Business Cards: Developing Ideas

Business Cards: Developing Ideas

1) Design Specifications:

• The final digital file will be in a common format such as jpg, png, tiff.
• the final image resolution should be no less than 300dpi to ensure quality.  
• final card designs will include a 0.125" bleed on all side
• It should include my name, email address, phone number, and position in the company.
• It should have the full name of the company, location of the specific store, and website of the company.
• Logo will be in the business card.
• It will have two sides.
• There should be some sort of space in between each kind of information.

2) Design Ideas:

Back Design:

This is a back design. It is made according to the colours of the logo. It will be based on the shape that is drawn in the draft. Whether or not there will be space in between different colours will be decided once it is chosen. The colours will manly be bright and will be attractive. And given that big surface area, it will really grab attention. (It might be gradient or not).

This is one of my designs for the back of my business card. It has the logo right in the centre, and would work best for circular logos (because they make it look even more balanced, centred). The size of the logo shown is about the ratio of what you are seeing in the image of the draft. It has to be big enough to be clear to see and attractive, it can't be too big or else things would lose proximity. The pro is that it is simple and the logo will be very recognisable because it's only the logo in the whole page. The con is that it might result in too much negative space leading to a plainness. (It might be 3D or it might not).

This is another back design made according to the other green business card on top. It uses lines to create a flow and it looks interesting. The curvy lines would make anything look very friendly. The lines would mainly follow the flow of the logo, works better with logos that are less square or circle-ish, and that are more curvy. The flow is special and would attract and is memorable. However, it would be tough to make this. One main colour (related with the logo and company) will also be chosen, and there will be lighter and deeper parts but using the same colour.

Front Layout:

This is a portrait layout. The logo will lie on the top 2/3 (imaginary) line and the name of the company is going to go below the line. The rest of the information will take up half the page, and the text is going to be centred. The logo will be about the same ratio as on the image above. The logo will be big enough, and you will always see it right on top and pay attention even when you are just looking at the information. However, it should not be used with the "logo in the middle" back design because it will be too repeated with both in the middle and start to be annoying and irritating. It is also because that one looks better horizontally but this is a portrait layout. Another con is that it might grab attention from the information. That doesn't matter much because when you need the info you will sure pay attention to it but it creates an unbalance vertically. Ratio: 20:13

In this layout, the logo will be on the left, and on the right there will be a rectangle with my name (big) and my position. The rectangle will be about the middle (vertically), and all the other information will go below. This is a good layout because it has a very good harmony to it, and everything is well separated on both sides but there is just a unity and balance. It doesn't feel like the card is split in half (unity). It also provides the right amount of white space. Ratio: 21:12

In this layout, the logo with the company name below will be on the top half of the page, then the information will be in the lower half (centred). Those will only take up 1/3 of the page in the centre. The sides will have colours with full opacity, and in the centre there will be colour that is lighter with lower opacity. The colour change will be gradient. Colour not decided yet. It is basically a portrait card in the middle, but a landscape with more colours to make it more attractive and more friendly and gentle (because it is horizontal). The con is that there might be too much white space. Ratio: 20:13

Logo:

This logo looks very cool. It not really a continuation but there is motion, that the blue things are spinning counterclockwise while the orange ones are spinning clockwise. Motion catches peoples attention. There is also a very nice flow when the curve lines are put together, it has a nice rhythm. It is also round and those are all curvy lines, and rotational symmetrical. The outside circle shapes looks like shooting stars, which kind of hold the meaning of "a chance to make what you wish come true". People think, imagine, and hope for a lot of new and innovative technology so the meaning is good. The middle part kind of look like fans and that's electronics, they are also like water drops which is what you need daily. They are also in a shape of a light bulb which means ideas, smart, invention, intelligence. The middle thing is kind of like the mountain and the very very core of the logo will be the mountain top. And it is means climbing higher and higher, reaching the top. It has SLS in it (the curves in the blue and those kind of straight lines are S in the middle is Land it is a mnemonic device - first letter. Overall a pretty rich and good logo in this situation.

It is not very attracting. Response is friendliness because of the curvy lines, and if looked in an angle it is kind of reflectional symmetrical. But it is also tilted towards the right (forward). The circle outside seems to make the response neutral though. It is also like a shooting star, and it also uses the first letter mnemonic device. Overall not a very good logo in this situation.

This is an obscured smily face so it attracts attention - "tiger behind the bush" our better ancestors are good in connecting shapes. The lines are mainly curvy and its horizontal length is longer than its vertical length, so it is a horizontal rectangle it's inside, these make it friendly. All it shows smily face and means that it improves life and make it easy. A smily face is something concrete, and it uses first letter as a mnemonic device.

