Meshables.com Initial Release
In mid-April 2009, I was approached by a 6ft. hip-hop artist at the local mall in Huntsville, Alabama. “What up man, hear me out real quick,” is what he said first. Being the attentive one, I cruised right over and obliged to find out what exactly it was he had to say. “$5.00 for my mixtape man, support my music,” he said. So it was a mall-music-pusher, which I have encountered probably ten or fifteen times before. It costs you five dollars to take the CD and leave, otherwise you have to stay there and listen to the sales pitch that ranges in quality and length. Or do you? After about the third time, I found it easier to just say “Hey cool, do you have a Myspace Music page I can check out? I don’t really have time to listen right now, but I’ll check it out online when I get home.” It’s understandable that you don’t want to buy it when you haven’t heard it before, see what I’m saying – it works. So this is what happens next. This 6ft. hip-hop artist pulls out of his wallet a 3.5″x2″ “business card” with his rap emblem, name, Myspace Music page, mini-website, and phone number on it. Wow, really? I think I’ll actually go home and look this guy up. As I was leaving the mall, it occurred to me that I was six months into starting a company. One that allows individuals, artists, performers, small businesses, venues, etc. to create completely personalized prints [online] to identify and promote themselves. Yeah, that just happened.
Introducing…
What is it, exactly? Meshables are your gateway to real-life social networking. The biggest-bang on the Internet right now is social networking – people eat, sleep, breathe, and subconsciously crave their addiction to social networking and what it provides for them. It’s all about meeting people, building relationships and putting yourself out there to impress everyone else. The question that Meshables asks is, “How are you going to extend that relationship into real life when you finally have lunch with this person you’ve been connected with online?” There needs to be a medium of linking yourself to that online identity that they know so well. That’s exactly how Meshables fits in to this mega-meshy-mess. Identify and promote yourself in real life. Real life social networking. It’s just as important, or even more important than doing so online.
What can you do with it? Ultimately, you decide. However, it allows people to create either entirely from scratch or from a template – completely unique prints that will arrive at your doorstep to help you get moving socially. Currently it is broken down into three main targets. Personal Identity which focus on people who need a business card unique way of identifying themselves the way people in companies do, but in a not-so-serious manner. Secondly, Event Prints which allow people to create unique and personal invitations, reminders, dates, and schedules to notify and keep track of people in a real social network. And lastly, Promotion/Advertising which allows venues, captivators, establishments, and small businesses to create their own promotion and advertising materials without hiring costly graphic design firms and artists; this allows for a real life connection to the audience – not just a MySpace invite. Those categories will always expand as various groups hit the surface that are in need of some unique air.
What’s good about it compared to similar companies? In a broad perspective, it offers unique design templates and full control over the way the product looks – so that it is entirely unique and personable. Many similar gigs are just “printing companies,” and that’s about all they do. Meshables are much more personable. Continuing in a broad perspective, they have unique uses. For example, Calendar Cards allow a person to “blip” or “dot” color-coded dates on the calendar template side and then have corresponding “blips” on the flip side with event details and information. This allows for a months worth of events to be placed on a 5″x7″ card. Other companies just have the ever-bland product called “Postcards”. Overall, Meshables are to their own uniqueness and strive to be different from the other printing establishments out there – not seen as a competitor.
Meshables is a US based company, allows for a full design customization and offers quantities starting at 200 with a lesser or competitive price. People need quantity just the same as a business does, which makes me feel like some printing gigs are putting a limit on people like a child… “Here’s 10 cards, that’s all you’ll need. Now, where’s my 30 bucks plus shipping??” At the same time, it’s definitely not a four-color mega corporation where you purchase 10,000 flyers with a generic design printed around your cut-and-paste company info.
What are some goals for the company?
- Find people that are passionate about what they are interested in and help them promote it
- Help groups of people who don’t have a convenient or unique way of identifying themselves in social situations
- Provide a friendly and helpful experience for creating designs and promoting interests
- Become community-oriented and offer collaboration and interaction focusing on identity, promotion, and design
- Be efficient, fast, creative, and Eco-friendly
- Create and promote a real life social network. Get people out and about – networking live
- Expand the Print-On-Demand canvas to people who haven’t already experienced it
And how do I learn more?
by Tim Williams, Founder
“Meshables.com is kind of like giving birth to Life 2.0 – where people get out and mingle again…” -Anonymous