Ask why.
「なぜ」を尋ねよう。
Doing something without asking why will lead us to chaos.
I often design a business card for businesses and individuals, and it is surprising to see that quite a few people want to make their business cards like a brochure or catalog.
“Well, I want to add my title and my mission statement. I need my email address, the URL of my website, and links to all social media accounts I currently use. It also would be better to add my photo. Oh, why don’t you add a picture of my family as well so that people think I’m not only an outstanding business person but also a family guy?”
The above is a bit exaggerated, but also shows more or less what people request me at the beginning; they expect too much without knowing why they need a business card.
A business card can never be a substitute of a website, catalog, or CV. The information we can add to a business card is quite limited, but there are thousands of ways to make it useful—as long as we know why we design it.
It takes time to start from ‘why’ questions. But it will eventually save time, and more importantly, it will prevent us from going somewhere we don’t intend to go.