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business card design

technodookie
polycounter lvl 17
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technodookie polycounter lvl 17
A friend of mine who makes digital music asked me to make a business card for him. The only stipulation he had was to have a drawing of him that matched a picture he gave me. I'm still roughing it out, so any feedback is appreciated!

Here's the picture and some of the rough drafts:
augie_card_reference.jpg
augie_card_3.jpg
augie_card_4.jpg
augie_card_5.jpg

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  • thnom
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    thnom polycounter lvl 18
    As much as I like the basic drawing, the cards themselves seem to lack any form of thought when it comes to composition. You've just moved and scaled the head around when I'm not sure that title is working and the text doesn't draw me in.
  • Mtg_kirin
    hey i liked the 2nd one but gotta agree on the title "augie Restivo" text is not all that great IMO. Though I do like the rest
  • Mark Dygert
    I'm going to rip it apart, call me an asshole, call me a dick just don't get discouraged and think you suck because you don't.

    Crits:
    - Showing the lower teeth too much, even if that is the case in the photo, you can touch it up a bit. The lower teeth look like they don't actually turn into molars, they look like a bunt cake pan, one solid mass of tooth. You don't have to draw each tooth outlined in a thick black line but giving some indication that he actually has 32 teeth will make him seem more human. Giving him a gum line will help, if you look close the photo has a tiny hint at a gum line.
    - What happened to his upper teeth?
    - Why does his upper lip perfectly follow the lines of his lower teeth? it creates a gap where you would expect to see upper teeth.

    - The lips shouldn't come down to fine little points at the corners of the mouth, his lips stay pretty thick and one folds under the other one.

    - I'm not too hot on the font used for the name, it seems almost like a retarded kid made it in 1st grade, I half expect to see the R flipped over and a 3 where the E's should be.

    - what happened to his eyebrows and the muscles behind them? Even if he shaves his eyebrows there are still cranial muscles you should hint at. Right now the shading lines you have running down the face give it a watermelon look.


    - Draw the waveform so it matches the style you set for the face. Google image search > Copy > Paste = lame... especially since you went to all the trouble to draw out the head.

    Card.gif
    Quick Paint Over
  • rooster
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    rooster mod
    also keep asking yourself, 'does it look pro?' with each iteration. Thats a strong part of getting a buisness card design right imo
    I would try more radical variations of design, your fonts stay the same and layout is only shuffled slightly between each one.

    Is there a message or feeling you're wanting to get across too? is he serious, or zany, or inventive etc, it might be nice to represent his musical style somehow in the design

    edit: also, vector style shading would probably come off stronger/bolder on a card, I would consider illustrator or even flash to get some nice crisp lines and shading
  • Mark Dygert
    Rooster brings up a good point, because this is print, you might want to consider converting it over to vector. When I was doing graphic design our printers always loved vector art over pixel art, mostly because it scaled, was easy to convert to different formats and printing methods (like t-shirts, posters, stickers), was cleaner to print and could always be converted to pixel art if needed. Pixel art going to vector is problematic and messy and they love to charge extra for that stuff.

    When you deliver a logo to someone expect that if they like it they'll want to use it in other ways for other things.
  • Rens
    second vig's and roosters* comments,

    i think its way to busy, and the fonts you used look like a cheap powerpoint presentation.
    that drop shadow.. i wouldn't use it, or improve it

    keep it simple, if you use a character in it, use just a couple colors to fill in the face or alot,

    the lined background makes it look very nasty, also keep that simple.

    maybe make it double sided? pic with name on the front, info on the back?


    two examples:

    plasticcardpromo207.jpg

    business_card.jpg
  • Rhinokey
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    Rhinokey polycounter lvl 18
    i'd drop the painting of him, and incorporate the picture in kind of a logo, i was thinking a whit sillouete of his head front on in a black circle, omit all facial features,, just the shape of his head and ears in white, with the glasses done in black with the green waveform in them. make it a logo.. something that could be used else where.. and as vig commented.. the X-treme font is too overboard.
  • technodookie
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    technodookie polycounter lvl 17
    Thanks everyone for the advice! I love harsh criticism, especially the constructive type, so keep blasting away! I get so painfully little critique from my teachers and classmates, I feel like its hard to improve sometimes.

