they won't have any idea what you do?