Well, it's Christmas at last, and from the sound of you all on Twitter your cards are sent, and your presents wrapped. It's been great hearing all your cries of delight recently, as your poor postmen and women have struggled with packages through the snowy weather!
Hope those of you who have time off over the festive season get everything you wish for, and those who are working have more fun than you might be expecting. We've published the dates we're working over the holidays, so if you find yourself in the office, you might well have company here in the UK, or over with the MOO Crew in the US.
We've had a great few weeks spotting unique gifts and ideas created with MOO, here's a few of our favourites:
A tetrabox advent calendar, by Bcome
Also by Bcome, this lovely looking memory game, complete with a great pattern on the back:
This super-cute Mosaic Frame, created by thisiswoly. Filled with 20 Minicards, it features the beautiful baby Sarah.
These wonderful looking alphabet game cards, by taraghb, which look like they were as fun to make as they will be to use!
And last but not least, look at this! another entry into our MiniCard Gift Box competition! Created by emusing-emma, it's really bought an extra flutter of Christmas cheer into MOO Towers. We love his little sledge!
Fancy joining in the fun? Closing date for entries to our competition is midnight PST 28th December 2009. Why not grab some festive paper, and see what you can do! More competition details can be found right here.
And now all that remains for me to say is a Very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from everyone at MOO!
Well, the last order dates for the holidays have passed, and Santa's final sacks of festive MOOs are filling up fast. We're still taking new orders though, and we'll be shipping them out as fast as we can - so don't hesitate to order thank you cards for all your lovely pressies!
Just so you know, here's our warehouse and customer service closure dates over the holiday season.
Thursday 24th December - LIMITED HOURS: we'll be shipping orders in the morning, but going home in the afternoon to wrap presents.
Friday 25th December - CLOSED : we'll be at home feasting on mince pies and turkey.
Monday 28th December - UK CLOSED: we'll be buying new trousers to fit our expanded waistlines!! (please note this is a UK Holiday only).
Tuesday 29th December - OPEN: business as usual.
Wednesday 30th December - OPEN: business as usual.
Thursday 31st December - OPEN: business as usual.
Friday 1st January - CLOSED : we'll be trying out our New Year resolutions and nursing hangovers.
Monday 4th January - OPEN: that's it, holidays over, back to work!
It's also important to note that our StickerBook turnaround in the UK is severely delayed over the holidays. Any orders placed after the 20th December will not be dispatched until the week of the 4th January.
That's all for now - Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the MOO Warehouse Crew!
Well, the weather outside is frightful and the MOO warehouse staff are getting ready for the Holiday rush. Our trusty elves are enjoying their last silent night before a few weeks of rigorous stocking stuffing. Soon your MOO orders will be walking in the air and climbing down your chimney.
You'll need to make sure you get your orders placed before our cut off dates, as we would not want you to have a blue Christmas. We thought you may want to see some of our packers at work in the MOO grotto, so here are some festive snap shots from our Rhode Island office...
If you're worried about your cards getting stolen by frosty the snowman, then we are offering a London, UK collection special. If you want to collect your order, simply send us your order number via the contact form, quoting your order number and "COLLECTION" in the subject line. We'll then flag your order for collection and give you instructions on how/where to collect your order. This is for a limited time only (until the 16th December), so be sure to get your order in ASAP.
Who says nothing goes on in a small Iowa town?
Freelance life can be tough. Long gaps between commissions. Accounts departments who just can't seem to find your invoice. Not to mention the ever-present need to get your work seen by the people who count.
Jonny Wan, a freelance illustrator from Sheffield, knows all about that. A graduate of the Manchester School of Art, he's constantly striving to ensure his unique illustrative style (think abstracted facial expressions, patterns, symmetry and hand-drawn lettering) snags the attention of creative directors everywhere – and he does so via Business Cards and Postcards from MOO.
MOO first caught his eye at his university degree show, where he noticed that all the students' cutest promo materials were produced by the same company – MOO! Then we tempted him with a free Business Card sample, giving him a chance to try our ordering software ("simple, logical and gives the user complete control") and evaluate our print quality and finishing ("very pleasing"). Duly hooked, Jonny ordered a set of Postcards and some Business Cards featuring a range of his work, and is preparing to send them off to art directors as we speak.
As an illustrator, working in a visual medium, presentation is very important to Jonny. "I like to make little promotional packs of my postcards and business cards", he says. "I send them out packaged in self-seal clear bags. It's good to put real thought into how the art director receives your promo materials – it's boring to just whack some cards in an envelope."
