Brand evangelists: what they are and what they can do for your business
How can you foster brand fandom with your customers? Give your users quality customer service that extends beyond your product offering. Here’s how.
Put simply, a brand evangelist is someone who strongly believes in your product and is happy to promote it. While customers may buy your product or service, brand evangelists go a step further and “preach” their experience with your brand to the outside world.
How can you foster this level of fandom? In short, give your users quality customer service that extends beyond your product offering. Here’s how:
Create a memorable customer experience
With some skill, great customer service can diffuse a bad situation and make an opportunity to generate returning business. In fact, according to a recent study, 66% of US consumers are willing to spend more money with a company that provides them with excellent customer service. Good feelings are worth way more than some saved cash!
On the flip side, customers may decide against making a purchase because of poor customer service. Even worse, a single bad experience is shared, on average, 16 times. Instead of doing damage control on word-of-mouth feedback, be proactive with your customer service efforts to always deliver delight and satisfaction.
Train customer service superstars
Standing out from your competitors is crucial for your company’s success. Thankfully, you can achieve this by focusing on customer service and satisfaction.
Zappos is a great example of a company that’s thriving because of their stellar customer service. The company uses their customer service agents to build strong relationships with their customers––not just make a sale. They also treat employees the same way they would treat a customer in order to foster employee advocates.
That exact attitude is what has created such loyal fans of the brand. This model should serve as an example for everyone: treat people with genuine care and you’ll soon have a loyal following of brand evangelists.
Of course, that concept is easy to understand. The harder part is figuring out how to train a 5-star customer service team. At MOO, we recommend keeping a customer-first approach, with a side of cake. Check out our guide to A+ customer service here.
Transparency is key
A key ingredient of customer loyalty is trust. Some of the most successful companies are those that are honest about their problems––and even ask their audience for help.
As a best practice, send out a yearly (or quarterly) survey to your customers—after all, your customers know your offering just as well as you do. Ask them about what areas you can improve. How was their customer experience? Did the product live up to their expectations? What products do they want to see from you in the future? Once you receive the results, share the key findings with your customers to show that you are taking the feedback to heart. Posting the survey results will make evangelists feel that their feedback can lead to meaningful changes in your brand’s offering.
“Treat people with genuine care, and you’ll soon have a loyal following of brand evangelists.”
Brand evangelists love social media
Brand evangelists will naturally want to share their great experiences with your company on social media. You have the power to spur this conversation—but how?
On a simple level, retweet and reply to all your customers. If they’re taking the time to compliment you, they might as well get some extra exposure and good feelings in the process. To take things to the next level, send them a gift or discount code as a way to say ‘thank you’ for the Internet love.
If you have some extra time––or a social media team––create a customer spotlight on your blog and social channels as well. This will give your fans a moment in the limelight, and allow you to illustrate how loyal people are to your brand. After all, loyalty is a two-way street, so profiling your customers will return the favor in exchange for continued support.
Provide with purpose
Companies that have a strong ethos––or a strong knowledge of their purpose––are much more compelling to customers.
This isn’t something that you have to dig for on the company’s website. Your values should come through in everything you do—from marketing to customer service. Since customers can know exactly how the company they’re backing is run, they’re more likely to support it. Transparency is key to creating brand evangelists.
What ways do you delight your loyal customers? How have brand evangelists helped your business? Share in the comments below!
Delving into the world of societies and groups can be a new way to boost your social life and professional skills – have you seen what’s out there?
If you’re self-employed, joining a society or trade association opens up opportunities for networking, learning, and of course, fun. You probably know about the major national association related to your profession, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Here’s a round-up of some off-the-beaten track societies open to self-employed people – or just people in general…
Oddfellows
This venerable group originated in the UK way back in the 1700s. In those days, trade societies and guilds were for mainstream professions, so the Oddfellows (Odd Fellows in the US and internationally) popped up as a solution for the “odd” ones out, usually specialist craftspeople.
Today it’s active in the UK and the US, and although it’s classed as a fraternal society, it’s for anyone who wants to join, male or female. The idea is to make friends, share mutual support and development with other members, and get involved with events and activities, volunteering and charity opportunities. UK members also get trade union-style benefits like support services and discounts included in their £30 per year membership.
