Hey everyone, I am about to get some business cards printed, but I thought I would throw up the design that I made and see if anyone has any suggestions.
Benjamin, are you contracting these out to a printer, or printing them yourself? The design looks very good and providing just enough contact information overall. If contracting out you might ask for a couple test cards to see how well the photo holds up at business card size and print quality. Are they to be matte or glossy finish?
As I print my own I use both sides and have changed it over the years. The present one includes info on the back with the NPN url too. Two photographer brothers I met out out at JTNP asked for the url address to the site when I asked if they were NPN members or not. So, I decided that was a good way to get photogs that information and added it to the back of the card not too long ago.
Posted by Paul Dileanis on April 30, 2009 at 11:20 AM
Benjamin,
I like the concept and layout. It would work great for a 5x7 mailout. As a business card, I think the type will be too small. Enlarge the name block and drop the "phone" /"website" tags which will allow you to use a larger font. I don't think I want to be contacted by anyone not intelligent enough to be able identify a phone number and url.
Looks pretty good Ben. Keep in mind that if you're getting 'full-bleed' cards (ie. the edge of the photo goes to the edge of the card) then you need 1/16th inch of so of space that will be sacrificed, and you'll want a buffer as well. Generally I think it's recommended to keep important things 1/8th inch from the edge of the design.
I agree with Paul, no need for the 'phone' and 'website' tags.
I will be sending these out to get printed (psprint.com). I will go ahead and drop the unnecessary text to enlarge the important stuff. You think my name is large enough, or should I enlarge it as well?
Floris, thanks for the heads up, I will make sure that I make a good buffer zone. I'll probably shift all the text to the left a little bit.
Posted by Lon Overacker on April 30, 2009 at 2:33 PM
Looks pretty good Benjamin. I would agree with the others that you don't need "phone" and "website."
I would suggest enlarging your name portion to occupy more of the blank sky, without touching the tufa. That way perhaps you could include your entire theme, "Intimate Nature Photography" below you name.
For the www and phone number, I would put the website above/to the left of the phone number and make sure there is a little more room on the bottom and right for the bleed - as already mentioned.
Otherwise, it's simple and should serve it's purpose well.
Overall it is very nice. But I agree for a 'card' size the contact info needs to be larger. Utilizing more of the negative space for this as Lon mentioned is a good idea.
Another option which presents well is a transparent layer for the text. The opacity can be varied to taste. This give more of a layered 3D look.
Lastly as a follow-up try posting the actual card size to give a better real world feel.
Thanks everyone, here is a repost. Note that I have shifted all the text and important designs a 1/4 inch away from the border...so the actual cards won't have as much space around the edges. I really liked Lon's input, so I added the tag line below my name. I also saved the image at around the actual print size, per Derek's request.
A couple minor tweaks recommendations. I might move the name block up a little more to give to the mtns and tufa a little more breathing room. Secondly add back a little more snow to the left of the tufa for the buffer which Floris described.
Benjamin, I think the last post works very well, with the text centered as you mentioned too. I would also go with Derek's comment above. Maybe the breathing room on the name could be a slight move upward, along with the last "y" in photography lined up with the vertical alignment of the phone number. I think that still provides your planned right hand border. With that done maybe the name block could be shortened very slightly from the left away from the tufa also.
Looking better. Before I offer any more tweaks, I have a question. What is the exact size of the printed card and the exact size of your image file? I know it's suggested to not put stuff close to the edge for the bleed, cut, etc., so are you sending in a slightly oversized image or do you send in the exact dimensions of the finished card?
If you're sending in the exact size, I would try and center things a bit more. I would center both your name and tagline in the upper box as well as the web address. I would also raise the upper box just a tad so it's centered between the top of the mountains and the edge of the cards.
If you're truly going to lose 1/8" all the way around from what is shown here, the only thing I would change would be to center your name over the tagline.
Hope this helps - who would have thought designing a business card would be so much work?
Hey Lon, thanks for the help. This image shows how the card will be printed 'as is', so they will be cutting 1/8" from each side. I will go over all the comments and post my final image in a new thread sometime this week.
Discussion
14 repliesThanks for taking the time to comment.
As I print my own I use both sides and have changed it over the years. The present one includes info on the back with the NPN url too. Two photographer brothers I met out out at JTNP asked for the url address to the site when I asked if they were NPN members or not. So, I decided that was a good way to get photogs that information and added it to the back of the card not too long ago.
I like the concept and layout. It would work great for a 5x7 mailout. As a business card, I think the type will be too small. Enlarge the name block and drop the "phone" /"website" tags which will allow you to use a larger font. I don't think I want to be contacted by anyone not intelligent enough to be able identify a phone number and url.
I agree with Paul, no need for the 'phone' and 'website' tags.
Floris, thanks for the heads up, I will make sure that I make a good buffer zone. I'll probably shift all the text to the left a little bit.
I would suggest enlarging your name portion to occupy more of the blank sky, without touching the tufa. That way perhaps you could include your entire theme, "Intimate Nature Photography" below you name.
For the www and phone number, I would put the website above/to the left of the phone number and make sure there is a little more room on the bottom and right for the bleed - as already mentioned.
Otherwise, it's simple and should serve it's purpose well.
Lon
- Dan.
Another option which presents well is a transparent layer for the text. The opacity can be varied to taste. This give more of a layered 3D look.
Lastly as a follow-up try posting the actual card size to give a better real world feel.
My 2c,
Derek
How does it look now?
A couple minor tweaks recommendations. I might move the name block up a little more to give to the mtns and tufa a little more breathing room. Secondly add back a little more snow to the left of the tufa for the buffer which Floris described.
Derek
Last one looks good.
Looking better. Before I offer any more tweaks, I have a question. What is the exact size of the printed card and the exact size of your image file? I know it's suggested to not put stuff close to the edge for the bleed, cut, etc., so are you sending in a slightly oversized image or do you send in the exact dimensions of the finished card?
If you're sending in the exact size, I would try and center things a bit more. I would center both your name and tagline in the upper box as well as the web address. I would also raise the upper box just a tad so it's centered between the top of the mountains and the edge of the cards.
If you're truly going to lose 1/8" all the way around from what is shown here, the only thing I would change would be to center your name over the tagline.
Hope this helps - who would have thought designing a business card would be so much work?
Lon