Font:

The styles are already chosen, simple and thin, and the options are all quite similar, with the same pros and cons, it will be chosen using feedback

Fortheenas 01

Lane Narrow Regular

Opificio Neue

Helvetica Neue light

Avenir light

Myriad Pro

Colour Palette:

6FCCDD, E0DFDD, 8F5DA6

The bluish, greenish colour feels digital. Grey feels professional, authority, calm, balance, neutral. Purple means imagination, wise, creativity, royalty, elegance. This I think starts to look girlish, but it is maintaining a digital, pro look. But the purple doesn't give a lot of creativity feel, instead it just look elegant and "pretty" and girlish.

5695D0, E0DFDD, 4CB748

Blue means trust, smart, dependable, strength. Grey feels professional, authority, calm, balance, neutral. Green means, peaceful, natural, growth, trust. The colours look kind of dull overall, but it feels professional, trusted, and peaceful.

5695D0, E0DFDD, F9A21A

This is like the previous one but instead of green, I chose and yellowish orange. It is professional and smart, but the difference is it is more sharp and it looks brighter (happier) than the green which has a little jealous, nasty, unexperienced feeling.

FEC512, 4952A3, 11AE4B

This darker blue is also more violet, giving a more mature and professional feel. Orange means cheerful, energetic, warm. Yellow means happy, fun, optimistic, and caution. But the orange kind of brings it away from that. But the yellowish makes it contrast with the blue more, and looks more sharp and attracting. This green is same as the blue, darker makes it more mature and professional, and less healthy, jealous and unexperienced feel. This has great contrast, feels mature, smart, trust, peaceful yet optimistic, fun feel.

3) Chosen Design:

Back design: Logo in the centre

This is because the logo in the centre without anything makes people focus on the logo more. And a good logo can grab people's attention well. And if the logo is a very recognised one, then people will straight ahead go "Oh! I know which company's business card this is." which is good because even the business card should be easily recognised. The colour one might be attractive but unrecognisable. The line can also be at the back because it is something special, there is novelty.

Front layout: One side info, one side

The third back layout was not good because a portrait text on a horizontal card just doesn't fit, look weird, and caused a lot of white space. Even if the white space was filled in with logos of other text, it would look funny, lack unity and harmony because something on the sides is not going to look good. The portrait design just seem too formal and a little bit dull. This one chosen has a good harmony and has a good balance, and is rich enough yet having enough white space.

Logo: Smily face
This logo is more special meaning attracting more attention and more memory. It is also obscured which attracts even more attention, and it is a face which attracts even more attention. It looks friendly with those curvy lines which is a good message but with the L with angles and straight lines keeping it away from the extreme. All it means is that it improves life and you'll be happy using the products. All the logo designs have a first letter mnemonic device, but this one is more memorable because it is something concrete that represented the company - to use innovative ideas, and smart inventions to improve quality of life. The second one was totally abstract and was very random. The first one was actually pretty good, and it at least have some meaning, but the meaning is very hard to notice of find out. It is also very abstract so if someone don't know the company yet or understand much, they would have no idea what that was.

Size: 20:13
The standard size seems a bit long and the chosen one is close to the golden ratio and it seem more comfortable to look at and there is more balance between the horizontal and the vertical.

Font: Avenir light
They are all quite simple. However, this is just right there, some are over-done and looks awkward (where they cut half of the horizontal line of "t" and "f"...). Helvetica Neue was another choice and they are kind of the same, but Avenir light seems to be fresher. Also Avenir light had all ellipses (even e and c) using the same circle and the same size, while Helvetica Neue had it changed more, which seems to me avenir light looks simpler and better. One thing that looked bad about it is that the kerning was too wide and looking unnatural but that can be adjusted in illustrator.

Colour Palette:

I chose 5695D0, E0DFDD, F9A21A - blue, grey, and yellowish orange. Blue is smart. The grey looks professional, mature, and simple. the orange makes it optimistic and happy, like having a good quality of life. The last one was too bright and looked childish. The first one looked girlish. The second which is like this except for the orange was green also looked more green (eco) and comfortable for the eye, but it contains the jealous and unexperienced feel.

4) Planning Drawing:

• The mouth of the logo should be orange (something close to red would look more normal), the nose grey, and the eyes blue.

• The logo at the back side would be in the centre and the size would be a third of the vertical side, square (times itself).

• About the same logo size would be on the front page on the left place in the middle of the vertical length, and in the middle of the exactly left half side.

• In the front, there will be a rectangle to contain my name and my position. The whole rectangle will be horizontal, it will be around the middle (vertically) or maybe higher. It will be a bit thick, and it will be as long as about half the length of the card. Inside, the name will be in capital letters on the left side and it will be big. And my position "industrial engineer" will be on the right, and only the first letters will be capitalised, and one word will be on top and the other at the bottom. It will be small.

• All words should be using the avenir typeface but the font can be any except no oblique.

• There should be a one line space between each kind of information. Below the rectangle will be the company name, then address, then space, then my email address, then phone number, then space, then the company website.
• All information won't have like "Phone:", "Address:", stuffs like that.

These are more videos I found to help me through the process of creating my business card:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuG1vAaLxtc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldsTXjQ3rn0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsBhoa4OidI