Characterizing People through their Business Cards

Business cards have a lot to say about the people who own them, not only through the information printed on them, but also through subtle hints and clues that other people can use to characterize the business card owner. This is only natural, since a business card is akin to a personal identification card or fingerprint that contains more than just a name and some contact numbers. In fact, it is quite useful for a person to be able to have the skill and experience in scrutinizing people’s skill and reliability by simply observing the different facets of their business card. Here are some tips for you to start learning.

Look at the Design. The design of a business card is one of the subtle indications of the personality and characteristic preferences of a person. By observing the color choice, the creativity of the business card, and generally the overall look of the card, you can make informed guesses and approximations of a man’s general disposition. Remember to take everything you see in context, because little details like what the person actually specializes in or if the person has a unique name may have had a part in the determination of the final design. Also, while this is a helpful technique to quickly characterizing a person, you may still be wrong from time to time so do not think that this trick is infallible.

Check for Typos. Typographical errors in a business card can say a lot about a person’s basic skills, attention to detail, and even overall performance when working. If a person is careless enough to let simple spelling and grammatical errors slip past them, this may be an indication of bigger failings and/or inadequacies. You may argue that this could be entirely the fault of the commercial printing company who handled the printing job, but you must realize that if the person used the card anyways, he may not have proofread his cards or he didn’t care for the mistake when he found it. Either way, think twice before transacting business with these persons.

Look out for business card etiquette gaffes. A person can have a perfectly adequate business card but it is possible that he does not know how to use them or even handle business cards from other people. Observe closely if the person seems to be knowledgeable on the proper business card etiquette such as being wise in distributing his own cards, respecting and taking the time to examine other people’s business cards, and generally treating a business card with respect no matter who owns it. If a person knows proper etiquette with a piece of card board, there is a good chance that he also knows good etiquette in practically any social setting.

Business card printing is not all about spreading information to different people. It is also about selling yourself as well as characterizing other people with the mere use of a simple piece of printed material. Business cards may be originally meant for giving out contact information for future business transactions, but there is a lot more to be learned than simple phone numbers and names.