Card Observer- Check It Out!!!

Wooo Hooo, cardobserver.com just featured my business cards!!  I just popped over to cardobserver.com for inspiration for my next business card (lush letterpress goodness coming soon) and saw my own cards!!!!!!!!

For a HUGE dose of design inspiration I recommend card observer. 
There's something about business card design that is succinct and intense and yummi.  I think it has to do with it being so small and how graphic designers know they have to pack the entire essence of a company/trader/artist into that one tiny piece of card.

I have always put great emphasis on my business cards and marketing materials.  For me, as a sole trader, I've come to understand marketing in a very powerful and very REAL way.  Paying the bills every month is very real to me!  So I have a strong desire to pack a punch with every piece of material which
represents my business.   

I've spent a ridiculous number of hours sprawled on the floor at Waterstones eating all the books in the design section, but nothing has educated me on marketing more than simply starting my own business.

There is a snippet of wisdom which says... 'You can't get wet from the word water'.  When it comes to business and its elements (marketing, product design, sourcing and a gazzillion other things) there is nothing more educational than jumping right into the water.

Having said that, you don't have to jump right in the deep end like I did when starting up.  You can wade in the shallow end of the pool but at the end of the day you gotta get in the water to get wet!

I have met a few people who are studying business or graphic design and often their viewpoint is a bit text-book-ish.  When you run your own business you have a slight aversion (note sarcastic tone) to pouring half your budget (possibly a grand total of £200) into a 'kinda-sorta-maybe' advertising campaign.  That's part of what I love about running my own business, it's totally measurable and real and when you own it, you're connected to the process and that's the buzz of running the show!