When we asked you for some of yours you didn’t disappoint! As far as opening lines go, the movies are a great place to get inspired – which is why so many people end up using movie quotes on their business cards, to rather memorable effect. As always, you’ve come up with some fantastic opening lines, both from the silver screen, and the real world, so here (in full technicolour!) is the winner – and the best of the rest.

• MOO Products: Luxe Business Cards

So, what exactly is a hack day? “Hacking” has a bad image, but this kind of hacking is nothing to do with the hacking you’ve seen in films. A hack day is an opportunity to build something new, in this case music related, in a short space of time, collaborating with people from different companies, with different skills, without the constraints that we all have in our everyday roles. At the end of the event, everyone gets to show and talk about their hack. Some might eventually get developed into real-world applications but that’s not the purpose of the of a hack day, it’s more of an experiment.

30 hackers took part in the MIDEM hack day from all over the world. It was especially nice that several music tech start-ups from our East London neighbourhood were represented. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to build when I arrived, so I teamed up with Becky from Codasign who brought along some hardware that looked really interesting; a small LCD screen, an Arduino controller and a Bluetooth receiver. We thought it would be a nice idea to use the display as a kind of badge showing in the real world the music the wearer was listening to, with visualisations based on the tempo and mood of the track.

Here is the video we made for our hack demo:

Badgify – MIDEM Hack 2012 from Becky Stewart on Vimeo.

18 hacks were created during the event using a diverse range of technologies and ideas. Highlights are on the MIDEM blog and the full list of hacks are on the music hack day website. We presented our hacks to a packed room of music industry professionals and had a huge amount of interest in what we were doing.

It was a fantastic experience, I am inspired and awed by my fellow hackers’ skills, knowledge and creativity, and the level of innovation that’s going on within the music tech community. Thanks are owed to Dave Haynes from SoundCloud and Martyn Davies from Six Two Productions for organising the hack day and MIDEM for sponsoring the event.

And the highlight of the weekend? The once-in-a-lifetime experience of catching DJ Jazzy Jeff playing in a small club. What a party!

Since then, our little company has grown (we’ve printed close to 100m MiniCards), but our values remain the same. We believe that technology should build on the values of the past – striving to make great things even better, more accessible: for everyone.

That’s what brings us here today.

Inspired by the rich heritage of high-end letterpress boutiques and the lithographic printing houses of yesteryear, we are incredibly excited to unveil our beautiful new product line, Luxe.

Born out of our passion for print, Luxe blends high-end design, technical innovation and complex operations with a little magic to offer previously unobtainable quality to our customers at an accessible price; that little bit of luxury we all deserve.

- At 600 gsm / 32 pt, Luxe Business Cards are three times as thick as the average Business Card

- Choose a seam of colour from black, white, red or blue – great for matching your graphic based designs

- Use one of our specially created MOO Designs

Luxe perfectly illustrates MOO’s ambitious vision: great design, for everyone. We hope you like it.

• MOO Products: Business Cards

After being on the road for six months, I was just settling back into the rhythm of things here in southern Louisiana when I saw the call for MOO Ambassadors at the 2012 Imaging USA Expo in New Orleans. I’m a big fan of MOO – the products, the quality, the personality of the company and its staff. And I’m willing to admit that I sometimes browse the MOO website for entertainment – I love the clever descriptions and witty commentary! MOO obviously has a sense of humor, and I figured it’d be great fun to work with the folks there. And lucky me, I got to be a MOO Ambassador for two days at Imaging USA!

The first thing I noticed when I approached the MOO booth was how it really stood out from its surroundings. The booth is a lot like the website, simple and streamlined with clean lines and bright colors. Next to MOO, the rest of the expo was a monochromatic sea of black and gray and seriousness. Bright blue cash register, giant fishbowl of samples, and tons of hot pink Yay! stickers – Kudos to MOO for being professional and fun!

Photo courtesy of The Savvy Photographer

I worked with Rebeka from the U.S. office and Charlotte from the London office. It was a great opportunity to learn more about what MOO offers and to see and handle everything in person. I have a natural tendency to gush about MOO products anyway so it was fairly easy to talk with all the photographers who visited the booth. It was great to introduce newbies to MOO, and it was even better to meet current MOO fans. They’re not shy about showing off their MOO cards, and honestly, we were quite encouraging of that kind of behavior.

And yes, the MOO Crew was just as amazing as I expected them to be, and I’m super excited to be working with them again in Las Vegas at WPPI in February. I hope there are more of those Yay stickers!

____________________________________________________________________

Thanks, Kieu! We’re excited to work with you again at WPPI in Las Vegas.

We’re even looking for another MOO Ambassador to join Kieu and some of the MOO Crew to work at the MOO booth at WPPI. We’re a friendly bunch at MOO, passionate about the products we make, and the way we make them. We’re looking for someone who shares our passion. If you enjoy talking to people, have experience working at tradeshows or just plain love MOO, we’d like to hear from you.

