The story behind my new cards

A funny thing about this online world I travel in is that when you meet in person an exchange of business cards is almost mandatory. Even though we have all kinds of electronic doohickeys into which we can input contact info for everyone we meet, we trade cards like, well, trading cards. So over the past couple years I’ve had fun designing cards for both this site and Pixel Currents.

I decided a few months back to make better use of the index page at the root of my site, which previously just had a link over to this blog. Now it has a running stream of my online life, as fed through Friendfeed. My tweets, my photos, my videos, and posts to this blog all show up there. I also added a sidebar with links to my various online hangouts.

I decided my new “business” cards would include the link to that page, and I wanted them to seem fun, friendly, and inviting. I’m happy with the look of the page, and it just made sense to adapt that look for the cards. But in creating the layout for the skinny moo cards, there was something missing. The banana logo wasn’t enough, so I played around adding some text. First just the word banannie, but it seemed repetitive since the banana has banannie stamped right on it. So I experimented with catch phrases. I long ago decided that banana- themed catch phrases are a bad idea. Go ahead, try to think up a few yourself, and tell me you don’t start making silly double entendres. See what I mean?

You Know Me

I’ve used the phrase “you know me” occasionally on social network profiles. During the Great Soc Net Explosion of 2008 it seemed like the same herd of sheep (myself included) just popped over from one site to the next, so explaining who I was to people who already knew who I was seemed a little silly.

Since I would be handing the cards out in person, the receivers would “know me,” but not well. The “you know me” line felt unfinished. Adding the ellipsis and continuing the thought on the back with “… get to know me better” invites the receiver to take that next step and connect with me online.

To bring the point home I decided to add the phrase “now you know me… say hi so I can get to know you!” to the top of my landing page. I’m not interested in having a bunch of followers listening to me, I’m instead looking for new connections, new friends. So I hope that message is made even more clear to those who do follow through and check out my site after I give them cards.

In just a few days I’ll be heading to Austin, Texas for the South by Southwest Interactive festival. If you’ll be there too I hope we’ll be able to connect (and maybe I’ll even give you a card, although since you’re here you don’t really need one !)