Business Card Rough

[dsydesign]

Hi All, I am a recent grad of Graphic Design in CA, and I am in the process of finalizing my business system.

http://shinjixikari.com/misc/cards.jpg

The first card is for freelance photography.
The second card is for flash/web design, but I wanted a versatile card with the dynamic flash look.

If there are any major/type/heirarchy issues with the cards I've designed, please let me know.

I am considering ordering from overnightprints.com. If someone has a better site recommendation(1-sided cards), please feel free to share.

Thank you so much for your time!

[CkretAjint]

First card:

- You don't need your AIM name on there. That is a younger crowd thing and will show you age REALLY quickly.
- Not a fan of the cloud shape behind the rock. It looks like a jet flew buy, and the cloud really forces you to read your web addy and then your eye flys off the page, causing me to loose interest in it.
- loose the './/' in front of contact
- Do you really need to list what events you shoot photography in? If people want you they will call. I see that and think that is ALL you do and nothing else.



Second card:
- Again loose the AIM.
- Loose the services. I stated why on the first card. ('websites', really? I mean it IS a busiess card for a web site builder. I never would have guessed....). PLus, graphic design and photography aren't website services. If you ARE offering those it is not a "flash/website"business card. It is a grphic design business card and you happen to offer web services.
- Pictures are WAY to small to make out what they really are. They look just like photos, not websites.
- The yellowy gold color will be pretty hard to read once printed on the white card.
- Your web address should go under your contact info. Looks odd up there by itself almost the same size as your name.



Both cards:
- No phone number???

[CkretAjint]

Positive feedback:

- I like the texture on the rock and the blue of the sky... Just not that jet stream.

- I like the hexegon shape on the secon card, I just don't know if it fits your needs. If you take that away, its just a very plain boring card...

[double A-ron]

1st card:

Ditch the black box with the webaddress up top and let the blue sky bleed off the page, it just doesn't look right to have the black box up top and then the white box underneath. Move your email address up into the corner more and then put the website underneath it.

The jet stream/clouds is annoying and just leads you right off the edge of the card.

I agree CkretAjint about the AIM, ".//" in front of contact and the list of services, lose them.

2nd card:

Same as above in reguards to the AIM and services, lose them, there's no need for them to be listed.

Again, I agree with CkretAjint, the images are way too small to be able to see what they are.

Web address should go under contact, as already mentioned.

I'm not digging the hexegons. They're making me think Bio-Tech firm. But maybe that just because there's alot of those in my area.

[carolyn]

it seems all of the text alignment is inconsistent on your second card. the three lines of text at the top look like they should be centered but they're a little off. and your contact info is oddly aligned. i love the hexagons, but i don't think the pink matches. but that's just me, if you're into the pink then go for it :)

[CkretAjint]

...Did you design these cards in photoshop?

[dsydesign]

photoshop and illustrator.

the hexagons are because my current resume pdf is like that. but this does bring up a good point... I'll make a more "flash" interactive graphic IE back to the drawing board.

the 4 hexagon pictures are to show off my ability to do print/photography/etc... should I focus on just a web/flash card instead of diverse one?

What kind of approach would you guys recommend to make the second card seem web/flash?

If you feel the picture doesn't match, there's a bunch more on winterwish.net (personal photography site) which can be used... depends how bored you are in this case ^^. I was contemplating masking a potrait picture into the sky. I just want to show off some photography, or is there a better approach?

PS. Thanks for all the feedback so far =)

[emucru]

Your margins look pretty small, your text is fairly close to the trim. I like the background in the second one but you might not be happy with the finished print if your blend to white is 0% ink. You will see a hard edge. Especially using an quick print place where you won't see a proof.

[tZ]

I'd start over.

These don't look like they were done by a designer but, someone with photoshop and thats about all. Theres little sense of proximity or alignment. Eveything is everywhere. What is the point of the photographs? I think the first step is losing the photos because they aren't doing much. After that establish a grid and stick to it.

[frankster]

Try looking at your cards and imagining that the text is in a foriegn language. You understand nothing of the card's written content. What do the cards say to you now? For me at least the second card says "industrial chemical engineering". Here are just a few examples of how widespread this "hexagons and photos" cliche is in the chemical industry and why I think you should avoid it.

http://www.chempacific.com/
http://www.organictech.com/
http://www.hokkochem.co.jp/
http://www.eastman.com/
http://www.agachemicals.com/

[dsydesign]

I was thinking for a photographer, it gives me an edge to have a picture up so the client actually has incentive to look at the card, and it also shows off my work. Has anyone else attempting to do amateur/professional used a different way in their business card to encourage the client not to throw it away because it was boring and fit into their big stack of cards?

yeah I see your point regarding the chemicals... back to the drawing board for a new graphic theme for the business cards.

emucru: is my text that close to the bleed? when I designed it, it looked like it allowed .25 in per side of bleed/misprinting...

[emucru]

emucru: is my text that close to the bleed? when I designed it, it looked like it allowed .25 in per side of bleed/misprinting...

.25 is plenty. I guess it just looks smaller because the information is concentrated to the sides.

[daSnarf]

They both seem fairly busy and lack any real creativity or concept.

On the DSY card, some text is centered, some is left justified, some is right justified and even the stuff that is centered isnt centered on each other so that creates issues as well.