Green Options » business cards

Promote Your Crafty Biz in Green: Business Cards

Becky Striepe — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:30:13 +0000

[Handmade business cards by Lizerati. Used with permission.]

We’ve had crafty business on the brain this week! On Sunday, Julie wrote about salvaged setups for outdoor shows, and yesterday, I posted about recovering after a long day of vending. So what about your promotional materials? It’s important to have some sort of take-away at your booth so folks who don’t have cash on hand can find you later. Here are a few eco-friendly resources for making or printing your business cards!

Crafty Business Cards from Baltimore Center for Design

Kelly Rand — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:37:18 +0000

Here’s another great example of good design, craftiness and a nod to the environment, all in a small card.

The Baltimore Center for Design has a utilitarian goal, one that will bring together the city’s designers for the purpose of discussion, and to provide community members a valuable resource. As an up and comer, the Center for Design is all volunteer run, with little to no budget. Though this is a challenge it has not stopped them from moving foward with all the things that a resource like this needs, all with an environmental bent.

Their business cards are made from the extra runs that a print shop uses to get their press set. These test sheets usually end up as waste, but not in this instance. Working with their local printer they were able to source these test prints for free!

To personalize the cards, the Center for Design used label paper and printed up their url and attached the labels to the cards. The result is a simple and easy way to make buisness cards.

Itty Bitty Business Cards – An Eco Alternative to the Traditional B Card

mcmilker — Thu, 29 May 2008 23:08:40 +0000

A trendy friend of mine gave me one of her new business cards yesterday and I was immediately blown away. These tiny (1” x 2 -1/2”) alternatives to large bulky cards are chic, obviously eco friendly and so right for today’s entrepreneur.

If you, like me find yourself the proprietor of a business…or more frequently businesses that can get hard to cram into a traditional format you may like these tiny cards. Counter intuitively, the lack of space is freeing. Rather than having to decide which information is the most important, these cards leave space for little more than name, phone, URL and e-mail address, so no decision is necessary. (Though I did cheat and include some type on the photo I selected for the back.)

More importantly, the entrepreneurs responsible for developing these tiny cards saw the renewed interest in old fashioned calling cards. While years ago, calling cards were a standard accessory of the well mannered crowd, as more and more of the formerly jobless (older men and women, mothers, trust fund babies) went to work, the standard business card replaced the “calling card”.

Tip o’ the Day: Snap, Crackle, Pop-ular Business Cards

Rebecca Carter — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 15:02:00 +0000

Cereal: it's a staple in American breakfasts, but we never thought about putting a staple in it - until now. There's nothing more appropriate than arriving to a networking breakfast with business cards printed on cereal boxes. Now that's what we call reuse!

We first learned of this idea from green LA girl, who showed us how she made her own business cards before heading off to partake in some green drinks.

The instructions are simple. 1) Finish cereal. (Yum!) 2) Cut box. 3) Print. 4) Cut into cards. It's not only a great way to reuse the grey board before it is recycled, but it will really make an impact on the people you meet. You won't need to worry about anyone forgetting you!

Not sure your printer can handle the thicker paper or don't want to do-it-yourself? There is actually a company that will make them for you made from Cheerios, Fruit Loops and Wheaties boxes: United States Business Card Company (via Great Green Goods).

Rebecca says: Of the two kinds of cereal in my house, (Kellogg's) Raisin Bran and (Post) Honey Bunches of Oats, only the latter would work for this project. The raisin bran prints promotions on the inside of their boxes, rendering them useless for cereal box business cards.