Like many creative types, Jonny's happiest when he's working, even between commissions. An example of this is his self-initiated "Can't Afford It" project. Whenever he wants an item of clothing he can't afford, he draws it instead! Eventually to be self-published as a book, working like this helps him improve his work rate, hone his Photoshop and Illustrator skills, and keep his unique style fresh and ever-evolving.
No matter how his style develops, MOO's short print runs means that his promotional materials are always in step with his latest work. "As an illustrator, your style is always changing and improving. The last thing you want is to end up with a thousand cards of the same design. You need to keep existing and future clients up to date with your freshest, latest work, because essentially they will hire you based on what they see on your promo material. It's no good for an art director to commission you only to find that your illustrative style has changed or moved on." He laughs. "After all, you wouldn't be happy buying a Jay-Z CD to find a Metallica disc inside, right?"
When designing his cards, Jonny also took advantage of a new feature that allows users to upload images for both the front and the back of the Business Cards. "Anything that gives you more options allows room for creative control – and it's that kind of flexibility that keeps me coming back to MOO. The ability to upload images for both sides of the Business Cards enables you to make the cards completely unique."
"A business card is usually the first point of contact between a new client and an illustrator, so it's important your card jumps out at people while being straight and upfront with your contact details. The fact that the cards can be individual rather than generic also gives a sense of professionalism – people can be impressed that you've put the effort into designing your own cards. A little effort can go a long way."
Jonny's constantly thinking of new ways to promote his work using MOO products. "I love the Stickers – I can see them being a very unique selling point. They're a little different and unexpected, which is beneficial in an industry where everyone strives to promote themselves in a unique way."
MiniCards appeal to him for the same reason. "MiniCards are great because they get straight to the point and don't take up a lot of space. Art directors get bombarded with samples every morning. They open their mail and have to make snap decisions about what to keep and what to chuck."
"They're more likely to pin a MiniCard onto their noticeboard than, say, a leaflet, because they know it won't take up a lot of space. And if your work's on their noticeboard, they're more likely to bear you in mind when it comes to commissioning. And that's what it's all about!"
Thanks for talking to us Jonny! We look forward to seeing more of your work soon.
Like Jonny's work? He's available for commissions so get in touch, and say hello from us too.
After giving you the story behind Perch's MiniCards, we thought we should catch up with photographer, Simon Warren. Also featured on our MiniCards page, he's been taking advantage of the latest features and comparing them with the larger Business Cards he's been using (and loving) for a while. Here's what he had to say:
Simon Warren is one of the UK's top location photographers. He's been using MOO's Business Cards to showcase his outstanding graphic images: bold exteriors, sleek interiors, arresting construction shots and more.
Though happy with the size and scope of the Business Cards, he's recently been experimenting with MiniCards, with positive results.
A hardcore Business Card fan, Simon was initially worried by the slimmed-down dimensions of the MiniCards (about half the size of a full-size business card.)
"At first, I was concerned that the cards would be simply too small to showcase my photos effectively", he explains. "But actually, this can work very well. The cards show snippets of images – almost abstract – giving a hint of information, but (quite literally) not the full picture."
Rather than being a hindrance, this fits well with other design aspects of his brand. "My website works in exactly the same way – visitors are shown an interesting or intriguing section of an image, which they click to see in full. It’s a simple but effective way to get people involved and interacting with my work."
He also likes the impact the MiniCards can have when shown together. "Once you have a whole bunch of cards spread out on the table, the viewer is able to get a better impression of your work than a single image can provide, so that's how I like to show them. Then I let the viewer choose whichever one they want. The fact that they've been involved in the choice often helps them remember your work better than if you simply thrust a card into their hand.
"I often refer to my MOO Business Cards as my ‘mini-portfolio’. My MiniCards are now my mini-mini portfolio!" he laughs. "Sometimes when you're carrying a full set of business cards around in a holder, it can be a little clunky. At a very basic level, they're physically easier to carry around with you. As a photographer, you carry so much equipment with you - that's a big plus."
Simon's also pleased with his MiniCard holder. "It swings open sideways and then you push the cards out with your thumb. It's unusual and I think people like that.
"At networking events so many people are handing out conventional business cards in conventional holders. Sometimes that's what you want, but other times it's good to stand out a little. MiniCards can help you do just that."
Thanks for chatting with us Simon!
Find out more about Simon's work, or check out his portfolio.
As you are probably aware, Royal Mail have scheduled further strikes this week. Please note this only affects "Standard" delivery to UK addresses, not Express.
Local delivery services and the sorting office at Royal Mail HQ will be closed this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We want to make sure that your order doesn't get caught in the backlog and we have some alternatives for you to think about when placing your order.
