Anyone in the motion graphics or visual effects industry knows this is the truth, and with social networks popping up left and right on the internet, the methods of promoting yourself are no exception; but what does this mean for the more traditional methods of promotion such as the business card?

These days we are not all sitting around the conference table ogling each others business card like in the movie American Psycho. With the way the internet and technology in general has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few decades, we are jumping on our laptops, tablet computers and smart phones connecting to wi-fi hubs in every corner coffee shop and 3G and 4G networks virtually everywhere else for business and for pleasure. We are consuming more online data than ever before, and with this new technology comes new ways to promote ourselves.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to many. Newspapers and magazines felt the crunch as traditional paper subscriptions were dwindling, but they found a new resurgence online and through apps for various devices such as smart phones and the Apple iPad. Burning your reel onto a DVD and mailing it out to companies is a thing of the past as online video sharing sites and personal websites become the method of distributing your reel, as I mentioned in my previous article, Get Your Video to the Masses; and, with more people using online search to find what they are looking for versus more traditional methods, websites such as Reel Roulette (Spin the Wheel on Reel Roulette) allow anybody to quickly search through many reels in a very short period of time allowing more content consumption with less work.

So, what does all this mean for the more traditional methods of promotion such as the business card? Are business cards obsolete, being taken over by online promotional methods, or is there still a  place for them in this digital world? To find the answer, I asked some movers and shakers in the motion graphics and visual effects industry this same question.

Nick Campbell / GreyScaleGorilla.com and CreamyOrange.com (among many others)

“I think that biz cards are DEAD for people in creative and technology driven industries. They are a hold over from another age. If people REALLY want to get your info and you made a personal connection, they can put your info directly on their phone or ask their friend about you later. They could even follow you on twitter directly from their iPhone. THIS is the way I connect. Not in a heap of cards on my dresser when I get home from an event.” He goes on to add, “If your in a creative business and under 40, lose the cards.”

Eric Alba / 24LiesPerSecond.com

“I would say that Google-ing my name is good. But if someone with a more common name it might be difficult to find them. As far as social network/services, I wouldn’t rely on that to promote my self/business. But I have found LinkedIn to be a good way to find people in terms of searching for a skillset/business.” He adds, “My business cards have helped if only in face to face situations and I’m networking or don’t want to write down a number… [They're] part of a bigger machine of promotion which includes my work web site and word of mouth.”

Brad Chmielewski / DigitalHitchhiker.com

“I feel like the business card is most useful in social or networking event. You don’t want to have take a break from the conversation to pull out your phone, follow that person on twitter and get them to follow you. I take their business card, put in my pocket and then re-visit it tomorrow or later in the week when I’m in front of the computer. It’s also a great leave behind, if that person follows me on twitter when I first meet them in two weeks they may have forgotten who I was. But with the business card at least they think of me again when we are not together.”

Oscar Dante Beckman / OscarDante.com

“I think that business cards are a really important way to promote myself. Also I feel that business cards shows the person you are giving it to that you are more serious, not only saying your Twitter or Vimeo name.” He goes on to say about using Google search, “It’s a great source to find information and people. However it’s easy to get lost in the woods of information.”

Zack Lovatt / ZackLovatt.com

“Handing somebody a business card carries a certain weight with it, even to the point of giving an appearance of professionalism. Does it hearken back to the older days where cards were king? To be sure, but from what I’ve seen in the design industry (and, to a lesser extent, the visual effects field) is that as so few are doing the business card thing simply having one is enough to make an impression, and from a networking angle, that’s the whole point.” He also adds, “Cards aren’t a one-stop solution; you need to follow them up with adequate branding, self-promotion (and these days) an online identity and so on; they’re a piece of the larger puzzle, a stepping stone, as it were. My cards boast no skills, no software and no industry; they’ve got a logo on the one side and contact information on the back. By my reckoning I’ll have given all this information to a person prior to handing them my card.”

Mars Sanford / MarsSanford.com

“Personally I like having the business card on hand for events.  I always prefer to add/follow right there in the moment, but if the conversation isn’t heading that way, its a good thing to leave someone with. I don’t think they need to be as jam packed with info as they once were, as Nick pointed out over a year ago!”

John Kostrzewski / JohnKostrzewski.com

“I personally don’t think business cards are dead at the moment, but they are on the way out fast. Apps such as Bump on the iPhone have shown sharing information is as easy as bumping two phones together, and everybody has an email address, Facebook account, Twitter name or some other social media account to connect through. As time goes on, the simplicity of handing someone a card with your information on it will be replaced with a simple bump of our phones, a friend request online or a drag and drop of our contact information on our potential clients name. A Google search isn’t always accurate, especially if the search is for someone with a name as crazy as mine, and even a business card doesn’t help in that respect as they will have to type out what’s printed on the card. Why not make it easier for them by giving them a link they can click on or one “Accept Friend” button to push. The idea of a business card is to make it easier for the client to find you, after all.”

