Looking for personal bizcard feedback

[prog]

Threw this together at moo.com this evening; it's a concept for a personal bizcard, something I can use when I want to represent myself outside of Appleseed or Volity contexts. Looking for feedback on the image and the text content; I'm aware the text itself is too plain and the image is wobbly lookin in this preview. (Blame moo's layout thingy - it was useful enough for this mockup.)



It's playing on the "three personal tags" idea that I first picked up at BarCamp in April. I've settled on these three as a good summary of my primary interests and activities at present, even though I'm not solid on the wording. Currently choosing "Game Studies" over "Ludology" and "Homebrew Television" over "DIY Television".

Thoughts?

Comments

image feedback:

[ex-colorwhe.livejournal.com]

it doesn't have a visual gesture. which means, no particular part says "look here first"; there's no part of it that catches an eye. you don't want someone to have to make a decision to look at it to see what the various equal things are; you want something in the picture to catch their eye without their making any decision. maybe some variation of dark and light?

[cramerica.livejournal.com]

I have three personal tags on my cards too; I think it works well.

I'm not sure what you mean by game studies-- game theory, game design, game critique? All/some/none of the above?

The image looks a little thrown together to me. Perhaps subdivision into three images, one per interest, would make it easier to spice up? In particular the VHS tape, if that's what it is, might be replaced with something more exciting, like a shot of your camera/studio setup (if available & I'm interpreting "Homebrew Television" correctly).

[gemini6ice.livejournal.com]

I think three individual pictures would be better than a composite photo.

[prog.livejournal.com]

By game studies I mean critique, in the formal sense, including study of games' role in history and culture. The discipline is generally called "game studies" in academic circles, at least, and I'm shy about using "game critique" lest people assume I mean I just write reviews of new games.

I also ponder "Comparitive game studies" or perhaps "Comparitive ludology".

[prog.livejournal.com]

Also, it's hard not to see the tape, which is a actually a three-inch-long MiniDV, as a VHS tape now that you mention it. Even though those would be some pretty damn big playing cards if so. :) Funny...

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

depends on your audience, I'd guess, but when I see what looks like a poker hand, I think "gambling" and maybe even "bluffing" which would be a poor image for someone who wanted to hire you for software, but might be fine for other networking possibilities.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

That's what I would say too. I immediately thought "poker" which has totally different connotations, culturally and aesthetically, from the kinds of games I associate with you or with the field in general. I actually really like the photo overall, but could you make it Icehouse pieces or something? :-} Then the programming book would show up better as well.

Secondly, but perhaps on a similar note: "Homebrew Television" sounds a lot more like actual literal television about home brewing (another perfectly plausible geek hobby). "DIY Television" is at least less ambiguous.

However, I definitely think "Game Studies" is preferably to "Ludology", which is not yet a mainstream enough term to make sense to the average person (okay, maybe the average person *you're* handing out cards to, but still). If someone doesn't know what it is, it's just going to look, well, ludicrous.

KA9Q

[oasys.livejournal.com]

Is there any significance to the card selection? At first, I thought it was a Phil Karn reference, but I don't think you would be thinking that way.

[dariusk.livejournal.com]

lookin' good.

[queue.livejournal.com]

I'm also a bit confused about what precisely you mean by "game studies". To me, that says academic.

[dictator555.livejournal.com]

I kind of agree with the "Game Studies" comments being made. It seems too academic. There are people with degrees and credentials in game studies, like anthropologists and economists. Although a quick google search does seem to indicate the word has been co-opted by pop culture... so, maybe you're right to use it. It might still be confusing to the lay person, if that matters to you.

Anyway, I hate the gray. Is that OK to say? It seems so static. I disagree with everyone saying "break up the image" though. I think the cards provide a nice focal point. The programming is slightly obstructed by the cards and tape. But maybe that's OK with you, since this is more a personal business card.

If you aren't totally happy with moo, I've used vistaprint.com for business cards and other stuff (wedding invites!) and I like their interface, products, and customer service.

[radtea.livejournal.com]

"Ludology" or "Comparative Ludology" would be a great narrative hook, but won't tell anyone what you actually do, so it depends if you want to inform or catch people by the curiosity. Both are worthy goals.

Plain fonts can be useful: the company name and tag-line ("Rapid Development, Robust Results") on my corporate cards are in Courier New, which all my stylish designer friends sneer at and all my technically-oriented friends say looks good. Since my clients are all technically-oriented, it works. So the depending on the market, the right plain font could be good (or a different font for each personal tag? Might work, or might be too busy.)

I actually kind of like the image, but I'm weird: I recognize the book, associate cards with mathematical gambling strategies, and spent far too much time working with DAT tapes to mistake the miniDV for VHS.

If you can figure out the typical target audience for a card, the design choices become a lot easier. So asking yourself, "What situations have I been in where I wished I had a personal card, and what kind of people would I have given one to in those situations?" could clarify things.

[jtroutman.livejournal.com]

I'm all for Ludology in some form, as it will start conversations.

Of about 280 hits in google using the words "Homebrew Television", nearly all refer to making actual TVs or antennas. For your meaning, I believe the only references are to this very LJ thread!

"DIY Television" has 24,900 google hits, and is in far wider use.

[crypticwanderer.livejournal.com]

I wonder if Home Television Production might be a better compromise for Homebrew/DIY Television. Both the latter terms seem a little too ambiguous. I like the image concept, though the software aspect seems to be played down, even though it's the top point in the text. Maybe if you had the image be of a slightly larger area, possibly with the book open to some code example - that might clear up the issues others have mentioned about the digital cassette looking like a VHS, as well as place more emphasis on software consultation.