Idea for a non-business card
by Volker Weber
This should work very well. One concern though: If I handed you this non-business card, would you assume that I work for Google? If so, is this any better?
Comments
Not sure about the "works there"-connotation, but would using the logotype be OK copyrightwise?
(I started pointing people asking for contact details to a feeling-lucky-search for "contact haiko" quite a while ago. Convenient for both parties.)
Indeed I wonder if you could use the Google logo like that, even though its clearly labelled as trademarked.
Either way, you could use the geek version by just printing a single string on your business card:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Volker%20Weber&btnI=I'm+Feeling+Lucky
Excellent idea ;) ... for a Google employee or associate.
I would be worried about the copyright issues as well, but why not just use a section of a screenshot where you type "Volker Weber" in Firefox' or IE's address bar. Wouldn't that technically have the same effect?
People will assume are affiliated with Google. Either way, color or b/w.
Alternative version, in case you don't want to give your name away :-)
The question remains:
Do you?
Luis, do I what? Work for Google? No, I don't.
Ole, I like your little twist. If you enter "communicate collaborate commemorate" as search term, the first hit is vowe.net, only the second is the contact page. With "hesitate" instead of "commemorate" (or in addtion to it for that matter) you actually get the contact page on top.
Is that on purpose by Volker to make you hesitate before contacting him? Honi soit qui mal y pense...
If you chop the Google logo in half horizontally, people would still recognise it, and realise the context, but you'd probably be safe on the copyright issue then. maybe.
A while back when OpenNTF was NotesOSS we tried to use somebody else's logo - don't do it.
Clever and I like it, but I agree with some of the others that as a business card, I think it's a bad idea.
I'd think it was a "I work for Google" card if I didn't already know what their cards look like. Also, as Bruce wrote...it's not a good idea to use someone else's logo for anything.
Too bad non-professional calling cards aren't still used outside of the "Miss Manners" set. I think it would be appropriate and clever if used in a non-business context.
Of course as an independent consultant, the line can be a bit blurry as to when you're making a social contact and when you're networking for your business.
I agree with Bruce. Dont mess with a country that produces more laywers than engineers...
---* Bill
Please ignore the trademark/copyright issue for a while and focus on the question "Would it work for you".
Ignoring the trademark/copyright issues, I think it's a very clever way to get people to visit your website, especially by piquing curiousity by forgoing a name and putting in search terms that will no doubt lead the prospector to your site. It would be very easy to convey this idea also without even needing to specify a specific search engine, one could get the same idea across with a visual that tells us, "okay, it's a search engine."
That said, cards like these would need to be ordered in small quantities, as technologies change, as do search terms/rankings. There is also a danger, wit h no name listed, that the card will be forgotten and end up in the trash.
One could order the biz cards with a blank space in the search bar, so you could write whatever you wanted to each time you gave the card out...
No logotype, "Google Search" and "I'm feeling lucky" buttons and blank space in the search bar as proposed by Jess sounds like a cute idea for folks who have several #1 Google hits (eg., I could write "contact Haiko" into it if I want to give someone my full contact details, just "Haiko" for my blog, "Endangered Machinery" for my photo site etc.)
I really, really like the idea. Just taking a not-so-bright person into consideration, would the arrow on the "I'm feeling lucky" button be enough to make them click there?
Aside from that, its very clever and proves IT awareness and popularity in one go.
;-)
Works for me too. I may steal it.
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