Express
At checkout, you can choose our Express service. This is a guaranteed, signed for service, which is totally unaffected by the strikes. UK Express starts at £10 and is definitely value for money. You will be able to track the delivery online and the service is 1-3 days guaranteed (once shipped).
Collection
During the strike action, we are offering a special collection service. If you are based locally to our Clerkenwell warehouse in London, please send us your order number via the contact form, quoting COLLECTION in the subject line. We'll then flag your order for collection and give you instructions on how/where to collect your order. This is for a limited time only, so be sure to get your order in ASAP!
In the meantime, fingers crossed for a speedy resolution to these disputes.
I have to start blogging again. There's so much going on in my life and I need an outlet to vent.
Today I'm going to the funeral home with my 19 year old son to attend the wake for his best friend. He was shot by another friend while hunting. There'll be a room full of grieving teenagers and a distraught family getting ready to bury their only child. This is so incredibly sad that I can hardly grasp it all and I'm numb. This is the third friend of my son that has died in just over a year - all as a result of guns. Need I say more?
As you know, we've updated the features on MiniCards. You can upload an image for the front and the back - and there are some other neat features too. On the MiniCards page, you'll find some images of real cards. Ones our customers have made - like these, from Perch:
We contacted Perch after seeing their cards at dConstruct, a conference in Brighton. We liked them so much, we wondered what they'd do with the new features we had planned for MiniCards. The cards above are the ones they made, and this is the story behind them.
Perch is a "really little" content management system. (Their words, not ours!) It's designed to be simple, straightforward, and easy to get running, so that even internet novices can edit content on a small website with no muss and no fuss. The really little CMS also has a really neat little price and, confesses Drew McLellan, Director and Senior Developer at edgeofmyseat, the company behind Perch, a slimmed-down marketing budget to match.
Despite this, Perch have been using their MiniCards to do mighty things. Things that might have carried a hefty price tag with another printer. Prior to launch, Perch produced a batch of MOO MiniCards with a special 20% discount code on the back – a time-tested, traditional way to promote a product, which gave people a reason to hold onto the card until the company went live.
After launch, they began to look at new ways to market themselves, by sponsoring conferences, and speaking about Perch at events. In order to test the effectiveness of such activities, they needed a way to track where their site visitors had heard about the product - and this is where the mighty MiniCard things started happening.
Rather than the general discount card they'd used previously, Perch ordered some new MiniCards, with unique discount codes on the front where the photo normally goes. They wrote some software to generate the codes, and output an XML file that they then "mail merged" into their images using the Data-Driven Graphics tool in Adobe Fireworks. This created 100 unique images for each batch of MiniCards, which they then uploaded as part of each order.
"The ability to have 100 unique cards in a run of 100 has been fantastic for us", says Drew. "Doing it any other way would have been a nightmare. Firstly it would have been difficult just to find someone able to do it, and you can bet it would have been expensive - probably too expensive to be worth doing! Now when someone uses a discount code, we can tell which event they picked up the card at by tracking the code back through our systems."
Perch also find MOO's short print runs to be very handy, because each batch they order is a small commitment both financially, and in terms of strategy. Fresh illustration work, a small tweak to the logo – all can be incorporated into the MiniCards next time a batch is produced. "The fact that we order 100 cards at a time means it's no hassle to make that sort of change", says Drew, "and it's great to order up some new cards knowing that the wastage from the old cards is really minimal. We've probably got about £5-worth of unused old design cards sitting around, which is nothing. If we were printing traditionally at volume then you're tied in and can't stay nimble."
"MOO's generally our first port of call when we need something printed", says Drew. "We've been really pleased with the quality and the ability to click a few things on a web page and have something physical that you've created turn up at your door is awesome."
Thanks to Drew for taking the time to talk to us - and thanks to Anne-Marie for writing this up. Find out more about Perch and what it can do for you, or make some MiniCards of your own.
You've been asking for improvements on our first ever product and we’re excited to say they're finally here. MOO MiniCards now offer even more creative possibilities - and some of your most requested features.
There’s now the option to choose from a bigger range of fonts, colours and templates to personalise the ‘details side’ of your cards. We’ve also added the option to upload your own logo, or choose an icon from our brand new selection.
Want to upload an entire image for the details side of the card? No problem. Just like our larger Business Cards, you can now upload a full JPEG or PDF.
At the end of the process check your cards (text and images) on a brand new preview page – another chance to check your spellink spelling, and make sure you’re happy with your images.
And, last, but not least, all that goodness is packed into a very smart new MiniCard presentation case! Designed in-house by Paul, our product designer, it’s sturdy but recyclable card.
Enough already? Go take a look at the New and improved MiniCards for yourselves!
