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:
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