We may be moving deeper into the electronic age of communication, but people still print and distribute business cards. I trade a lot of cards with folks I meet at professional development seminars and association events, and I try to send a short note to most, as a follow-up to our meeting.

It saddens me to see how many of these communication professionals unknowlingly sabotage their effort to market themselves and/or their company. How?

They opt for flair over readibility, by choosing a typeface and/or font size that are hard to read.

A recent example: Last week, I met a very nice photographer at an IABC/Chicago networking event. We exchanged cards, and I sent her a follow-up email the next day. One day later, I received an automated notice from my mail server, stating that my email didn’t go through.

I looked at her card again. Her photography business was named after her, with a middle initial that looked like a lowercase letter “L.” Her email address was in 9-point type, with part of it appearing (to my aging eyes) to be “@klh…” I then realized that the letter I took for an “l” actually was an “i”–the difference was very hard to detect.

It is difficult to generate leads, and it is unwise to put up barriers that discourage potential customers or colleagues from reaching you.

I’ve uploaded a couple of photos to Twitpic that are examples of bad event photography.

These photos were taken by a photographer hired by the organizers of an awards ceremony held on Aug. 10, 2009 in Oak Brook, Ill. for the Chicago-area “101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For” awards.

I was there with four other VW Credit leaders, waiting for our company to be recognized for the fifth-straight year as one of the winners. I was surprised to see each group of winners standing on the stage for a photo, with images of a projection screen reflecting on part of the groups. I asked myself and commented to my coworkers, “Wouldn’t that show on the photo?”

Sure enough, it did.

Lesson for others: Arrange to have the projector screen blanked during the photos, or find another way to avoid this bad situation.

Example 1: A picture WITH words is worth…1,002 words?

Example 2: Merciless example of bad reflections. Does the reflection on this subject’s neck make him resemble somebody?