Good for: independent spirits who like to think outside the box and mix with a wide range of people.
William Morris Society
Legendary Victorian designer William Morris lives on in this society, which has branches in the US, UK and Canada and is open to members internationally. Dedicated to the work and philosophy of the man himself, the William Morris Society holds regular talks, workshops and visits to museums and galleries, and issues a members’ magazine and newsletters several times a year. It costs US$30 / £22 per year, or $50 in Canada, and US members are automatically enrolled in the UK society too.
Good for: Creators, thinkers and dreamers looking for a new source of inspiration.
Women’s Institute
Today’s WI is a far cry from the old stereotype of housewives being limited to baking and flower arranging. Although those pursuits are still part of the picture, there are workshops, events and courses covering science, photography, sports, politics and education available within the UK society. Over in Canada, where the WI originated back in 1897, the Federated Women’s Institutes of Ontario goes from strength to strength, while there are institutes in Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Australia connected through the Associated Countrywomen of the World. As the name suggests, the WI is open to female members only, although men can get involved in some of the UK courses and activities. We love the menu of courses available at the idyllic UK WI’s Denman College.
Good for: female makers, crafters, learners and entrepreneurs
IEEE
Aimed at engineers and technology professionals, the IEEE is also open to students and non-technical workers involved in the technical and digital industries. It offers networking, education, and a huge range of specialized mini-communities, including an Entrepreneur Exchange and a Young Professionals group. It’s truly international, with offices across the globe and members in 160 countries, making it invaluable for those wanting to make the most of their freedom and find opportunities overseas.
Good for: Coders, makers and international go-getters
Joining a new community? Don’t forget to have some up-to-date Business Cards at the ready.
Samantha, owner of coffee house, All That Java is striving to change the way you buy your coffee by putting convenience at the heart of her business.
Coffee. What would we do without it? We rely on it to kickstart our mornings and fuel our hectic lives. And more often than not, we want it instantly – with great quality and free from fuss.
And for Samantha, owner of All That Java, cracking this formula has been what’s driven her career. Samantha spent some time living in Seattle and was in awe of the convenient coffee drive-thrus that got her through busy mornings on more than one occasion.
But, back on the East coast, Samantha was surprised that the idea hadn’t taken off there yet. Inspired by her West coast experience, she set about recreating that same convenience and ease of ordering for others that she’d loved so much herself – thus All That Java was born. It’s got us all reconsidering the way we buy our coffee!
What was the motivation behind setting up All That Java?
I was living in Seattle – we had 5 coffee drive-thrus in the town and everyday thereʼd be a queue of customers (myself included) waiting to get coffee because of how convenient it was. When Iʼd go back home to visit the East coast, Iʼd keep thinking to myself, why haven’t these coffee stands made it here yet. A decade later, I moved back to Rhinebeck and inspired my experience on the West coast I decided to start All That Java with the aim of making getting a coffee convenient and efficient. I love it!
What came first for you – the location or the idea for your business?
I’d had the idea for a little fleet of coffee shops for a long time, but in Seattle, the idea was already done – maybe sometimes a little more mom-and-pop or sometimes more corporate like Starbucks. Rhinebeck and the Hudson Valley was home and there was nothing like my dream there. It seemed like the perfect little place to start, so I moved back there. I knew the people. And, now I know the way they like their coffee.
What inspired your branding design? Did you create it yourself?
I love to sit at the computer and just start playing. Take the ‘v’ in ‘Java’ for example, when I was working on that I thought: ‘should it be a mug? Wait, no, this idea is all about to-go. It should be a to-go cup’. I just keep creating until I get to something that’s just right. I went through the same process when I was designing the shape of the actual coffee house too – drawings, drawings, more drawings.
For the graphics, I started out really subdued – slate gray, navy and white. A month or two in, I started to incorporate these pops of colour. It’s the way I design, I always start with blacks, grays and white and then all of sudden there’s a royal blue chandelier.
We love the way you engage with your fans on social with things like #brewpoint. Why do you think having a online voice is important?
