GT Personal Business Cards “The business card... is kind of an extension of yourself. It’s a little bit of giving yourself to someone else.” Ken Erdman, founder of the Business Card Museum, Erenheim, PA

As a student you share many of the same attributes of someone in the business world. You may meet people in the course of a day whom you do not know and who do not know you. It is not always possible to spend a great deal of time talking with and getting to know the people you meet. Even when you do have time to talk, people are not always going to remember everything they learned about you.

People you see everyday— teachers, other students, parents, and family members— may not know things about you that you’d like them to know. When business people meet they exchange business cards. These small pieces of paper usually contain a person’s name, the name of their business, and a title or description of the work they do, and a way to contact the person, such as a phone number or address.

Create a business card for yourself that shows your giftedness and talents. Your card should help others know and remember you. Ideally it should convey a sense of who you are, what you do, or your interests—cheerleader, history buff, teacher’s assistant, class president, hall monitor, avid reader, or the only boy in a family of seven girls! A business card generally focuses on a single facet of an individual or business. You may be a cheerleader who also raises rabbits and tutors younger students after school. Create a business card that shows your strengths, gifts, and talents. Beware of including too much information. Limit your card. Include 1 – 3 aspects of your giftedness.

Brainstorm list in student folder 1.First, decide what you want your business card to tell others about your giftedness. Do you want to focus on your activities with the Art Club or do you want to announce that you are Class Leader? It may help to list everything about you and then pick one topic. 2.Describe yourself. After deciding on what aspect of your giftedness that you want to focus on, make a list or write a description that tells about that part of your life.

List in your student folder 3.Decide if you want a “serious” or formal card or something more light-hearted or informal. 4.Using the Business Card Checklist, list the major components of your business card. Note any Special Instructions from your teacher. Mark out any components you wish to omit from your card. If appropriate, come up with a title for yourself. To put everything you want on this small card you may need to come up with different ways to say the same thing. Look for shorter words in place of long ones. Use a single word in place of two or three different ones. Experiment with abbreviations. Name of individual - use only your first name and initial Name of business or organization- this is your imagination at work Address – make it up Phone number – make it up address - make one up Web page address -make one up Job title - Tagline or description of business or organization Logo Image(s)- including purely decorative elements List of services or products - these are your gifts and talent

Use the following questions to guide your decisions about what information to include on the business cards and how to design the layout of the card: Your personal information —how would you be most likely to use the card? In other words, who would you give the card to and what would the recipient be likely to do with the card? (You are designing this to let others know what your strengths are.) Products and Services — what products and services are you best suited for? Do you have particular talents, interest, and strengths? Do you have particular services or jobs which you perform? What talents, interests, strengths, services, or jobs might you highlight on your card? Tagline and Characteristics —what are words and ideas that relate to you? Should the card be formal ? informal ? fancy ? Images, Colors, and Graphics —What pictures or images can you look for that will relate to you? What graphics will help someone reading the business card you design be more interested in you? What colors best suit you and your personality? If you had a logo, what would it look like?

Look at sample business cards you or your class have collected. Identify those that have a style you might like to imitate or borrow. Sketch out some rough ideas of how you want your business card to look— including any graphics you think you want to include. (Your software may use clip art; if you have access to a scanner you may be able to scan artwork from clip art books; if you have access to graphics software you may be able to draw your own graphics. Remember copies from the printer are limited. Come up with economical ideas to do this so we don’t waste materials.) Using your rough draft to set up the page layout of your business card. Use software to check out templates or wizards that could provide you with ideas. Create your final product on the paper provided. Exchange business cards with your classmates and teacher.

Cautions!!! Use only your first name and initial Use the school address Use the school phone number Do not use a photograph of yourself on your card

ASSIGNMENT EXPECTATIONS Appropriate tagline, product or service, and/or other details All information on the card is related to you and your interests, and the connections are easy to understand Size and style of text and images Text is easy to read the style of the font and layout is quite creative. It matches your personality. Images, colors, and graphics relate to you and your giftedness and talents Graphic elements are related to your giftedness and talents. They are thoughtfully cropped, of high quality, and enhance reader interest or understanding. Spelling, punctuation, and grammar There are no spelling, punctuation, or grammar errors.

You will be exchanging business cards with your classmates and evaluating each other cards using a rubric including You will be writing a reflection about what you’ve learned as you’ve made your cards and evaluated other students’ cards. Be fair and truthful when evaluating the business cards of your classmates. You will discuss what you’ve learned about yourself and your gifts and talents through this assignment.

It is not easy to condense yourself down to the size of a business card but doing so may help you to focus on the most important aspects of yourself. It can also help to develop your vocabulary as you search for new words to describe yourself. It should also be clear that it is almost impossible to tell everything there is about a person from a single piece of paper.