New Business Card

I felt it was time to update my previous business card from 2007. My first impulse was to again include a photograph in the background. A college friend recommended I ditch the photo, which I was debating about doing. I ended up agreeing with her because it took away from the card, downplaying the informational text. To me, it's kind of like saying "Hi, you just met me when I gave you this card. But here's my face again, just in case I'm forgettable." It lacked confidence and came off with a hint of desperation. That isn't exactly inspiring. Besides, am I trying to sell my physical image or my skills here? And if I'm asking that question, certainly those looking at the card might share that very same confusion.

After removing the face I needed to include my website which complicated the composition more than I expected. Two narrow lines of text above DAVE looked solid, almost aerodynamic in it's movement. It looked slick. When I added the third line (with the web site address) it lost that feeling, becoming more crowded and less purposeful. The third line looked like it was an after-thought which, in truth, it was. But I was set on having all the text in the lower right half of the card with the rest being a solid black. It's a business card composition and I haven't personally seen before. In an age where everything is a revamp of a previous creation, I definitely wanted to retain the uniqueness.

So I went outside my usual style and expanded the spacing between the lines. Giving it that room to breathe slowed down the movement while allowing the image to remain bold tho less uncomfortably "in-your-face". There's a restraining quality that I'm not used to adhering, since I like to design with extremes rather than subtly. I might make a minor adjustment, but this is more or less the final version. It's certainly a massive departure from my old card which was incredibly colorful. It worked at the time, but in hindsight it was a little goofy and the text didn't look delicately composed (the text in the thought balloon is horrific!). It wasn't professional.

I'll be placing an order soon for the new cards. If anyone has an interest in having one designed (or redesigned) let me know.

Why Creativity Matters, Even in a Print Shop

from my previous blog.... originally posted Saturday, September 29, 2007

My temp job at Curtis Printing often involves loading old files, updating the format for a newer program, and sending them to the press. But when I do get the opportunity to flex my creative muscles it's pretty cool. I wish this would happen a little more often, but ah well.

The image above is the original Bicentennial Realty business card. My job was to add the clients email address and change the name. Jobs like this are extremely dull and can't be put in a portfolio since there's so little of my own creativity being used. Delete, delete, delete, type type type, print. So boring. Really, what is the point of being a designer when all you do is take old work and reprint it? So I took it upon myself to add my own creative touches (see below).

My subtle changes resulted in something different, and in my eyes something far more interesting. But if you notice, all I really did was lighten the opacity, size, and placement of the eagle logo and tilt the words "Bicentennial Realty" to follow the flag pole. This created a sense of depth, of layers, and made the text actually relate to the image rather than simply have them as such loner entities.

The original card failed to do this. The tilt also helped balance the image. Note the distance between "Licensed Real Estate Agent" and the Office # on the bottom. Centered almost perfectly between them is "Realty" (look at the original and you'll see the spacial difference). The tilt also goes upward from left to right, which gives a sense of taking off, of soaring, of moving upwards. These are all positive things you look for in a business, yes? I also think that any business card with diagonal text is going to stand out. How often do you see that these days?

I emailed a PDF proof to the customer and he decided to go with my revised version. Having a customer who probably had the same lifeless business card printed and reprinted year-after-year suddenly switch gears for the sake of my design was great. It's moments like these that make the job worth it.

Print shops are known to NOT do this kind of thing. For them, it's all about getting the product designed and printed as fast as possible. It's more about quantity than quality. It's one of the reasons I sometimes hate the job, because for this business card and others like it the other designer I work with will say "don't get fancy, now." Personally I think this is an awful way to do business. Yes, the average customer couldn't care less. But once presented with something unique, the customer's face lights up and you know immediately that they will be back for a new reason: an appreciation for art.

And that is far more satisfying.

Another sample of an original vs. my revision. The light blue text was printed with a darker tone called reflex blue, which is the same blue used in the Bicentennial card. I still need to get a copy of that final version.



























One more before and after: