What's a good versatile title for a moo card?

July 5, 2007 8:16 PM

I'm working on making some moo cards, which I'll use as a semi-casual business card. I've got the photos all figured out, but I'm having trouble with the information I'm going to put on it. I'll of course put my name and contact information, but it's the title that's stumping me.

I've got a variety of skills -- I write software, take photos, design graphics, and play the drums, among other things, and could imagine occasions where I might give someone a card in reference to one of these areas. Since stringing titles all together on a business card would be a pompous and asinine mess, I'm looking for something general, memorable, possibly slightly humorous, while at the same time not making me sound like an ass (because if that was the goal, I'd simply put "Ass").

My ideas so far are: "Problem Solver", "Problem Solver/Creator", "Progress Achiever", "Worker", "_________ Engineer", "__________ Designer", "Renaissance man", "Senior ________".

Or, there is of course the simplest option of having no title at all. Any thoughts?

posted by jeffxl to grab bag (33 comments total)

Man About Town

Virtual Realist

He who was foretold

Feel free to try any of those
posted by pupdog at 8:28 PM on July 5, 2007

"Problem Solver" is pretty good, but I would go with "Legitimate Businessman" if humor was your angle. :D

I recently had my own moo cards made and just put my name/cell/email/website on it since I could see myself giving one out for a million reasons (date, candid model, friend, prospective client, etc.) So I personally went with no title and I think you'd be happy with the same deal.
posted by cowbellemoo at 8:29 PM on July 5, 2007

I've always wanted to be "Overseer of Oversight," myself.

That is all.
posted by YamwotIam at 8:29 PM on July 5, 2007

How about "Jack of All Trades"?
posted by amyms at 8:29 PM on July 5, 2007

I think leaving it blank would be best if you need to present them professionally on occasion. You could always write the pertinent title on the back of the card.

I like "Problem Solver," but is also reminds me of a hit man.
posted by christinetheslp at 8:33 PM on July 5, 2007

(1) OMG - I love Moo cards!
(2) I vote for no title. Or, as you said, a humorous one, like, "Yeah, I do that."
(3) Flickr has tons of pics of people's Moo cards, and other business/calling cards. Search for "Moo" or busines cards.
(4) Think about your audience. What would they expect?
Have fun with it!
posted by davidinmanhattan at 8:36 PM on July 5, 2007

I am certain you meant "Jeff of all Trades", amyms.
posted by bonehead at 8:45 PM on July 5, 2007

I'd leave it blank.
posted by robcorr at 8:52 PM on July 5, 2007

Poobah
Polymath
Idiot Savant
Soul Proprietor
posted by rob511 at 8:53 PM on July 5, 2007

That's a great idea, bonehead (wish I'd thought of it).
posted by amyms at 8:53 PM on July 5, 2007

I once had business cards that said "Resident Wizard." This was in Japan, though, so fewer people paid attention to the English side of the card. The obverse said something neutral, but I don't remember what.
posted by spacewrench at 8:55 PM on July 5, 2007

"He Who Gets Things Done"
posted by ninazer0 at 9:06 PM on July 5, 2007

Put some lines there
________
________
________
And you can fill in the details appropriately for the occasion like:
"I'm a cool guy, call me"
"Versatile programmer, available from 7/7"
"Really good in bed, no, really, just ask me"
"Muso"
"Damn fine ass"
posted by b33j at 9:09 PM on July 5, 2007

I had way too many occupations to put on my card as well, so I just settled on "Services Rendered."

After a while, I liked the vague menace implied in that, so I dropped everything else on the card (as if anyone was going to FAX me), and was left with:

J. Lastname
Services Rendered
555.555.5555

centered in the middle, in an exceedingly plain typeface. I love it, though I'll admit that it's maybe a bit less professional than you're looking for.
posted by Ian A.T. at 9:17 PM on July 5, 2007

Im gonna run with the drum angle (also a drummer).

Syncopation Engineer.
Groove Buster.
Drum Machine.
Rim Shotter. (does that sound rude)
posted by gergtreble at 9:22 PM on July 5, 2007

My normal business cards just have my name and contact information on two lines along the bottom of the card, which mainly leaves the card blank - handy for writing notes to people, and (like you, apparently) I tend to wear a lot of hats.

The last time I ordered a set, the company shipped them to the wrong person, and that person preceded to call me and tried at great length to figure out what I did, even mentioning that most of his office was trying to figure it out.

Being perverse, of course, I kept dodging the question.

I like to think he still has a card somewhere.
posted by Orb2069 at 9:33 PM on July 5, 2007

Gentleman of Leisure.
posted by doublesix at 9:59 PM on July 5, 2007

Professional Dilettante.