The Verdict

It would seem business cards aren’t completely dead and still have a place in promotion of yourself and your business, but don’t be surprised when the time comes when they are completely obsolete. As technology continues to advance so will the method of promotion; and just like newspapers, magazines and other forms of traditional media the push is going online. It’s important to remember, as was mentioned repeatedly throughout this article, that business cards are just a small part of the bigger promotional machine. It’s only a device that shows people where to go. It’s up to you to give them a place to go, and have what they are looking for.

If you choose to promote yourself using a business card and are looking for ideas on designs for your cards to set them off from the rest, here are a few more cards from people in the industry that might spark your creative juices. However, it’s good to note that ideas don’t have to come from people in the industry at all. Flickr has a great set of photos called The Business Card Pool that features many great designs from people in many different industries, and websites such as Designrfix.com has a series of posts that will inspire as well.

Justin Younger / JustinYounger.com

Michael Blank / BlankSight.net

Seth Hay / OrangesDesigns.com

What do you think? Are business cards completely gone from your promotional efforts? Are they a waste of time and money? Please, share what you think and tell us what methods you prefer over handing out business cards.

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As human beings, we are intrigued and somewhat obsessed with technology and the future; robots in science fiction is a reoccuring theme often used in films to depict the future, and perhaps soon enough, may become an everyday reality.

When we see humanlike robots in films or even in real life, we may naturally try to empathize with them. There is, however, a thin line and if the robot becomes too humanlike for our liking, our emotions make a strong u-turn into repulsion. This measurement of repulsive response is called the Uncanny Valley, a hypothesis introduced by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori in 1970. On a graph, the valley is a dip in positivity of human reaction.

Realistic character rendering from Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Wikipedia sums up The Uncanny Valley in these words:

…as a robot is made more humanlike in its appearance and motion, the emotional response from a human being to the robot will become increasingly positive and empathic until a point is reached beyond which the response quickly becomes that of strong repulsion. However, as the appearance and motion continue to become less distinguishable from a human being, the emotional response becomes positive once more and approaches human-to-human empathy levels.

Hypothesized emotional response of human subjects is plotted against anthropomorphism of a robot, following Mori's statements. The uncanny valley is the region of negative emotional response towards robots that seem "almost human". Movement amplifies the emotional response. -MacDorman, 2005.

The Uncanny Valley in Films

The uncanny valley effect is very evident in films, particularly in CGI animated fare. Examples that best represent this are Beowulf, The Polar Express, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and hinted at in the trailer, the forthcoming Avatar. The film industry takes this concept very seriously as negative reactions from moviegoers could hurt their bottom line. This is an interesting topic as a double-edged sword; audiences may feel let down if they think the CGI animation in a film is subpar or not detailed enough, however, if the filmmakers create too much realism, that could teeter into an uncanny valley effect.

Screen shot from Beowulf

Perhaps we’d like there to be clearer distinctions between the real and the artificial. Through the ever-advancing technology in moviemaking, the boundaries have been blurred to uncomfortable levels for some audiences. We see something that looks humanlike (such as any of the characters from the aforementioned films) but we know they aren’t human actors and it’s jarring as we try to comprehend this.

This doesn’t apply to computer generated animals, objects, or non-homosapiens for that matter; I mean nobody would be repulsed by Woody from Toy Story right? But make a computer generated human too human and the rules have changed.

Why?

It has been suggested that there are several reasons that underpin this theory, but the most interesting I have come across is the idea that these uncanny robots remind us that we aren’t immortal and death awaits us all. Morbid as it may sound, we begin digging our graves as soon as we’re born, and so we create defense mechanisms to deal with this. Meanwhile, an uncanny robot comes along and somehow raises our subconscious thoughts to the surface, using our own fears against us. We fear that we’re all just predetermined machine-like beings with little control over anything. A subject matter cleverly discussed in The Matrix.

Closely linked to our fear of death is the notion that we’re all replaceable, especially as we bear witness to astounding scientific achievements over the years. Couple this with films such as Artificial Intelligence, I, Robot, The Terminator, and The Matrix and we’d be right to think that robots and technology will be able to outlive and outsmart us in all walks of life. As a highly intelligent and evolved species who have fought hard for our survival, it is natural that we would feel threatened by uncanny robots, so seeing them on-screen might aggravate our fears and insecurities.

How Far Should We Go?

The challenge for designers and filmmakers is, how far should they go? Perhaps the answer lies in context. For example, if a robot lives in genres such as fantasy and science fiction, then we may be able to cognitively accept it as looking lifelike, but due to the environment, we are always aware that it isn’t. On the flipside, imagine the same robot in 2009 walking through an iconic city, and it suddenly becomes intimidating and real, at which point we walk through the valley of revulsion.

Screen shot from Polar Express

Closing

This is a complicated topic with many more theories and discussion points that I urge you to investigate further. This subject isn’t only skin deep and it raises many questions about the human psyche and the world we live in. It also begs us to question our reality. Film is one medium where reality and fiction blend but is this true of our everyday lives?

For all we know we might be walking amongst uncanny robots already, after all, how would we know?