Coffee generally tends to be an impulse purchase so I felt it was important to have an online presence so that I could put myself front of mind.
Instagram is fun – it felt like the perfect place to start. I began by creating #brewpoint – a place my customers could share their pictures and experiences and it’s since evolved into an amazingly supportive community of Java lovers.
What was the idea behind setting up your text ordering system?
For me, efficiency and convenience is key – that’s the reason I queued at the drive-thru in Seattle everyday. I wanted to give my customers the same experience, making it easy for them to get their coffee. For the moment, texting is a way to do that but I plan to have an app in the future.
Youʼve recently launched your second coffee house – were there any learnings you took from Rhinebeck that you applied to your Hudson opening?
Yes, definitely – we’ve become way more efficient since starting. We made improvements to the layout of the space. Java 2 is only 8’x12′, so efficiency is needed! And, we were able to duplicate the process we went through the first time, so everything was much easier – it only took 7 days to build Java 2.
Can you talk us through some of the reasons for creating your #MOOcards?
I’ve been using MOO for years to print personal bits. I also got all my printing done for my photography business that I had prior to my new Java life so I knew I was in good hands! The range of shapes and sizes that MOO has to offer are so versatile – I’ve created a variety of marketing materials, from business cards to customer loyalty cards.
Whatever design or color I create on screen is exactly what shows up in my mailbox a few days later. The texture of the cards are incredible – people always comment on the way the cards feel.
Taking that leap of faith and launching your own business is huge, but exciting! What are your tips for other entrepreneurs about to embark on a similar journey?
For me, going with your gut instinct is one of the most important things you can do! Smile, be grateful, love life and just remember to embrace every moment of the journey!
Awesome entrepreneur, Lucy Frost has branded her own tattoo business. Read her story, here
Want to make an instant impact from the first hello to that final handshake? Original, by MOO can help you do just that.
Original Business Cards, MiniCards and Postcards are designed to make an unforgettable impact, whoever you need to impress. Printed on premium paper, with the option of a smooth matte or shiny gloss finish, Original feels as good as it looks.
Here’s 3 customers we’ve met and the stories behind their businesses – from music to graphic design. Get inspired by their stunning creations.
Head & Hands
Amanda Wayne is the founder of online self-care sanctuary Head & Hands, based in London. Head & Hands is a three-armed business. First, it’s a curated store of handmade products. Second, it hosts conscious craft workshops run by Amanda or guest artist makers. And the third thing is actually what got the ball rolling for Amanda in the first place – Indian head massage.
Prior to Head & Hands, Amanda was working for a design studio, doing a lot of community engagement work, running creative workshops. “I worked with communities where there was going to be something changing – I helped them shape some of the design decisions that were being made in their environment. I studied graphic art and design at university, then started working in schools, bringing together my art experience and working with people. People have always been at the centre of what I do.”
“There’s nothing quite like the connection you build up with your customers when you’ve got a physical shop. It can be hard to create the same experience online as it’s not as tactile, however there is of course the opportunity to pack up and personalise people’s orders, which I what I’ve been really enjoying. I write everyone a little love note when I post them their box, and I’ve got stickers with uplifting messages on too, so the whole experience of unboxing the products is an act of self-care. It’s the equivalent of me having a lovely conversation with a customer.”
Send a little love in your packages with Original Postcards
Brooklyn Basement
Brooklyn Basement Records, an independent record label supporting acts in New York and Tennessee, was founded by independent artist Ron Pope and his manager Blair Clark. They launched the indie label in September of 2015 in, you guessed it, a basement in Brooklyn. And when their MOO cards arrived they said they finally felt official.
Blair explained: “When starting up a new business, it’s so important to have something on hand to give someone. We go to multiple industry networking events a month so our cards are key in establishing new relationships. We used a matte finish because we felt that it paired nicely with our label’s branding (classic, cool, and understated).”
“Email is obviously a big part of business these days, but I find that handing someone something physical after a nice conversation almost guarantees a follow up email the next day. Whereas doing the “I’ll email you right now” thing gets an instant read, and therefore takes it out of their inbox for the next day. Plus, it’s always great to show someone a peek into our brand and having such a great card featuring our logo makes people instantly intrigued with what we’re doing.”