Explorer.

Human ______ Machine.

Professional.

"At your service."

Self-Made Man.

An Officer and a Gentleman.

Life Expert/Guru (or just "Expert"/"Guru")

Human-in-Training.

Homunculus.

A Professional Corporation.

Chaotic Evil (or other D&D alignment).

Sensei.

Time Lord.
posted by papakwanz at 10:07 PM on July 5, 2007

Oooh, I like "At your service."
posted by rhoticity at 11:00 PM on July 5, 2007

Ambassador Without Porfolio.
posted by frieze at 11:02 PM on July 5, 2007

Grr...Portfolio.
posted by frieze at 11:02 PM on July 5, 2007

Jedi master.
Secret ninja.
posted by yeara at 1:41 AM on July 6, 2007

Leave it blank.

First, just about anything you write for humorous effect runs the chance of making you look like an ass. (For example, I found "Progressive Achiever" to be off-putting.) Second, since it's a business card, you want people to take you seriously enough to hire you. I'm not sure that a card with a comedic title does that. Third, you can always right down a quick note on the front or back of the card. Fifth, you have many and diverse skills, but they aren't all going to be of interest to each individual you come across. A title that seems to say, "You'll want to hire me as a drummer, but I can program computers and take pretty pictures, too," is a bit burdensome and beyond the point isn't it? If I want you to do some graphic design for me, do I really need to know that you're an accomplished house painter too?
posted by oddman at 6:02 AM on July 6, 2007

how about....."trust me, I'm a professional"
posted by keep it tight at 6:59 AM on July 6, 2007

Natural Philosopher.
posted by Wet Spot at 8:13 AM on July 6, 2007

I've always wanted a stack of very simple, classy cards with "Captain of Industry" as my title. Except I'm not... at all... but still, it'd be cool.
posted by cschneid at 8:55 AM on July 6, 2007

Generalist.
posted by langeNU at 9:42 AM on July 6, 2007

I'm tempted to say 'User Experience Designer', because I am one, but that title always sounds a bit like some stoners in California created the term. I've toyed with Problem Solver (because that's what I do, too) but it's a little too "I'm Winston Wolf. I solve problems" hitman-y for me.

I do like Renaissance Man and Professional Dilettante, for what it's worth. Do think of your audience, and do check out Flickr for Moo cards since people have posted A LOT of them up there. Come to think of it, "Jeff of All Trades" is damn cute as a title...
posted by rmm at 10:49 AM on July 6, 2007

I've always wanted to put "The Equalizer" on a business card.

I would advise against what are basically business cards in a non-standard size, though. Use standard-sized business cards so that they fit properly in people's business card wallets and don't get skipped over when people flip through their collection.
posted by kindall at 12:24 PM on July 6, 2007

2nd blank lines. I always get my professional business cards printed with lined or graph paper lines and a little "Note:" label and get a very good response from it.

I titled myself "Brain in a Jar" for quite a while which pretty much covered my duties.

But if you're going to use it as a calling card as well as a business card, I'd leave it off. If you're handing it to someone on business you can write the nature of the contact on card in the blank space.

I wouldn't be afraid of the off-size. The only business cards I remember are printed in some interesting way. I remember one agency's cards had a embossed the corners of the card to it was easy to pick up. And the ones laser etched in vellum, or the one with instructions to fold it into a statue, the one that looked like a toe tag or concert ticket, or boarding pass, the one that was a dog tags, or the one that had a secret decoder wheel in it. Simply being 2x3.5 isn't good enough in a lot of circles.
posted by Ookseer at 2:06 PM on July 6, 2007

pretty much anything runs you the chance of looking like an ass, and if I were you, i'd either leave a line to write in what you were going to put, or leave it blank entirely.
(although I do like "At your service.", and "Legitimate Businessman")

Seriously, the coolest business card i've ever seen was Danny Ocean's in Ocean's 11. It just said "Daniel Ocean." That's it.
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 2:43 PM on July 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

Thanks for the great responses, people. I love the other titles you all suggested, and will probably use them at some point for something.

If Moo had an option to print random text, I'd just plug them all in have a bunch of cards with different titles on them, but I think I'll just play it safe and leave it blank, this time.
posted by jeffxl at 10:37 AM on July 7, 2007

actually, with Moo you can choose to place a metadata element from your flickr photos on the back, like date of pic, title, etc.
if you wanted, you could title your pics [temporarily] with the range of titles you want on the card, select the Title data option on the back, and Moo will do the rest.
posted by rubberfish at 11:00 AM on July 7, 2007