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NATHAN LAUD

Various works by Squash and Stretch

Squash and Stretch is in it’s 2nd year of trading focusing on 3d animation, taking on freelancers as and when needed. I spoke with Animation Director Nathan Laud on how his company has performed during the recession.

Have you noticed a significant downturn in the last 12 months?

No not really. I have quiet periods and extremely busy periods. If anything the quantity of work has increased. This is probably due to the fact I’m only in my second year of trading and the first year took a little while to get going.

Have you noticed a change in clients expectations, attitudes and budgets?

If I compare them to budgets for work when I was at a larger company then yes, but then that is why I set up on my own. Even before the economic downturn I could see that people wanted more for their money and using big post production companies was becoming too expensive. By setting up on my own without any of the overheads it has allowed me to produce the same level of work but for about half the rate. They don’t get to come and sit in a nice office but they are happy to sacrifice this.

Are you optimistic that the next 12 months will see an upturn in business?

Yes. I feel I’m ideally positioned to take advantage of the fact that budgets have been falling. More and more clients are realising that they can still get the high quality from a skilled individual.

DEBBIE DARBY

Debbie Darby has been a Producer for over 20 years working for companies such as Lambie-Nairn and Smoke and Mirrors. She is now a Freelance Producer at COI.

Have you noticed a significant downturn in the last 12 months?

Yes, Work slowed down for me in March 2009

What cost saving measures have you introduced, if any?

Business life – to cut down on travel costs I only come into London when there’s more than one meeting/production to be done. Personal life – Shopping at Asda rather than Sainsburys (!)

Have you noticed a change in clients expectations, attitudes and budgets?

Clients want it all with a much shorter schedule and for much less money than before.

Have you noticed an increase in competition? Are your competitors reducing rates to win business?

I guess all producer’s fees are dropping, there are lots of people out there ready to work for a lower daily rate.

JOHN PENNEY

John Penney is Creative Director at Writemedia employing 10 people working in web design, flash animation and motion graphics.

Has the type of work you’ve taken on changed in any way, if so how?

We take on less large scale projects with several smaller, quick turnaround jobs replacing them.

Have you noticed a change in clients expectations, attitudes and budgets?

Budgets have definitely been trimmed so it’s a case of what you can do in that time. As we don’t want the quality of work to suffer, we ultimately end up spending more time than quoted to get the job done to keep clients happy and the standard of work high.

Have you noticed an increase in competition? Are your competitors reducing rates to win business and are you, in turn, expected to follow suit?

Competitors are increasing their efforts but by keeping our working relationships on a good basis we hope this (combined with a high standard of work and competitive prices) will sway them to stay.

Are you optimistic that the next 12 months will see an upturn in business?

Definitely optimistic. You have to be in this industry!

STUART SIMPSON

Various works by Stuart Simpson

Stuart Simpson is a freelance designer / animator based in London, UK.

Have you noticed a significant downturn in the last 12 months? Within that period have you noticed a particular time when business was slow or picking up?

The last 6 months of 2008 were non-stop, and in comparison I had always expected a quiet period at the start of this year. It extended slightly longer than I’d thought and work didn’t really start picking up again until the end of February and beginning of March.

Has the type of work you’ve taken on changed in any way, if so how?

It’s become more varied. A large part of last year was spent on DVD menu work. Which is surprising given the lower budgets compared to a few years ago. The quieter periods for in house work have given me the time to focus on operating as an independent studio. I can take on multiple projects and really devote quality time to them. The Hotel Trubble title sequence for the BBC and advertising shorts for an American insurance firm were two of the highlights.

Have you noticed a change in clients expectations, attitudes and budgets?

Expectations are always high! I think there is a tendancy to negotiate fees more. It depends on the nature of the client, B2B and corporate work seems more financially stable at the moment.

Have you noticed an increase in competition? Are your competitors reducing rates to win business and are you, in turn, expected to follow suit?

It is very competative at the moment. I’ve seen a lot of new showreels out there. The problem is motion graphics covers a large area of technical knowledge and design creativity. The first hurdle is – do you meet the clients needs? The most important question for the client is can you do the job? and are you available? Once on that shortlist it might become a rates race but I think it usually gets decided before it reaches that stage.

Are you optimistic that the next 12 months will see an upturn in business?

I’m a glass half full kind of guy! I have goals in mind and so far things are on track. It’s well known the industry is evolving. I think it might be tough times for large companies, but I think it can only give people like myself exciting opportunities.

CLOSING

After talking with Nathan, Debbie, John and Stuart, it’s clear that they have all embraced this downturn and are trying to do something positive about it. We’ve probably all been affected by the recession in one way or another, and know someone who has been laid off. We can either sit back and hope it will ride out, or positively try to make a change and look for new opportunities.

When asked what he thought about the recession, fashion designer John Galliano simply said, “There is a credit crunch, not a creative crunch. It’s our job to make people dream, and to provide the value in quality, cut, and imagination.” Words wisely spoken.

We’d love to hear about how your creative business has coped with the recession.

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