Jaliyah Walcott
MCS 214-02W
Prof. Cohen
May 20, 2016
Final Project Paper
CARDSYNERGY– The next big thing in media and for your profession!
When you hand someone your business card, you’re giving them a small, but important introduction to who you are. It’s one of the first things a person or company gets to know about you. I for one take business cards VERY seriously. When I take someone’s business card I always look to see how much effort they might have put into designing their card. To me if you have subtle details that stand out, then I know that you’re passionate about what you do. From something as small as background design or even font will tell me if you will take that same time out to provide me with exceptional service. When a card is unoriginal or standard, I throw them away and never think twice about it. Like the saying goes, “Never forget that you only have one opportunity to make a first impression.”
What exactly is a business card? A business card, previously known as a visiting card, and a calling card, is a standard 2×3 inch card that displays contact information for an individual employed by a company or one who is self-employed. Business cards typically include basic information such as: a person’s name, e-mail address, phone number, website, and company name. They are often used at networking and corporate events to provide other individuals with an easy source for retrieving contact information. (1)
Business cards can be traced back to 15th century China. They were known as ‘visiting cards’ and served as a calling card to announce “one’s intention of meeting with another individual.” They could also be handed at the door of elite establishments so that the owner could decide if permitting a meeting was worthwhile. Visiting cards were an essential self-promotion tool of the upper classes, a personal advertisement and a basis of forging an introduction. (2)
During the 17th and 18th centuries, they were named and used as ‘calling cards,’ as they were one of the ways to date a woman, or “call on a lady.” If a gentleman wished to ‘call on a lady,’ he had a lot to think about. Not only was he trying to get her to like him, he had to have the blessing of the family as well. On making a first call, he had to make sure there was a separate card for each lady of the household. Alternatively, he could fold his card down the middle to indicate it was meant for all members of the household. Cards had to be left with the servant; admission to the house would only be permitted after the hostess had examined the card. Calling cards were to be collected on a small tray kept in the hallway, which would be presented by a servant on the palm of his left hand. While a gentleman may carry his cards loose in his pocket, a lady should use a card case. If the gentleman received no acknowledgement of his card, he had to accept that there would be no continuation of the acquaintance. And on no account was it ever acceptable to sneak a peek at cards that had been left by other callers. (3)
The earliest business cards were made using wood-cut and letterpress techniques. During the 18th century, copperplate engraving became the standard practice. Cards tended to be single color prints until the advent of lithographic printing in the 19th century, which made it possible to use several colors. (4)
As time went on, business cards became a permanent asset in the business world. Today’s business cards come in an array of shapes, sizes and materials. Designs are no longer limited to paper-based products and almost any surface can be printed on to create a unique card. And thankfully, handing out your business card is no longer the etiquette minefield as it was a few centuries ago. There are still a few essential rules that should be followed to ensure its success. Keep your card easy to read, service-appropriate and include all your relevant contact details if you’re interested in building business acquaintances that get you further than the front door. (5)
The new “NEXT BIG THING” we came up with that we think will be the future of digital media technology and business cards, are open source business cards. CARDSYNERGY!! I, being a new small business owner have to stay aware and on top of innovative ideas. When I was in the process of ordering my business cards, the concept of open source business cards came to mind. What if instead of googling a business’s information and background, you could have all the answers in front of you by looking at their business card?
The details on our idea are that it is digital, a service, and an object all built into one. I personally define cardsynergy as a card that synchronizes the energy of the company. The actual definition of synergy is “two or more things working together in order to create something that is bigger or greater than the sum of their individual efforts.” (6) This business card would have a hologram effect and would be embedded with a chip. When you press the chip, a menu would pop up either on the card, a flat surface, or as a holographic image in the air, giving the viewer choices to review you or your company’s resume, professional experience, education, etc. Also, the company’s owner would display a brief video introducing you to their company. It would also be accessible through a USB flash drive. The card would come with a USB port that attaches to the card so that you can upload whatever information you needed. Thereby breaking down the exact definition of what synergy is. All of these features by themselves are good, but combined they are GREAT!