Requirements:
Applicants must live in or near the Las Vegas area with transportation to/from the MGM Grand Convention Center and be available to work during some or all of the following days/hours:

Sunday, February 19
7:00PM – 10:00PM

Monday, February 20
10:00AM – 4:00PM

Tuesday, February 21
10:00AM – 4:00PM

Wednesday, February 22
10:00AM – 3:00PM

I’m free those dates! What will I be doing?
Lots of fun stuff including: shooting video footage of the event, hosting live contests, working at the MOO booth during the tradeshow, talking about MOO and our products to customers and representing the MOO brand.

So, what’s in it for me?
- We’ll pay you
- We’ll buy you beer (or some other lovely beverage)
- And we’ll even throw in a MOO t-shirt and other free MOO products

Sounds great! How do I apply?

We thought we’d keep it simple. You can email a resume and cover letter by February 12, 2012 to Rebeka Fluet at rebeka@moo.com with the subject line “MOO Ambassador”.

Any questions? Ask us here on the blog, we’d be happy to help!

My current obsession is stickers. Who doesn’t love stickers? They’re so sticky and they stick to things. No seriously, some of the artwork on these stickers is gorgeous. I’ve rounded up a real hodge-podge of ideas. Enjoy.

First up are these beauties by @gemgirlart. We’ve featured her art before in our ideas section. I adore her illustration and it’s so vibrant on these labels.

If you’re an instagr.am fan like us, these stickers from @hellogeri’s instagram photos might be more up your alley. If you don’t have the time, did you know the nice chaps at Instagoodies will do all the ordering for you?

Given, we’re all supposed to be working, I thought it was only appropriate to show off how a few businesses used stickers to brand their envelopes and packages. Graphic Designer, ChrissieFresh has created her logo in multiple colours and printed it on both round and square stickers. The colours make them feel really fresh. I doubt that’s a coincidence given her name.

While I know that everyone is deep in January detox and perhaps can’t even fathom heading to the pub, we still wanted to share @Nick’Arris solution to the inevitable bar tab challenge. He created drink tickets using MiniCards and got creative with labels to make branded name tags.

At MOO, we love parties too and always want new people to feel at home. That’s why, we make an effort to have some fun with our Hello name tags designed to get the conversation started. Thanks to @thedigitalbandit, we have photos to share of what we had on hand at our summer party.

Do you use QR codes in your marketing? They seem to be everywhere these days – on business cards, stickers, posters. Here’s @Michael Kappel’s recent QR code adventure.

Visual artist, @Ritaflo’s vintage drawings look amazing on these labels. I really want one.

Are you still trying to keep to a new year’s resolution? A few year’s ago, @-DJD- created some motivational stickers to keep him exercising. I definitely need all the help I can get.

Who doesn’t like a lambanana covered in stickers? This idea is courtesy of @jamieisboss

Yes it is true, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. Here’s what @kunwal did to add some extra special love-ness to her card. Nice touch.

Thanks for the diversion everyone. In the spirit of sharing and distracting you just a little longer, here’s a little video a few of the MOO Crew put together to show you the behind-the-scenes look of how we actually created stickers at MOO.

The reason I’m telling you this is because I’ve been trying to write a blog post on how important it is for Product Managers to strike a balance between creating brand new products and improving the existing ones. About how our new Facebook Cards are an exciting new product and how what we’re releasing today is aimed purely at improving things based on what we’ve heard from our existing customers.

The thing is, I keep re-reading what I’ve written and it sounds like a cold feels, all bunged up and treacly, fuzzy and unclear. So, I think I’m just going to cut to the chase and save that discussion for another day, here’s what you really want to know – what we’re releasing today:

1.) Font size controls – We’ll always start you off with what we think is the perfect font size for your card but maybe you need to bring it down just a little bit to fit in your iamsoamazinglycool@myhilariouslylongdomainname.com e-mail address. Now you can.

2.) Font styles per line – Maybe you want to highlight your name in purple or make your company name bold. Now you can.

3.) A new template chooser – Maybe you want to try out all the possible card layouts with a single click of a button. Now you can.

4.) Use any of our generic templates with MOO Designs– Maybe you love one of our designs but just can’t squeeze all your details onto the details side we’ve designed. Now you can (switch to one of our generic templates whilst keeping the other side as it is).

Maybe you’d rather just watch me show you what our new features can do? Well, now you can…

Maybe I really want to go and have a Lemsip. Now I can!

• MOO Products: Business Cards
• Content: Company Logo

Imaging USA is PPA’s annual photographic convention and expo for professional and advanced amateur photographers. If you’re in the photographic industry, this is one not to miss!

Even better? We’re offering all MOOsters a FREE Expo Pass, on us! Click the link, to score the freebie registration.