Make your business official with Original Business Cards
Juliet Meeks
Juliet Meeks is a graphic designer and artist based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her delicate watercolours, strong typography and natural patterns work beautifully across the prints, pouches and homewares she sells in her online store.
Juliet uses MiniCards as hang tags on her products. She has them made with Rounded Corners because, as she puts it, ‘that makes them feel extra fancy,’ and loves being able to print her portfolio across the backs of the same pack of business cards.
She says: “I think we need printed products more than ever in the age of social media. People feel more connected to your brand or business when they can take a piece of it with them, even if it’s just a business card. I also love the interactive element of letting someone pick our their favorite patterned card; it’s always fun to see who picks what!”
Make a connection with Original MiniCards
With style and personality as unique as her designs, industrial designer Kickie Chudikova is on a mission to change the world – one product at a time.
For Kickie, choosing a career path was simple – she’s always known that she wanted to create and reinvent products. But, it was her time in Vienna at the University of Applied Arts that really shaped her and gave her the vision she has today.
Now, living in New York, Kickie works at Karim Rashid’s studio and runs her own design business alongside her 9-5. Here, she tells us why she wants to create designs that significantly improve our world, reveals her desert island object and shares her unique and amazing opinion on business cards.
You describe your work as ‘Function balanced by beauty’ – what does this mean?
Throughout our lives, we surround ourselves with objects. We buy what we need, which is the function, but make a mostly subconscious choice based on attraction, which is the beauty.
Products need to work well but also appeal to us aesthetically – the balance is the transition from useful to beautiful.
Having said that, beauty is not only shape, colour, material and finish – it’s also how we interact with an object and the emotional value it brings.
Work hard and stay critical towards your work – being able to step back and look at things from a different angle is important.
What led you to study industrial design in Vienna?
Ever since I was little, I knew I wanted to create and reinvent objects – I just didn’t know it was a profession at the time. My dad was a construction engineer and suggested I should become an architect, but industrial design goes deeper into detail, and that scale suits me much better.
I started at the Technical University in Bratislava, and then found out that Hartmut Esslinger (founder of frog design) was leading a studio at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna – I was lucky to be among the 12 people admitted that year!
It was such a formative and influential period in my life and really broadened my horizons. It gave me the opportunity to travel too – I did an exchange at the Milan Polytechnic and visited companies like Apple and Google in California.
Your designs are focused around reinventing mundane objects or routines, making them fun and enjoyable through the use of product – what inspired this?
I look at the world very critically – you have a lot of responsibility as a designer. You make decisions that influence a whole life-cycle. There’s no excuse for being careless when it comes to design and it makes me almost angry if I see a product with obvious flaws.
I aim to approach design in a playful and fun way and try to bring a smile to people’s faces or trigger an emotion. I just designed a coffee cup for people with larger noses – it’s shaped to fit your nose inside, so that you don’t need to tilt your head back while drinking.
“I have a “Gesamtkunstwerk” or “total work of art” approach to my designs, and consider myself the impersonification of my brand.”
You strive to design objects that significantly improve our world – what’s the one object, design or invention that you couldn’t live without?
My desert island item – duct tape – it can fix anything from a hole in your boat to making a new pair of shoes.
As well as working on my own designs, I work at Karim Rashid’s studio, which allows me to have a greater impact and work directly on products that are mass produced and sold all over the world.
In order to improve the world significantly though, I think you need to reinvent and work on a big scale. Take Elon Musk and the work he’s doing with SolarCity, Tesla, and SpaceX as an example. He’s able to challenge paradigms and remodel whole systems at pace in order to make our world better. That’s the next step for me.
Is there a routine or object that you’d like to reinvent that you’ve not yet created?
I’ve lived in NYC for 3 years now and I’m continuously shocked by the crazy amount of trash lying on the streets. It is very difficult to recycle here, and a lot of people just don’t seem to care – or perhaps aren’t informed.
Pollution is a design choice – we need to educate and push our clients to use sustainable materials, make objects recyclable and use less so that we don’t add more trash to this world. So, this would be one of the burning issues I’d like to address in the very near future.
