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As I mentioned in this post, SE has offered to print some business cards that we can hand out at INFORMS to promote the site.

The front of the card will have the site name and a QR code that links to the site. They've asked us to suggest an idea for the back.

What should the back contain?

Here are a few possible options, with some mockups. (The SE designers would work their magic on whatever we choose.) Whatever we choose, it should not be time-dependent, so we can use leftovers at future conferences. Please share your thoughts, and suggest others.

  1. A brief description of the site:

enter image description here

  1. Some sort of word cloud of tags:

enter image description here

  1. Some sort of word cloud of questions:

enter image description here

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    $\begingroup$ Although you mentioned that SE designers will do their magic, just wanted to say that the first one looks very crowded. I definitely think any combination of second and third is a lot better. If no color, at leat different size fonts with a combination of some interesting questions and keywords $\endgroup$
    – EhsanK Mod
    Aug 30, 2019 at 17:14
  • $\begingroup$ Oh I totally agree. I just plopped some text into a box. :) $\endgroup$
    – LarrySnyder610
    Aug 30, 2019 at 17:19
  • $\begingroup$ A bit of a pretentious title but it's a good read: "Everything You Need to Know About the Principles and Types of Design", also on that same website is: "19 of the Best Business Card Designs"; while that's more about the front side the two together may provide some ideas for the back. $\endgroup$
    – Rob
    Aug 30, 2019 at 20:43
  • $\begingroup$ OK I’ll take a look, but really I’m asking about the content — SE will take care of the design. $\endgroup$
    – LarrySnyder610
    Aug 30, 2019 at 20:45
  • $\begingroup$ I would call all three of your suggestions, three different designs. Do you just want content (no design) and whatever the random design chosen is our content will be dropped into a template? $\endgroup$
    – Rob
    Aug 30, 2019 at 21:01
  • $\begingroup$ I’m happy to get whatever suggestions people want to give. I’m just saying, I’m personally not planning to spend too much time thinking about design, since I don’t know anything about it and since SE will design it for us anyway. $\endgroup$
    – LarrySnyder610
    Aug 30, 2019 at 21:07
  • $\begingroup$ What they are saying we should do is come up with some ideas and afterwards (tweak/discuss) they will take what we come up with and format it suitable for the printer (needs to be a particular resolution, dimension, and data format). $\endgroup$
    – Rob
    Aug 30, 2019 at 22:11
  • $\begingroup$ @Rob This is not about site design, only about business cards. It's just a one-off thing. Quoting from the email I got from the SE employee: "I need [...] an idea of what you think would be an effective piece of text on the cards, other than a QR code and the site name. That can be a site description or an intriguing existing question or ..." $\endgroup$
    – LarrySnyder610
    Aug 30, 2019 at 23:39
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    $\begingroup$ So just to emphasize: We don't need to design anything, we just need to suggest some text. That's all I'm asking for on this post -- sorry if that was confusing, and I hope no one is scared away from suggesting some text just because they think they need to propose a design too. $\endgroup$
    – LarrySnyder610
    Aug 30, 2019 at 23:41
  • $\begingroup$ OK. --- For #1 and #3 are you planning on handing out magnifying glasses so we can read a bunch of tiny text stuffed on the back of the card (where there is some expectation that there is some need (reason) to read it). For #2, I guess it's a neat design, but it's just a jumble of words that doesn't really convey any information (serve a purpose, such as being clickable and easier to see the bigger (more popular,) words, IE: the purpose of a "Tag Cloud"). So basically #2 is just a pattern and might present someone with a snapshot of one moment in time; but nothing else. $\endgroup$
    – Rob
    Aug 31, 2019 at 0:05
  • $\begingroup$ @Rob I am assuming the designer would let us know how much text is reasonable to include, at the font size they want to use, and then we could edit the text accordingly. Like I said, I just kind of threw these together very quickly to put a few rough ideas down. I am not presenting any of these as finished products. I am hoping others will have good ideas too. $\endgroup$
    – LarrySnyder610
    Aug 31, 2019 at 1:00
  • $\begingroup$ @LarrySnyder610 I'm starting to get the impression you're looking for content suggestions, not design-related feedback. $\endgroup$
    – SecretAgentMan
    Sep 9, 2019 at 12:58
  • $\begingroup$ @SecretAgentMan indeed. $\endgroup$
    – LarrySnyder610
    Sep 9, 2019 at 12:59

3 Answers 3

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Here is a design that Larry requested, based on the unregistered user banner - cellphone edited, a finished version will have a better appearance:

OR business card - reverse side view

If it's in the ballpark let us know.

