CAP Talk

Does anyone have any CAP Business Card Templates that go with Avery Template 8371? 

All the CAP notebooks ship with Microsoft Publisher and there's a bunch in there.

This what I use:

(http://captalk.net/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=6081.0;attach=2609;image)

Which I'll send you via PM as a Publisher file.

Several different examples in this thread:
http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=6081.0

^ Do we need the ",CAP" after the rank, even though the Card itself says "Civil Air PAtrol" in bold type??

I would like to see a standardized business card that every CAP member would use.  I would even pay $5.00 for a hundred from Vanguard!!

They used to be available from CAPMart, and the format shown is very similar to what they supplied.

The CAP after the grade is something I've always seen, particularly on documents signed by both CAP and USAF personnel.

YMMV.

Since the grade is actually a title, not unlike Mr., Mrs. or Dr., the card should actually read like the old CAP Bookstore cards did...

Lt Col So N. So

not

So N. So, Lt Col, CAP

After all, it's not a signature line from a personnel authorization.

Yup, just looked at an olde catalogue - for me it would be Maj Dave Bowles, CAP.

I'm just getting ready to print a bunch for myself and new staff, I'll probably change it as indicated...

I'd dare say that if the card establishes the organization as Civil Air Patrol, as it does, you don't really need the ", CAP" after the name and grade. There's a certain "duh" factor there, courtesy of the Department of Redundancy Department.

Here's a thread about CAP business cards:  http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=8122.msg147556#msg147556

Quote from: BuckeyeDEJ on December 16, 2009, 05:46:27 AM
Since the grade is actually a title, not unlike Mr., Mrs. or Dr., the card should actually read like the old CAP Bookstore cards did...

Lt Col So N. So

not

So N. So, Lt Col, CAP

After all, it's not a signature line from a personnel authorization.

While we're here, could someone explain to me why so many people use the "Name, Grade" format in the first place?

The Name, Grade format is recommended by USAF Tongue and Quill, and required by  AFMAN 33-326 in formal business correspondence. That's why the USAF uses it.

The Air Force (and other branches I believe) typically had  that format for signature blocks on official letters.

On letter signature blocks I'd use:

JOHN D. VANDERHOOF, MSgt, USAF

but actually I was:

MSgt John D. Vanderhoof, USAF

I assume that's were the practice of name first came from. 

The grade is a courtesy title, period. And while it's acceptable to say "Dr. So N. So," it's permissible to sign your name over "So N. So, Ph.D." or "So N. So, M.D."

By the same token, in CAP, it's acceptable to be "Brig Gen So N. So" but sign your name over "SO N. SO, Brig Gen, CAP" -- but signature lines on formal letters aren't business cards. Business cards don't use the formal signature line. You use...


In either event, the organization title, be it a hospital, university or Civil Air Patrol, is in larger letters atop the name... so the ", CAP" is unnecessary.

FLWG was pushing everyone to use this format a few years ago. I have no idea if it will work with Avery 8371 or not, I have always just tweaked it to suit the paper I was using..

Quote from: DC on December 16, 2009, 09:23:20 PM
FLWG was pushing everyone to use this format a few years ago. I have no idea if it will work with Avery 8371 or not, I have always just tweaked it to suit the paper I was using..

For starters, the graphic is incorrectly scaled - the seal is too large for the Happ Arnold wings.

^ I use a knock off of that template with only the CAP seal, I think it looks more professional on a business card than any of the other logos out there.

^ I re-scaled the graphic, and redrew the FLWG one in Avery Design Studio if you'd like it let me know.

I've had almost no luck printing avery cards with anything but the avery design software.  Obviously YMMV

I've had a couple people ask for it, so you can grab mine above here:  http://hq.group22.net/files/Generic_CAP.pub

Florida's template is flawed, and here's why...

— The words "U.S. Air Force Auxiliary" are atop the actual name of our organization — it should be vice-versa. That's a post-9/11 fad that was discouraged, but not enough. (I don't know how many signature blocks on letters and e-mail I saw that said "USAFAux" instead of "CAP." Dead wrong.)
— The seal is so small as to be unreadable to begin with. And we really don't have to use the Air Force's new logo, but if we do, we might as well just use our MAJCOM shield instead. At least it's fairly readable at microscopic sizes.

I just didn't like how it laid out, either. I'll show you one of mine when I get a chance to put it up, assuming I can find it somewhere in the clutter. It's either in QuarkXPress or Illustrator, I can't remember....

http://mandatepress.com/

Or how about a simple, black-outline CAP shield, name and grade, and a phone and e-mail contact letterpressed on a clean white card.  Does the job for 90% of cases and doesn't look tacky.  Mandate Press is running a special which gets you 250 letterpressed cards, black ink on white card, for which you can either use one of their stock designs or submit your own design.

^ Those are very nice, but not exactly in the same price-league as the average CAP member.

$95 for 250 is more than I'd spend on business cards.

www.gotprint.com

You can upload your own images. They charge about $9 for 250 cards.  Heavy gloss stock. Really nice job, and they're fast. PM me if you'd like an image of my card (or I can mail you one).

I paid $20 for 250 cards from businesscards.com. I uploaded the logo and designed the card on-line.

I think that homemade cards look, well, homemade.