Your designs are all 3D, tangible objects. How do you get this across in 2D form on your website and business cards for example?
I find photography, renderings and video are the strongest way to communicate my ideas in 2D.
Having a business card is like having a watch on your wrist – you need to have a really cool one! Thanks to MOO’s Printfinity feature, I can print a different design onto the back of every Luxe Business Card allowing me to match the right card to each prospective client.
“Having a business card is like having a watch on your wrist – you need to have a really cool one!”
How do you promote your brand?
I have a “Gesamtkunstwerk” or “total work of art” approach to my designs, and consider myself the impersonification of my brand. Designing my own clothes, 3D printing my jewelry and wearing bright colors is a significant part of me – and my brand.
I think pictures can express a lot and that’s why I love having business cards. For example, my totem series abstractly represents everything I do in product design – combining textures and shapes and colours to create abstract compositions and form-studies using materials available at reach. All of this on a tiny piece of paper!
Other than that, I think Instagram is a really easy and valuable way to promote your work and brand nowadays.
What are your tips for aspiring entrepreneurs wanting to start their own business?
Work hard and stay critical towards your work – being able to step back and look at things from a different angle is important. Know the direction you’re going in, so that you can get there even if it takes time.
I also think that networking can be the key to success. You can be really exceptional at what you do, but it all comes down to who you know and who you can work with, so meet people and show up. But most importantly, make sure to have fun!
Give each client a personalized Business Card with Printfinity
Having clearly articulated brand values can create a stronger company culture. In return, you can draw “right-fit” employees to you, create a stronger sense of loyalty in your customers, and help motivate your team.
It can be tricky finding the time to think about your brand values when your business (and your team) is growing. You’re probably thinking about things like your profit and loss numbers, whether you should be growing your team more or less than you already are, and how to grow your bottom line.
Don’t worry — we’ll walk you through how to create them. Here are some ways to build your brand’s values.
Define your “why”
This sounds simple, but it can be surprisingly tricky to nail down. However, once you do figure out your “why,” people will flock to you — Simon Sinek talks about this in his TED talk, which is worth a watch while you mull over your “why.”
So why do you do what you do? Are you solving a problem that you were particularly frustrated by as a consumer? Did you observe someone else’s struggle and want to prevent that for other people? Did you learn something you hadn’t known previously and feel compelled to take action via employing or sending money/goods to under-served parts of your community?
No matter how commonplace your product or offering is, there should be a strong “why” behind it. A household cleaning products company might not sound too exciting, but what if you have the goal of cleaning up the environment as well, with eco-friendly packaging and ingredients?
“Why do you do what you do?”
Define who you’re helping
Every product should have a target customer. Who are you helping with your products and services? Are you more focused on helping individual customers? Specific communities or groups? Non-profits or other businesses? Once you know who you’re aiming to help with your services and products, you can incorporate that back into your “why” and your brand values.
You can also use this exercise to sharpen both your values and your product. When thinking about who you’re helping, think about not just their day-to-day needs, but specifically needs that aren’t being met (either at all, or only partially — a product exists and it kind of helps with their problem, but doesn’t solve it). How is your product going to solve that problem? And why is it important to you to solve that problem for this specific group?
Have a purpose outside of work
This goes hand-in-hand with your “why” and can be a way to show people that you and your business are willing to actually walk your talk. If your “why” involves helping stressed out mothers, maybe your out-of-work purpose could involve volunteering and doing company donation drives for local women’s shelters. Or, if “empowerment” is in your “why,” or is a core value of your brand, it makes sense to have extracurricular development programs and educational resources available to your employees.
Make a list that includes both your “why” and any core values that you feel strongly about with your business (making customers feel important, for example). Once you have that list, come up with a few ideas for ways to incorporate those values into a purpose that exists outside of work.
“Part of running a company with strong brand values is making sure that your team is aligned with those values.”
Recruit a team that matches your values
Part of running a company with strong brand values is making sure that your team is aligned with those values. That creates a better experience for everyone — all of your team members are more motivated to work together and new hires will feel as though they fit in faster, creating a well-bonded team.