The skinny:

Event: Imaging USA
Location: New Orleans
MOO Booth: 953
Dates: January 15-17
Ideal for: Professional and ‘advanced amateur’ photographers

Next up, we’ll be at WPPI in Las Vegas from February 20-22. Stay tuned for more details…

____________________________________________________________________________

We enjoy attending events and meeting MOOsters on their home turf. If you know of any events that would be a good fit for MOO, let us know by dropping a line in the comments below. We hope to see you somewhere along our route!

@overheardatmoo Strive to be a pioneer in your industry. Reinvent what has been done and make it your own. #MOOTIP

— Kendra Martin (@Kendra10Martin) January 5, 2012

#Mootip : Always sell a product you believe in – passion surpasses any sales tip – customers buy from belief in you @overheardatmoo

— BuildingYourMomentum (@YourMomentm) January 5, 2012

#MOOtip Do not wait until everything is PERFECT – that way you will never start!

— Ursula Markgraf (@cuteliciousshop) January 4, 2012

don’t be deterred by what others are doing or think you should do, be your best you #MOOtip

— Angela Schaefers (@whats_yourstory) January 6, 2012

Customers, colleagues and competitors … treat every individual with respect. #MOOtip

— Monica K Campbell (@monicaKcampbell) January 6, 2012

#Timemanagement is about making choices. ‘To do or not to do’ – that is the question! #MOOTIP

— Cleandesk.nu (@cleandesk) January 6, 2012

Take time to sleep no matter how bust and big of a project you have. Hard work requires good sleep. #MOOtip

— Sara Stroman (@S2Stationery) January 7, 2012

Stick to what you’re GREAT at….and surround yourself with a network of people who are great at what they do. #MOOtip

— Enrico Marcellino (@emarcellino) January 7, 2012

If you’re an artist or maker, don’t under price your work. High prices makes for higher perceived value #mootip

— Rowan | KitschenSink (@KitschenSink) January 7, 2012

@overheardatmoo Discipline is the key to success! If you want to have a successful biz you must stay focused! #MOOTIP

— Istra Piper (@thewriterMonet) January 8, 2012

Remember to #proofread all of your marketing materials before sending them to print #MOOtip

— Fine Print (@proofreadinguk) January 8, 2012

@overheardatmoo Sure, don’t sweat the small stuff, but you’d better keep track of the small stuff, as it’s often what matters most. #MOOtip

— J C (@bikeohio) January 8, 2012

Entrepreneurs with foresight understand that being a big business means, setting your business up that way in the beginning. #MOOtip

— Thunderous Leader (@GregoryDuJuan) January 9, 2012

Trust me just having a website won’t get you work! You need to get out there put your card in peoples hands and network. #MOOtip

— Alex (@MyLoveStoryNews) January 9, 2012

@overheardatmoo A little positive office humor/laughter is a very productive mechanism to promote a relaxed but creative atmosphere. #mootip

— abitnerdy :)* (@abitnerdy) January 10, 2012

The more strings to your bow that compliment each other the more well rounded a service you can offer your clients #MOOtip

— Simmi Duffin (@GracesFavours) January 10, 2012

At MOO we love big images: the bigger the image, the better the print. And the more interesting the image, the better the impression it makes when you first hand your card over to anyone you meet.

So, when we first heard Facebook were redesigning their profile page to include large format photography, it was pretty clear to us that this would look great on a business card. Then, when we saw the final Timeline design with the profile photo poking up over the large image we knew this was a product that we simply had to create!

If you’ve been living in a hole for the past few months you might be wondering what a Facebook Timeline is. Go take a look at your Facebook profile. Not your News Feed, but your actual profile. It’s OK, I’ll wait. If you’d like, you can look at mine instead (I just hope I’ve got the privacy settings right!): Woah! Did you see it? Uh huh, one massive long history of you! How cool is that? Beautiful images, life events and right at the top – one massive headline image – Facebook calls this a Cover Photo.

Working closely with the Facebook Timeline team, we translated their Cover Photo concept to our Business Card format by mirroring the fonts, layout and iconography of the Timeline. See image above for how your Cover Photos translate to Facebook Cards.

Each pack will contain all your Cover Photos and each card will show your name, company or college, where you live as well as your Facebook URL, phone number and e-mail address. Also on the back of the card is space for you to add your own quotation or sentence about yourself. By default we pull in the first quote we find in your Favourite Quotations field but you can edit this to say whatever you like. Mine says “For my part I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” – Robert Lewis Stevenson.

Once we had the design set, we worked hard to make the build flow for these cards as simple as possible. By using the Facebook API we can prefill pretty much every detail I mentioned above. All you have to do is click Next, Next, Next. It couldn’t be any easier!

To prove it, here’s a video of me making them to show you just how easy it is:

To make your own Facebook cards just go to your http://www.facebook.com/yourfacebookusername/info (replacing yourfacebookusername with your facebook username!) and hover over the little Business Card in your Contact Info. Make sure you’ve got a Timeline profile though!

• MOO Products: Facebook Cards