talkmagic.co.uk

Hi, what do you use as your business card, when you are performing in a restaurant, or at a party?
Do you use a card of your deck? after a strong effect ? or do you print out your own business card?
Do you do any tricks or routines with your business cards?

thx
bye

mine are plastic.

my Buisness Cards have the playing Cards on the Front so i show them a trick, they can keep thier card and has contact on back.

I normally write a prediction on the back of mine and leave the card with them after the revelation.

I wouldn't even consider printing my own, it's not the impression I want to give them.

I wouldn't even consider printing my own, it's not the impression I want to give them

Actually, you would be surprised at the quality that you can get by printing your own cards these days, and it certainly is a great option when you are first starting out.

However, if you are intending to make a living from magic, then I would tend to agree that getting some printed professionally would be a more than worthwhile expense...

I have printed a batch of my own and they look quite impressive. I had a graphic artist design it for me. I have discovered that it'll work out cheaper for me to get them proffesionally printed.

I have a friend who's an artist and works a lot with metal moulding. I'm thinking about getting him to make me some custom coins - with the figure that's on my bus card on it as well as my contact details. If I can pull it off I think it'll make quite an impression.

if your friend can do half dolar sized coins in gold / silver and bronze / copper then i'd be interested.

I print my own and the quality is as good as most if you have a decent quality printer and buy qood quality blank cards.

I find that it's the design and the presentation of the card that counts.People will remember you for the quality of your magic, not for the quality of your card. The card is simply a convenience.

You may wnt to visit www.magicbusinesscards.co.uk ....

Design isn't all about how something looks. There's an old saying which goes 'If it doesn't look good, it isnt''

That is partly true. But good design is based on communication. Forget fancy logos. Forget vibrant colours. At least, not until you've identified the key purpose of your card!

The message, information and simplicity is primary to the actual visual aesthetic—it is a case of form follows function.

In my day to day job as a designer, I would break down your business card design like this:

1. Sacred cows: primarily, what you do and call to action (how to contact)
2. USP (unique selling point). If you have a USP, i.e. you can juggle wedding cakes, then it may be worth a mention to make you stand out from the crowd.
3. Trademark, brand or logo

And yes, the considerations are in that order! Plan your card carefully. Think about your sacred cows: is it just a mobile phone number? Is it worth putting a full address? Or simply just your 'www.****.com' address on the card? Less is more.

To illustrate the 'less is more' aspect, we increasingly have clients who want their business cards to have:
1. Their direct dial number
2. All their noble academic awards! (i.e. Chris Jones, BSc, MBIATT, CUPS, NUMS) etc.
3. Ridiculous company positions (i.e. Secretary to the Director of Marketing Services, Slough)
4. Fax number (Why? On a business card where space is critical?)
5. Mobile number
6. Office switchboard
7. Office address
8. Email address
9. Website address

That's a mighty long list of items to squeeze onto an 85mm x 55mm card, I am sure you will agree. So, think of your sacred cows...

Is your name really needed, unless it's the company name? Surely putting "Contact Brian Smith for details on 0785777***** is overkill, when simply putting your mobile number on is obvious: Why else would a phone number be on there other than to contact you????

Then: Fax number. Who uses faxes that much as a first point of correspondence? You want the fax number? Ring first!

Full address: Why? This is better left on your letterhead and compliments slips.

Here are two examples of cards. One is BAD BAD BAD, the other has ENOUGH infomation.... guess which is which...

----------------------------------------
MADCLOWNSDISEASE LIMITED
Two mad fire eating clowns for birthdays weddings parties outdoor events

********* WE EAT FIRE!!! **********

For bookings or general enquiries please call Dave Clown on
+(44) 7232 122312 or +(44) 2331 28283
Or email daveclown@clownfools.com

MADCLOWNDISEASE LIMITED
Clown road, Clownshire, Idiotstown CL8 WN
www.totallymadclowns.freeserve.co.uk
----------------------------------------

or

----------------------------------------
madCLOWNdisease

Two crazy fire eating clowns for any occasion
Available for booking: 01888 888555

www.madclowndisease.co.uk
----------------------------------------

Example 2 is easier to read, simpler, more professional, and leaves bags of room for a nice graphic.
Also note: the web address is a professional sounding one in the 2nd instance.
Putting a generic '.wanadoo.co.uk' or '.hotmail.com' email or web address is crazy, considering .co.uk names are available for £5 a year (www.123-reg.co.uk)

There is ample contact information on the second example. Put all the relevant contact info on your website. That way, if you are unavailable by phone, your potential customers can find your email address (or better still a simple 'contact us' form) on the website, along with much more information than you could ever dream of fitting on a business card.

Once you've designed it using your favourite application (remember: 85mm x 55mm is a standard business card size to go for) you can send it along to somewhere like
http://aubergineprint.co.uk/
in the UK, who will do a very good laminated card for peanuts.

Hope that helps.

I agree with seige on the whole business card thing and want to see this mad fire eating clown act even more. Unfortunately the link doesn't work.

Ooooh, it would be so tempting to do a spoof website...

taneous wrote:I have printed a batch of my own and they look quite impressive. I had a graphic artist design it for me. I have discovered that it'll work out cheaper for me to get them proffesionally printed.

I have a friend who's an artist and works a lot with metal moulding. I'm thinking about getting him to make me some custom coins - with the figure that's on my bus card on it as well as my contact details. If I can pull it off I think it'll make quite an impression.

Gav me old pal,

Do you think you could persuade your friend to make some custom coins for me? I need about 20 realistic looking Kruger Rands, for this interesting 'trick' I have in mind.

Cheers!

well if im not wrong here your trying to find a way of trying to introduce your business card without looking like your giving it them so they know who to call if they need a magician anyway how i do it is show them some blank business cards and both sides are shown blank then i take it, put it flat in my hand and spind the hand upside down and push it out with my thumb i do that twice and on the third time it got all my details on it its from the ellusionist street magic package ill show you the routine if i get my webcam to start recording

EDIT: I introduce it as " Hi im... wait, who am i..." and i pull the business cards out then "wait ive forgotten and it looks like my business cards have forgotten too" here you get a bit of a giggle or "oh my god! what a _____" ill leave the space to your imagination! after that i do the trick as described above