To help create this, structure your interview questions and hiring process around your values. If “tenacity” is one of your brand values, ask your interviewees about a time in their life when they persisted against all the odds. If you have a social cause built into your business, talk about that in interviews, as well. Don’t forget to mention all of these things on your “jobs” or “careers” page on your website, as well as other places in the website copy — someone might read about your brand values and then be inspired to apply!
Make sure your values match your branding
Last but not least, make sure that your values are aligned with your overall look, and vice versa. For example, if you’re an eco-friendly company, a heavily industrial look might not be the best fit. If there’s a mismatch here, it might be time to rebrand — otherwise, you’re at risk of confusing customers.
Why do you do what you do? Share your brand values in the comments below!
Love the freedom of working for yourself, but feel you’re missing out on office life? Co-working offers a great balance between professional independence and being part of a creative community.
By sharing a common work space with others, you get economies of scale on things like rent, overheads, printing and furniture. And if you choose well, you can benefit from a friendly and productive environment that improves the quality of your work and your life.
Deskmag’s 2017 forecast predicts that over 1 million people will be using co-working spaces by the end of the year, while the Harvard Business Review has hard facts on how and why people thrive in co-working spaces. If you’re thinking of joining them, check out our need-to-know guide to the main types of co-working to see what might suit you.
Renting a spare desk from a business
Think of it as Airbnb for offices. Small businesses help cover the cost of their office space by offering spare desks to individuals on a co-working basis. With this option you’re likely to have a desk, a computer, access to printing and maybe other extras like meeting space, depending on what’s included in the agreement. You get all the camaraderie of working in an office with an established team, but you’re still your own boss.
Great if you…
- want to have your own space to work where you can set yourself and your equipment up
- work to a regular schedule each week
- want to take part in start-up office culture but have your independence too
- are looking for cost-effective co-working
Hot-desking space
Like its corporate cousin, hot-desking in a co-working space means having access to an open office with chairs and desks on a first come first served basis. The space is run as a dedicated co-working business, so everyone is independent. Many of these spaces offer a great community atmosphere and some host their own events where you can pick up skills or meet other freelancers. Usually you’ll need to bring your own laptop, mouse and anything else you might need, such as a graphics tablet.
Great if you…
- don’t need a big monitor or bulky equipment to work
- like to chat and work in a busy environment
- want to keep your costs down
- want to work odd days here and there in an office
- don’t need a lot of privacy
Incubator
An incubator is a co-working space designed to help you launch or build your start-up. As well as a space to work alongside other small business owners, you can expect business mentoring and support, ready-made connections to industry players, and potentially even funding and investment for your business, if your idea is a hit with the incubator team.
Great if you…
- have big ambitions
- want to dedicate yourself 100% to your business
- are able to sell in your ideas effectively
Growing your business? Check out these tips for keeping your employees engaged. And if your company is hybrid, follow these office space-saving ideas at home.
We can’t resist a pin. And when they’re paired with perfectly designed cards like these, we don’t think you’ll be able to either. 4 of our superstar customers share their brilliant badges – and how they got their design businesses started.
These 4 designers all have something in common – they all make seriously covetable pins. And when we spotted them, we just had to share! Their gorgeous designs are all set on beautiful #MOOcards, which their customers love. Which one’s your favorite? (We can’t decide).
Xoxo Designs by Ruth
Ruth Tullis, owner of Xoxo Designs is based in Glasgow, UK and describes herself as “an artist and all round creative”. Ruth creates and sells colorful greeting cards, motivational prints, and cute enamel pins and says she “always finds herself dreaming up new ideas”. Ruth currently works part-time on her business and juggles a four days a week retail job alongside her creative work. It’s her dream to work full-time on her business!
Ruth’s inspiration for her designs comes from “pattern, flowers, space, typography, books and social media”. She’s recently got into calligraphy too, and is currently practicing her hand-lettering and trying out different techniques. When she’s not being creative, you’ll find her off “hunting for the perfect brownie and watching F1”. She also “obsesses over NASA” – Ruth visited Florida last year and is totally fascinated by space.
