Digital Dave

Well, it’s that time of the year. GDC is fast approaching and I’m in need of a new identity – an identity in the form of a business card.

I ended up going through 4 iterations before I found a design that I really liked.

What are the essentials?

• Your Name
• E-Mail
• Phone
• Web Address
• Something Memorable
• Use both sides!

Unless you own a business and need people to visit your primary location, I would leave off your physical address. Waste of space and distraction. Most of the time your contact isn’t just going to show up at your door. You can give them this information later when it’s warranted.

So how about the ‘flow?’  Well, that is tough to pin down. It boils down to experimentation. You’ve probably seen dozens of card designs out there (Google some if not). Use those as a base.

The card I used in 2008

People thought it was cool, but today I find it pretty boring and not memorable. The basis was that you’ll find me without a Dr. Pepper in hand, and I wanted to note that I was a programmer.

Ouch...

Idea 1

Going completely opposite from 2008, I wanted to introduce color but I found it distracting.  It also concerned me what a printer would do with this.

The texture on this is intense. Very dark.

Idea 2

I decided to try something on the lighter side.  I also wanted to incorporate a subtle piece of my iGotIt Games logo.  I had a hard time with what to do on the front side of this card, and the gradient was concerning.

(back of card) I wasn't confident about using gradient.

Idea 3

I further simplified the design by trying out a ‘reflection’ idea with solid colors.  Here, the person would see the back of the card from the front, with the goal of persuading the holder to flip the card around for more information.

In the end, it felt too cheap.

Idea 4

Here, I built off of my previous attempts to form the final card.  I included the reflection, solid colors, and the iGotIt Games logo.  On the back I plan to put a promo code for Spin & Shoot or Project Void.

Winner

In the end you want your business card to be memorable.  Leave a simple quote, or a icon that identifies you.  See Darius Kazemi for more business card/networking advice. I just noticed he wrote a few new posts regarding business cards!

In the end, keep it simple and Memorable!

Social networking has taken a huge leap forward.  No longer are we dealing with seemingly static pages like LinkedIn and any job searching site, but we now have a newer and brighter tool – a miniature chat room in our face – Twitter.  News rooms are already adapting live streaming into their broadcasting.  Live stream of what your friends are doing just went live on Facebook.  It looks like this live-streaming concept is really catching on.

If you haven’t seen Twitter yet, I highly recommend you visit http://twitter.com and tinker around.  You’re sure to find it engaging to follow people with similar interests as yourself, which is exactly what got me into it.

I was in the depth of my job search when I joined Twitter; my goal was to make myself visible beyond Dice, LinkedIn, Facebook and my blog/portfolio (Monster and Career Builder were useless).  I was trying to open as many platforms as I could, knowing that it was going to be a rough ride to find a job due to a.) the economic slump, and b.) wanting to get out of Kansas. The direct nature of Twitter makes networking much easier to accomplish.

One day I saw a random tweet from an individual claiming that they LOVED their work at Six Apart in San Francisco. I was familiar with the company from my career research on them in the past.  Jokingly (but seriously), I sent out this tweet:

Not long after I sent that message I received a few DMs from another follower in my network.

Later that night I also got a DM from the individual that I initially sent my tweet to, asking for my resume.

I jumped on the IMD website and began looking at the careers page.  The follower from my network and I passed a few e-mails between each other.  He gave me some more information about IMD, like what they do and what kind of work he has done there.  Needless to say I was hooked and I sent out my resume for him to pass along.

After several conversations with IMD’s recruiter, a phone interview with one of the production engineers and an on-site interview with 4 members of the team, I was contacted on March 6th with a formal offer.  I announced my epic win to the follower who helped me and he threw this back:

and…

“I just got you in the door.” With that I was able to take advantage of the opportunity provided this time.

This train is moving, and without a doubt it helped me get to the next level of my life.  Through the last 6 months of job searching, I did not find one individual that was in my network that did not try and get me employed when they saw I needed help, but those positions didn’t match up as well as this most recent.  People are generous and they want to help, but they can’t help if they don’t know you are there and in need.

These doors are all over the place if you are willing to search for them and to use them.

Take this for example. I just recently found a new Twitter page called Job Angles (http://twitter.com/jobangels) that I was going to abuse if this opportunity fell through.  Their purpose is to find people who are searching for jobs or people who are aiding others in their job search, and to make them visible to the 3000+ followers. A grass roots movement!

So challenge yourself and say hello to a random person on Twitter, or graciously lurk around and make yourself visible by presenting your thoughts like I did.  Regardless, Twitter is a powerful median to express yourself and to easily be found by others. Take advantage of it.