As a tall person, there are a bunch of questions people always ask me. Including but not limited to:

• "How tall are you?",
• "How tall are your parents?",
• "Are you the tallest in your family?",
• "Do you play basketball/volleyball?",
• "What did you eat growing up?",
• Or my personal favourite, "How are you so tall?"

I thought I'd have some fun and make cards to hand out to people who ask any of these common height questions. I was inspired by this viral image which you've probably seen a version of on the Internet before. I have no idea what the original source is or who started it- but they always follow the same template.

It's a great idea and exactly what I wanted to do. One thing though: I'm not a fan of that template, so I thought I'd take matters into my own hands and design my own card.

I figured most of the people who will ask about my height and get the joke will be a younger audience (fellow university students) so I put a gaming reference in my design, specifically to the Xbox achievement popup.

Here's the design I came up with:

It's a little snarky, but also adds some fun for the recipient who just unlocked this secret achievement, the card being their badge to keep.

Since making these cards it feels like fewer people have asked me about my height. I've been averaging about one person a week for the past five or so weeks, which isn't bad, but I was honestly expecting more questions especially with me starting university and meeting a whole bunch of a new and curious people. It's just anecdata, but maybe university students are less inclined to ask such questions compared to, say, curious customers in a retail store.

That said, the reception to the cards for those who have asked has been excellent. People have seen the viral images but they don't expect to see such a card in real life. Many people keep the card, while others don't- that's fine, what does one do with a business card nowadays anyway? Nonetheless, the cards have turned attention and questions I used to find slightly annoying to something fun and enjoyable as it gives me an opportunity to bring smiles to people's faces. Instead of awkwardly answering the question as someone stares in amazement of my height, I take one of these out of my pocket and let the card do the talking.

If you see me around, I would love to give you a card, if only to finish my stock so I can print a second batch with a new design.