Ruth created her first ever MOO Business Cards for her university degree show. Now, she uses Postcards and standard business cards to promote her business with her Business Cards doubling up as backers for her gorgeous enamel pins. “I put a Business Card and thank you Postcard into every order I send out – my orders have gone all over the world. I love designing my cards – the website makes the whole process easy and fun, too.”
Thank your customers with Postcards
engine7design
Tim Nerney’s on fire! His boutique branding and design shop, engine7design, is in Troy, NY. He comes from a family of firefighters and has himself been a volunteer firefighter for 30 years too. He told us he “actively responds to blazes and rescues cats in trees when he’s not putting out creative fires”. Tim’s marketing and design career started 20 years ago in a print shop and over the years, he’s worked in a number of creative agencies before ‘dispatching’ E7 in 2009.
Tim’s awesome pins caught our eye and when we asked him what inspired them, he told us: “PIN JOB is an emergency services term as well as a brand-consistent tagline. One pin pays homage to Troy, NY’s historic architecture and the other is the perfect non-verbal response for grumpy teens everywhere.”
These particular cards were designed to hold Tim’s series of enamel pins, created as a fun, personal side project but he’s also used MOO to print cards for his 1000s of clients over the years. Tim uses Luxe Square Business Cards describing them as: “uncoated thick stock that allows the card and pin to stand proudly while on sale at Anchor No. 5 Boutique” – a beautiful little store across the street to his studio, specializing in local, handmade goods. Tim added, “ordering my cards is easy and I know I’ll always get great quality products at a great price – plus the occasional cake!”
Stand out from the crowd with Luxe Square Business Cards
Rachel Lin
Rachel is based in Canada and freelances for a design agency. She designs super cute enamel pins and prints as a side project. Last year, Rachel and her colleagues took part in a 100-day illustration challenge and following the event, people started asking Rachel for prints of her illustrations: “I was so humbled and surprised that somebody wanted a piece of my work”. It was then that Rachel moved onto creating pins of her illustrations, too.
Rachel has always been interested in the creative arts: “my father gave me my first camera and his collection of lenses at 15 when we were in Hong Kong. Since then, I’ve been heavily inspired by travel, nature, and nostalgia.” Rachel also takes huge inspiration from the creative people she works alongside in the agency.
When designing the backers for her pins, Rachel wanted a design that could work in tandem with any of her enamel pins – whatever the colour or finish. “The spot gloss finish against the white matte Business Cards is subtle enough that it doesn’t take attention away from the pin whilst still adding a touch of fun. The print and paper quality is amazing and I love the texture contrast between the glossy varnish and soft card stock.”
Make your brand shine with Spot Gloss Business Cards
Bureau of Betterment
Mette Hornung Rankin has been running her design and illustration company, Bureau of Betterment for the last 7 years. She’s always had a passion for design – after graduating with a degree in print management, she went on to work in both design studios and branding agencies before deciding to go solo. Mette loves to work on both large and small projects, from corporate branding and packaging to design and illustration for books.
Mette gets her inspiration “from the smallest of details in everyday life”. She likes to create “happy mini-worlds that are somewhat naive and fantastical with an underlying adult point of view”. Her Love Bird pin was created as a side project for a Design Week Portland event. “Pin makers from around the world donated their pins for a group art show, with all proceeds going to support arts education. I had a pin collection when I was a kid and really wanted to take inspiration from my favorite – a white unicorn head with a multi-colored mane – giving it a modern update.”
“My cards were originally designed as a backer for my pin but they also act as an alternative business card that I hand out too – it really surprises people and they always say, “I can keep this?!”. I chose raised spot gloss, square Business Cards with rounded corners because it matched the tactility of the pin. The spot gloss on the white clouds shines in unison with the white enamel and the quality of the black shiny type matches the polished nickel border. The cards were an affordable way for me to take my presentation up a notch, giving me a great giveaway piece.”
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What job could you be doing in 20 years’ time? We’ve teamed up with top sci-fi author Max Gladstone to find out…
Mobile developers, Social Media Strategists, and Growth Hackers are all jobs that didn’t exist 20 years ago, yet now, it’s hard to imagine a time without them. With the workplace ever-changing, and new methods of working being introduced all the time, it left us wondering what the future holds.
In partnership with sci-fi author Max Gladstone, we’ve created 6 jobs of the future from Digital Archaeologist to Fabric Programmer. We caught up with Max to find out what inspired these jobs and got his thoughts on the workplace of the future, too.
It’s fair to say that studies in Chan poetry and Ming dynasty fiction perhaps aren’t the most conventional of choices; so we were fascinated to find out what drew Max to this and how his studies later went on to influence his love of sci-fi.
“I’ve always been interested in China –my parents have backgrounds in world religion and philosophy, so I grew up around these texts. When I was a kid, I started reading Journey to the West in translation, and from there my interest in other countries and other languages really grew.”
Max’s background in sci-fi
But, what about his passion for sci-fi? Max told us: “My uncle gave me a cardboard box full of science fiction books after I told him I was interested in sci-fi – meaning Star Trek, mostly. At the time, I didn’t have a sense of the history of the genre or what sort of books were out there. So, this box became my reading list for the next couple of years, and my love for the genre grew from there .”
Reading and writing fiction in particular has always been a firmly rooted passion for Max too – in fact, he wrote his first novel when he was in high school. Nowadays, his inspiration comes from, as he puts it, “the enormously complicated world that we live in”.
“It’s really hard to write about the complexity of our world with conventional literary technique – that’s the beauty of science fiction – you get to use metaphors that create a language that helps people understand the world better, or see it differently.”
Imagining the Jobs of the Future
So, what inspired the jobs of the future? Max told us: “Many of these jobs emerge from conversations I had while working as a tech industry analyst – studying developing tech trends in corporations. But, the really cool challenge I faced when working with MOO was to consider what individual human beings might do – and what they’re already starting to do.”
“I started by projecting into the future trends we’re seeing right now in the marketplace, and asking what opportunities might become available to address the challenges these technological developments will present. We’re already seeing huge advances in consumer augmented and virtual reality technology, between Apple’s inclusion of AR software in iPhones, the popularity of AR-layer games like Pokémon Go, and even Microsoft’s HoloLens—so of course we’re going to need jobs like the Personal Reality Designer. Their role is to create a virtual space for you to navigate – think of it as the individual’s user experience of their digital life.”
Dealing with the digital pile-up
But, with all this tech in the world, information security and data protection is rapidly becoming a hot topic! Max explains: “we’re all leaving enormous virtual trails behind us – anyone who’s been using the internet for 10 years or more has left a trail of shell identities scattered behind them”. Just cast your mind back to that embarrassing Myspace profile you had or even that chat room persona you made for playing Call of Duty – ever think about what happened to those accounts after you abandoned them?
“That’s where jobs like the Cloud Cleaner and the Home Cyberneticist come in. The Cloud Cleaner scrapes your personal data off the internet, protecting you from doxxing and surveillance. And, the Home Cyberneticist will help you build your interconnected super-house safely and securely as we start to move towards a more connected world.”
So, of the 6 jobs Max created, which one would he most like to do? He told us: “I’m really interested in Digital Archaeology – we’re creating these enormous multidimensional systems now, immense volumes of data that pretty soon will exist in basically unreadable formats. 5 years ago, there was this big push to train young computer scientists on old software – all the people that created it were retiring and no one knew how to read it. Fast forward to 2037 – we’ll be facing this times a hundred.”
The Digital Archaeologist extracts insight from tangles of corporate data and excavates the customer insight of dead unicorn startups. They’ll also answer questions like, “Where DID Grandma store her photos?”
Imagining the future workplace
So, Max has given us his predictions for the jobs of the future, but what about the workplace of the future? Max thinks “we’re going to see a greater diversity of workplaces—as people take into account the type of work that needs to be done”. He also believes that the effective trend will be a “move away from a one-size fits all model to a model that involves a lot more internal discussion about what we actually want to achieve in our offices, and creating spaces accordingly.”
Max’s final prediction is that we might start to see a 3 day weekend – if that’s the case, we’re totally ready for the future!
The jobs might be years away, but these awesome Business Card designs are up for grabs right now