[Design] Making a Business Card: Vital contents

Publicado en ESP (English for Specific Purposes) por

Remember that a business card is the most valuable marketing tool for any professional. A well-designed business card lends legitimacy to your business, and can make you stand out from the crowd of competitors. Check this post with its vital contents and how to make an impressive work!

1) Include your name: okay, sounds obvious, but the important thing here is that you use a proper font size and type that are easily readable.

2) Include your company’s name: to include your company’s name, even if it’s yours, will make your business card more professional.

3) Include your own logo: even if you aren’t involved in design, it’s a good idea to have your own logo, it gives your own identity to the business card, and it’ll help clients to recognize your company easily.

4) Phone number: this is important so that clients can contact you when they need your service or when they have questions about it.

5) E-mail address: have a professional e-mail address and use it in your business. You can also have two e-mail addresses. One for your business and the other one for your personal e-mails.

6) Website address: it can be either a profile page (like about.me), a blog (like wordpress.com), or whathever page where you can show your works.

7) Address: don’t forget to include this in your business card for some people would like to personally meet you to discuss a project.

8) Job title: under your name, write your title. Clients need to know if you are the president of the company or whatever you call yourself. This way, they will know if you are the right person to contact.

9) Say something about your business: include brief information about your business. This will let the customers know what certain services you offer. Company name is not enough to tell others what you do.

10) Put some artistic touch: use images, graphics and other designs in your card. Make it look appealing and pleasing to the eyes so that your client would love to keep your card instead of placing it in the trash bin. Make your card unique and memorable.

Here you can find nice business cards for you to have an idea of what and how to do:

Sources:

Naldz Graphics

Creative Bloq

[Industrial Design] What’s Ergonomics?

Publicado en ESP (English for Specific Purposes) por

What’s Ergonomics?

It can be simply defined as the scientific study of human work (Greek ‘nomos’ = ‘study’; ‘ergos’ = human work). It considers physical and mental capacities and limits of the worker, as they interact with tools, equipment, work methods, tasks, and the working environment. Its main goal is to reduce work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MDS) by adapting the work to fit the person, instead of forcing the person to adapt to the work.

Since everything is designed for human use or consumption, human characteristics should be considered at the beginning of the design process.

ImageErgonomic risk factors:

They interact in three areas:

a) The worker: Physical, psychological, and non-work-related activities.

b) The job: Work procedures, equipment, workstation design.

c) The environment: Physical and psychosocial climate.

Physical Risk Factors:

a) Repetitive motions: muscular conditions that result from repeated motions performed in the course of normal work or daily activities.

b) Duration: Amount of time a person is continually exposed to a risk factor.

c) Frequency: How many times a person repeats a given exertion within a given period of time.

d) Contact stresses: Repeated or continuous contact with sharp or hard objects.

e) Vibration: When a specific part of the body comes in contact with a vibrating object.

Sources: a) http://www.medicinenet.com/repetitive_motion_disorders_rmds/article.htm

b) Duoc ESP Industrial Design Coursebook

Oh, finals… Here they are :(

Publicado en Random por

I’ve been very lazy in updating my blog, I have to admit, but I have an excuse… a very good one: FINALS. Yeah, the time of the year when my students remember they should attend to classes and studfy, the time of the year when I get chocolates because I didn’t ask for a medical certificate for giving them a test, and so on.
Since I’m not in the mood for writing a super long story, here I leave you some memes I found on internet that made me think of my poor little kids.
Enjoy!

ImagenfImagenImagenImagenImagenImagen

[Intermediate] Adverb or adjective? A typical question…

Publicado en Intermediate por

1039_BnHoverGood or well? Adjective or adverb? That’s a very typical question students usually ask, and even for us teachers it’s quite annoying when teaching it for their subtle differences. Here’s the way I usually explain it to my students:

What’s an adjective?

Adjectives are words that modify nouns or noun phrases. Adjectives nearly always appear immediately before the noun or noun phrase that they modify. Sometimes they appear in a string of adjectives, and when they do, they appear in a set order according to category.  When indefinite pronouns (something, someone, anybody) are modified by an adjective, the adjective comes after the pronoun.

  • the tall professor
  • a six-year-old child
  • the unhappiest, richest man

Adjectives can express degrees of modification: positive, comparative (comparing 2 things), and superlative (comparing 3 or more).

  • Gladys is a rich woman, but Josie is richer than Gladys, and Sadie is the richest woman in town.

 

What’s an adverb?

They are words that modify a verb («He drove slowly»), an adjective («That’s a very fast car»), or another adverb («She moved quite slowly»). They can move around in a sentence.

We have different kinds of adverbs:

Adverbs of Manner
   She moved slowly and spoke quietly.

Adverbs of Place
   She has lived on the island all her life. 

   She still lives there now.

Adverbs of Frequency
   She takes the boat to the mainland every day.
   She often goes by herself.

Adverbs of Time
   She tries to get back before dark.
   It’s starting to get dark now.
   She finished her tea first.
   She left early.

Adverbs of Purpose
   She drives her boat slowly to avoid hitting the rocks.
   She shops in several stores to get the best buys.

Sources: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/adjectives.htm, http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/adverbs.htm