Examples of DIY Business Cards for Photographers

As creatives we photographers have very little reason to be packing standard humdrum business cards (let's leave those for the door to door salesmen and insurance agents). Photographer/Blogger Katie Sokoler obviously agrees with me as she recently posted on how she made her home made cards. I love exchanging cards but am often disappointed when I'm out networking with my peers and I recieve a card that is unimaginative or worse, tacky. Whenever I hand mine out I'm often bombarded with a slew of questions like, “Is this an envelope? Is there something inside it? Can I open it?". To which I respond: “Yes it is. Yes there is. Yes you can.” Which often leads to the question, “How much did it cost to have these made?” To which I respond: "I did them myself." So I decided to follow Katie's example and throw up a few pics to show how I make my cards. Take a look to see how putting in a little bit of effort can help get you remembered.

Katie Sokoler: "I'm shooting a ton of events this week but found that I'm all out of business cards! There's not enough time to get new ones delivered so I thought... why don't I just make my own fun cards at home?"

Katie Sokoler: "So I hung up a white sheet against the wall and took a few self portraits."


Katie Sokoler: "I used double sided matte paper and printed the pictures on one side,"


Katie Sokoler: "and the name of my website on the back."


Katie Sokoler: "I roughly cut around the pictures and placed them between two clear adhesive sheets,"


Katie Sokoler: "and laminated them!"


Katie Sokoler: "I then cut them all out,"


Katie Sokoler: "and poof!"


Katie Sokoler: "My new business cards are done."


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Kenn Tam: "I've been using these cards, in one iteration or another, for years now and they've never failed to get a reaction. Hopefully these pictures will give you a good idea of how they are made as I don't wish to go into great detail. The pictures are pretty self explanatory but if you have a question you can always throw it up in the comments below."


Kenn Tam: "The materials I use."


Kenn Tam: "I print the front of the envelope's image on a stiff sheet, with double sided tape so I can easily feed the small envelopes through my printer."


Kenn Tam: "Here is the front of my card straight from the printer."


Kenn Tam: "Self adhesive stickers for for the insert tab."


Kenn Tam: "Self adhesive stickers that I printed my logo on for sealing the envelops."


Kenn Tam: "On the back of 4"x6" heavy stock photo paper I reprint my info."


Kenn Tam: "On the front I print my sample images which I then cut out using a ruler and X-acto pen."


Kenn Tam: "After applying two stickers to make a tab for the insert I then put it in the completed envelop."


Kenn Tam: "Here is the back side with the seal added."


Kenn Tam: "Easy to open."


Kenn Tam: "You can use the tab to pull out the insert."


Kenn Tam: "And that's it."






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Now that you've seen what Katie and I are packing, show us a sample of your creative card. And if you don't have one. why not? :P
Post pics or links to your cards below.
 
via [ColorMeKatie]
 
From Kenn:
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