I've been working on a new series of business cards lately, mainly to use at upcoming comic/anime conventions :)
Here's the card I had for last year's con and the year before (both Fan Expo)...while I definitely think it's cute, I don't think it really represents my work well. Sadly, I wasn't too successful with this card last year (when I was selling prints), I'm gonna guess most of the people that took this card home and looked at it later had absolutely NO idea who/what it was for...^^; Figure my next design could probably use some color too :)
These are some of the designs I'd thought up in the last few weeks (click on the pic to enlarge)....pretty much since business cards don't take too long to make I just threw whatever ideas out there that I had. I think, for the purposes of conventions, the bottom left one (with the black haired character) would work best, since I'll be selling prints featuring this character. The design would definitely help in reminding people who's card it is...^^;
Love the flying shih tzu too though it's probably best to use if I'm trying to advertise something like kid's book illustrations....as for the space ones, I'd probably end up printing the lower one if any, as the top one was a little bit of an asspain to design (used Photoshop for most of it, which is not the best program for resizing things....^^:)
At any rate, feel free to comment if you have any opinions or critiques..and I must add a Shameless Plug here that if you want me to make you a business card design, feel free to send me an email, I'll do it for dirt cheap :D
EDIT:
Here are my 2 "most likely to print" designs with some revisions suggested by a friend (thanks!!) :) Hopefully these look a bit more professional :)
The bottom right is the most professional looking.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm thinking I may print that one for general/non convention use (eg-just to advertise my design services)...
ReplyDeleteMost of these have legibility issues, so none could be used as is. The contact information in the bottom right one has a glow which makes the letters look fuzzy. You should also do a test print to check contrast.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, you should be creating business cards in Illustrator or InDesign. NEVER Photoshop.
For conventions, the bottom left is the best choice, if revised. Don't use a display font for contact information. Use something more legible to make it easier to contact you.
Remove the "http://" from the URL, and you don't need to label e-mail.
Generally speaking, I think the top left one has the most promise in terms of design. But if it's not representative of your style, don't use it.
You might find it helpful to study typography a little more. You seem confused about how to handle type.
I hope that doesn't seem too harsh. I'd like to see you continue working on designs until they can really sell you.
K let's start from the top...
ReplyDelete1. I think when I looked at it the proper printed size, the bottom right one didn't have such a fuzzy glow...I'd have to take another look at it. If it's a problem I'll see what I can do about the glow..
2. Yeah I discovered cards in photoshop = generally a bad idea after that first space one...^^; The second was done in Illustrator though, along with most of that one with the female character.
3. Do you have any suggestions for a font that I can use for the bottom left that is professional but also has something of a "fancy" look/feel? Also, would you say it's just the font that's the problem or are there other reasons why it's hard to read?
4. Confused what you mean by not needing to label email, do you mean just remove the "e:" ?
Anyway thanks for the tips! :D I wanna concentrate on the bottom left (with the character) for now since I'm probably gonna use that for the next con :)
1. Don't trust that the glow will disappear in print. You should be trapping for print if you're using light type on a dark background though, to account for ink spreading. That's probably what caused the glow to "disappear." A half point stroke is what you'd use for trapping. A higher quality printer may be able to show the glow, and it looks kind of amateur in print.
ReplyDelete2. Photoshop won't always generate crisp type in print. Illustrator does. If you have questions about effects, just ask. I know it very well :)
3. Try Caslon, Garamond, or Palatino. If you need help finding something free, let me know.
4. Yes. You had that in one, but it's easy to tell which is a URL and which is an e-mail address. By the way, outside of conventions you should have your own domain with an e-mail address tied to it. It looks more professional.
And you're welcome. Feel free to ask me to look over any future revisions.
1. Yeah I went back and ended up removing the glow...^^; I took a look at the smaller versions and it did look blurry so I just removed it.
ReplyDelete2. Agreed!
3. K I'm gonna give them a try and see what's best.
4. Ah...yup that's what I was thinking. As for my own domain, I haven't made up my own site yet but I will probably work on that soon :)
Anyway I will post the new ones in a minute, in this same entry :) Hopefully they look better :D
Revision #1: Much better without the glow. But your name and tagline seem unusually large. A fancier/display font is okay for your name. Check my art blog, I posted a while back about places to find free typefaces. Font Freak and DaFont have the best selection.
ReplyDeleteRevision #2: The type seems large here too, what size are you using? You can go pretty small on a business card. Try 8-9pt for the contact info, 14-16pt for your name. Adjust from there for readability.
Again, you can use something fancy for your name, the rest is better to have toned down as it is (though the tagline could be italicized). The typeface you had before for your name works with the illustration, so you can try that for just your name.
Other options for your name: Blown Deadline or Harrington.
For other info: Savoye might be a nice complement, but you may not be able to get that easily. Maybe Blokletters will work, depending on the feel you want. The serif you're using now would also be fine for most of the info, with your name in a fancier style.
I hope that helps :)
Thanks again for the tips! I've done some adjustments on the one with my character and will post it in a min....then I shall be off to bed though, so tired...^^;
ReplyDeleteThanks again!