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Apr 24, 2011

Quick, cheap business cards

No extra charge for the fancy box
I've gone empty-handed to a bunch of events lately where showing up without business cards is about as smart as showing up without pants. I ran out of Moo cards a while back, and, in one of those stupid paradoxes, didn't order them right away because they said delivery would take two or three weeks. So now it's three or four weeks later, and, you know. I never did find a local place that would do them quickly and simply. One wanted me to send them my design as an Illustrator file, which I don't have, and another had a complicated ordering process that involved two somber sales people, a huge binder, and two more return trips to the shop for checking proofs. Not cheap, either. I remember seeing machines in the past that  spit out insanely cute cards while you wait, but insanely cute cards make grown-ups look, well, insane.
[Image] No extra charge for the fancy box. On my way to another meeting the other day, kicking myself for still not finding cards, I stopped into one of those digital photo printing places on a whim and asked if they made meishi. The woman said they did, but that they didn't have too many options. Fine. I didn't need too many. They produced something simple in 25 minutes with my name, number and email address on it. Granted, they, er, got the email address wrong. But she was very apologetic, and had a new stack of 50 done in less than 10 more minutes. The Rs are kind of top-heavy. Maybe someone who knows fonts knows what it is? I had to pick the font based on Japanese examples, so I had no idea how the English would come out. Oh, well. You know that expression: Cheap, fast, great - pick any two. If you've been around here a while, you know I love nice stationery. But sometimes good enough is good enough. Like when you're on your way to a networky (shudder) thing with no pants business cards.

The place I went is called 55 Station, and they're all over the place. Their main thing is printing digital photos.
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