- Name
- Email address
- Web address
- Phone number
- Blog address
SIZE
- Traditional - 85mm by 55mm, portrait or landscape
- Moo.com - square - 65mm by 65mm
- Moo.com - mini cards - 70mm by 28mm
- Fold out cards
- Alternative size/shape
- Part of a pack/fold out/tear off
WHY
- Easy carrying/handing out
- Easy storing
- Delivers important information - fast and effectively
- Traditional networking/exposure
- Design can be interesting/worth keeping/a hint at your work or services
- Can make a great first impression with its professionalism
- Inexpensive and adaptable - several card designs for difference clients/ventures/projects
- A quality card will kept, remembered and used
HOW
- Hand printed - letterpress, silk screen, lino, marbled, collage etc
- Laser cut - can produce interesting shapes that would set your card apart from all the other ones you're up against
- Digital - upload to a site/printed
- Riso print
- Rubber stamp - allows for every card to be hand made, and each one would be a little different due to inking inconsistencies.
WHERE
- Studio
- moo.com
- zazzle.co.uk
- vistaprint.co.uk
- instantprint.co.uk
- gotprint.com
- jukeboxprint.com
(Click to view correct sizes) This business card is a previous iteration I've already made. With a consistent colour scheme relating to the print I've featured is rather appealing, but I don't tend to screen print, or use much digital editing for illustrating, so it isn't as appropriate as perhaps everything illustrated by hand (which would give such a nice, personal touch).
I quite like the bottom centre idea - a collage of my character drawings, similar to that of a character sheet, reflects what I do mostly and enjoy doing. The logos; my plan is to draw the logos by hand to give it a personal touch. I also like the bottom right idea, the Dog pencil drawing. The two I've mentioned explore my styles and variation of approaches to my art, and I purposefully crafted them to compliment each other. The Logo, that clearly depicts my name/alias on one side, and a list of cute, drawn logos to depict where I am online. I've put ".co.uk" as a logo depicting my website, which I feel is quite an obvious but effective message. I'll do some market research on this to make sure. Perhaps also add a "@googlemail.com" or something similar. People even slightly versed in the online world really should understand it, and I feel that due to its interesting way of portraying my online presence, it should be quite memorable, over other business cards from similar freelancers.
The Jak Draws logo I will definitely do again aswell, perhaps mirror the drawing and place the logo on the left. I'll explore more variations.
After deliberation and research, the idea of having just the logos might prove to be more hindering than helping. So I'll develop a clearer idea, perhaps have the character sheet looking art on the other side with the Jak Draws logo, and then the details side has the logos with the title next to it like -
(facebook logo) - Jak Draws
(Twitter logo) - @Jak_Draws
(Tumblr) - jakdraws
JakDraws.co.uk
The Jak Draws logo I will definitely do again aswell, perhaps mirror the drawing and place the logo on the left. I'll explore more variations.
After deliberation and research, the idea of having just the logos might prove to be more hindering than helping. So I'll develop a clearer idea, perhaps have the character sheet looking art on the other side with the Jak Draws logo, and then the details side has the logos with the title next to it like -
(facebook logo) - Jak Draws
(Twitter logo) - @Jak_Draws
(Tumblr) - jakdraws
JakDraws.co.uk
The two designs below are development. I like them both and I can't actually decide between them. I believe the second one, having a whole illustration on its own in the style I typically work in works well for promoting my work, and showing potential customers the kind of work I do. On the other hand, the first one shows my technical skills with colour pencil, and in terms of graphic design, feels better than the second.
Perhaps this design would be better portrait to match the illustration.I will work on that now.
I much prefer this design, I've added a light colour to the background to give some more texture and to make the contrast less harsh, I've changed the colour and the texture; I've used a wooden texture here instead. Due to the texture being a photo, there some lighting shine on the picture, but this only adds more depth and an interesting detail to the design. I think this design will be my final. The wood colour and finish makes the viewer feel warmer and more comfortable, like being at home.
So my next two alternatives are:
&
After deliberation however, I'm sticking with the dragon design, because it reflects the nature of my professional intention more, and the back of the card I've completely reduced in terms of composition. See below.
I've used the same colours for large title and logos as the colours found on the front side of the business card. This helps theme the card, and associate/link the two sides in a professional way.
(Possible alternate back. I personally like the negative, white on black style of graphics)
Final front and back above. Recently did the Shark vs Phoenix print and after cropping it, decided it would look great on a business card. For the back, the font is very clear and easy to read, so scaling it down doesn't take away clarity. To add some diversity, to show a variety of styles on my business card I added another print to it; fits nicely to the right of the writing.
Ordered from VistaPrint who keep it very simple, and relatively cheap, with colour back and front, custom design, and a metal case for me to keep 10 cards on me at any time, around £25. I'll remember that for next time, for I may try a different printer.