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Using the RankSonic Keyword Generator, our URL, and a backbone chart image here is one design idea (needs tweaking and refinement). Different words are OK, this is simply a draft.

Operations Research - Reverse of Business Card

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  • $\begingroup$ This is very cool. But I worry it is about OR, when really we need something about OR.SE. Also I think the skeleton is a little misleading -- someone just taking a quick glance would think it's for a chiropractor or something. :) $\endgroup$
    – LarrySnyder610
    Aug 30, 2019 at 23:42
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    $\begingroup$ @LarrySnyder610 - I've added directions and a working (fancy) QR Code. It's tough to do a work of art on a cellphone, and I encourage a dozen submissions (on which people can vote). There's no credit nor loss on Meta, though others could earn a badge (I have mine already). $\endgroup$
    – Rob
    Aug 31, 2019 at 0:37
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    $\begingroup$ The fancy QR code looks nice $\endgroup$
    – LarrySnyder610
    Aug 31, 2019 at 1:00
  • $\begingroup$ You should be able to point your phone at the screen (assuming it's setup to read QRs) and it will open your web browser and take you to our site, that is a valid QR code (not just a random image). There are a number of different fancy QRs available, perhaps designing that warrants a new question? $\endgroup$
    – Rob
    Aug 31, 2019 at 2:03
  • $\begingroup$ Be ready to answer the question "Hey, why did you put my research area in the butt?". $\endgroup$
    – Federico Poloni
    Sep 11, 2019 at 7:27
  • $\begingroup$ @FedericoPoloni - ⭐ for careful reading, understanding what's being presented, and checking out the referenced material. Your area moves to the opposite end. $\endgroup$
    – Rob
    Sep 11, 2019 at 7:42
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2nd Suggestion - Back of card:

OR Business Card - Reverse Side - Click to remove border

Supplementary Information:

The Stack Overflow Blog post "Supporting Community Conferences - Business Cards" shows one previously offered business card. The filtered search on Stack Exchange returns a few results for the tag business-cards.

Jin, whom often does design for Stack Exchange, has posted this question on Meta, TeX, Photography.SE (2nd one), and SharePoint.SE (2nd one).

There is also Tim Post's question about re-ordering moderator business cards. Previously, business cards have had this mundane appearance:

jrista's Moderator Card

See also the TeX after-conference post: Going to a conference - the TUG 2011 experience.

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  • $\begingroup$ I think something very simple on the back, like the ones you linked to, could work just fine too. $\endgroup$
    – LarrySnyder610
    Sep 1, 2019 at 3:14
  • $\begingroup$ Larry, do you prefer that over what you suggested in your question? The above image is available without the pictorial flowchart, something like that with a little bit of text? $\endgroup$
    – Rob
    Sep 1, 2019 at 3:18
  • $\begingroup$ Dunno. Personally I think text will be better than images. We need to be able to explain to a non-SE person what OR.SE is. Words will probably be more effective than images. $\endgroup$
    – LarrySnyder610
    Sep 1, 2019 at 3:20
  • $\begingroup$ But also it’s not only up to me and I hope others will chime in to express their opinions. $\endgroup$
    – LarrySnyder610
    Sep 1, 2019 at 3:20
  • $\begingroup$ You are allowed to answer your own question multiple times. If one of your answers gets a lot of votes that's the way to go. I tried to get the ball rolling. $\endgroup$
    – Rob
    Sep 1, 2019 at 3:24
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    $\begingroup$ Yes of course. I wasn’t trying to discourage you from answering. I was trying to encourage others to answer. ;) $\endgroup$
    – LarrySnyder610
    Sep 1, 2019 at 3:31

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