Video Image Example: (My face would come up and say this brief introduction while it displayed on the card)
Hello, my name is Jaliyah Walcott, and I am the CEO of Livin’ Lux. Livin’ Lux is multifaceted company that takes care of all your hospitality needs. Whether you need personal assistants for your day to day needs, a travel concierge to organize flights, luxury hotel accommodations and activities, or you just want a unique/memorable date night or singular event, we have you covered.
This is where the open source concept comes in. We want your business card to be a reflection of you and your personal style/creativity. Any data can always be updated or deleted as YOU see fit. The card is designed to grow with you as your business flourishes. You can also downgrade whatever information you no longer need. Whether you want to give a specific client or employer applicable information or you want them to have all of your professional information at hand, you can be the judge.
Our target audience will be small businesses and CEO’s of large corporations. The main focus we want our product to reach is small businesses, because they are who are always trying to reach the public and are continuously on the grind to gain new business. We also think it’s necessary for CEO’s of ALL companies to have our product because they are the ones who sell the business at the top level. However, anyone can use our product. It will help all type of people who are looking to build their brand and it will definitely even help those who are on job searches. Envision having your resume, professional experience, references, and an introduction to what your business is about, all in the palm your hand. CARDSYNERGY!!
We would gain interest for our idea by promoting it on social media, building a website, using the products ourselves, and of course old fashion word of mouth. We would also have booths at conferences and technology fairs.
I believe our project stands out among others because there is nothing else like it in the industry. Yes, there are credit card sized USB flash drives, but they only store memory. They don’t show images of your professional background at the push of a button. Yes, there are mobile albums (which is also a great idea by the way), but they don’t have that good old boy feeling of handing someone your business card and interacting with them on a human level. Yes, there are even virtual keyboards for your smartphone that will open up on any flat surface and transform wherever you are into an instant work station. There was even a company, Jukebox, who promoted on you-tube business cards that display high definition video. They urged you to “unleash your creativity with motion graphics, animation, video and special effects – right on your business cards.” This would have been an idea that might have worked, but they created it as an April Fool’s joke, so it never came to fruition. They were only offering you video images and not ACTUAL information. NONE of these compare to what our idea is and still, nothing even comes close. Our design is future driven and has all the capacities to continue reinventing the 21st century.
To gauge if our product is successful or not we would have to go by sales of course, yet we are a company that believes in helping make dreams come true and by giving people a voice. Success by our definition would be that small business owners are content and proud of what our product will do for them. We would gauge our product’s accomplishments by customer satisfaction and client testimonials. Pricing would be a monthly fee. If you use our technician to start your business, then we would charge an initial start up fee and you would then change to monthly pricing. Updating the code is free because you could always attach the USB to your computer and edit your information as you see fit. We also charge for memory upgrades. Our memory would start at 16GB.
In conclusion, our open source business cards will give you a new outlook on promoting and networking. Much like resumes and cover letters, a business card can easily get lost in the piles of other cards your prospective employers or clients are receiving on a daily basis. So you want to make yours stand-out. Cardsynergy will be a necessity to the current, upcoming and future of small business and big businesses alike. It will merge the old school custom of handshaking and exchanging business cards with new school futuristic abilities. It will take networking to a whole new level!!
References:
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/first_impression.html
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-22-most-creative-business-cards-weve-ever-seen-2012-2
(1) business card. BusinessDictionary.com. WebFinance, Inc. May 29, 2016 <http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/business-card.html>.
(2-5) http://www.designfloat.com/blog/2012/04/02/history-business-cards/
Moritmer. “A Brief History of Business Cards” Design float blog. 2 Apr. 2012 Web. 15 May. 2016
(6) “synergy.” YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 29 May 2016. <http://www.yourdictionary.com/synergy>.
https://www.jukeboxprint.com/video_business_cards.php
http://www.tucows.com/preview/408011/Clickable-Card
https://www.wearewatermark.org/events/detail/webinar-series-got-your-attention-how-to-earn-peoples-interest-in-your-idea