    I'm going to paint the face in more detail and fix the areas vig mentioned. Actually painting the waveform is another good idea I didn't really think of. It was a screen capture I took from my cooledit program, but I suppose just as lame as a google search nonetheless.

    Thanks everyone for being honest about the logo. It sucks. I'm gonna go back to the drawing board and get some new ideas. Most of Augie's stuff has a fairly fast tempo with a lot of layered instruments. I would definitely call it inventive. His main tools are his synth and a software package called Reason. I'll take that all in and try to get a more unified logo and layout for the card!
  • thnom
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    thnom polycounter lvl 18
    Just as a side thing; have you spoken to the guy? Made sure he likes your illustration? I'd get him to run over it himself - he is your client (paid or unpaid) either way.
  • MoP
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    MoP polycounter lvl 18
    Rhinokey said pretty much exactly what I was thinking.
    It just needs to be iconic, instantly recognisable, and easily readable.
    So simplify the picture as much as you can, and sort out the fonts so that it's professional, nicely aligned and legible.
  • Baddcog
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    Baddcog polycounter lvl 9
    I like the pic of him OK but I do agree that his teeth are too big.

    I also don't like the fonts at all and I think having his name overlapping his face is bad.

    But overall I think you have a decent basic layout.

    I like the soundwaves in his shades.
  • Sage
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    Sage polycounter lvl 19
    The biggest problem I have with the image is the angle it is at for some reason. I feel the text is more important than the image and since it's a face and so large in scale the eye just goes to that. Besides what had been said I would push the face into the background so it's not soo distracting. I would simplify the waveform since all that green will probably turn to a blob when it gets printed.

    Here is a quick paint over that shows what mean about placement of the graphic, pushing it back, and a change in font and text placement.

    augie_card.jpg

    Alex
  • Slum
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    Slum polycounter lvl 18
    Sorry sage, but I have to say that version isn't that much better. The font is boring, you have weird spacing inconsistencies, and the washed out photo looks kind of cheesy. It's a nice effort, but I dont think it solves any of the problems in his original attempt.

    I spent 10 minutes and made something to kind of illustrate rhino and mops points more. Simple, elegant, and memorable.

    He has a pretty memorable name, and a bit different from the normal "Steven Smith", so a readable font will suit you best.

    augieal9.jpg

    it's pretty sloppy, but it's just to show a point.
  • Archanex
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    Archanex polycounter lvl 18
    that's a cool concept slum, if you cleaned it up again it'd be ace
  • Rhinokey
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    Rhinokey polycounter lvl 18
    slum thats almost exactly what i was envisioning.,
  • MoP
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    MoP polycounter lvl 18
    Yeah Slum's idea is pretty nice. Simple, clean, iconic.
    I'd probably make the text a little bigger though, since that'll be tiny on a business card. Maybe just move the head up and shrink it a bit to make more room for the text. Bigger name definitely.
  • Illusions
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    Illusions polycounter lvl 18
    On Slums, all I'd do is drop the outer shadow around the head, and maybe make the contact information a bit bolder. The thing about business cards is that they should quickly and professionally relay the person's contact information, and also be cheap and easy to print.

    As for technodookie's. Go with the prior suggestions, but drop the current font for the person's name, and use a plain white background. Bolder font for the contact information as well.

    The idea should be that if these things are given out at events, tradeshows, whatever, that if a person ends up with a stack of these, that the one your client gave them is the one that stands out as professional, and whose name sticks in the person's mind.

    Edit: Also another thing to do is to check with whoever will be printing these and find out how much they charge per color used, and whether or not you have to use print safe colors, or if it costs more if you don't. Remember DPI as well. 300+ for good print quality.
  • Rens
    the shadow casted by the head makes it look blurry, but it defenitly is an awesome design slum, really like the pixelated wave

    clean and simple.
  • technodookie
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    technodookie polycounter lvl 17
    Once again, thanks all for the advice! I sent Augie the very first rough last week and he actually loved it. I guess that emboldened me to post it here on polycount. Anyway, I don't want the man running around with a business card that others are gonna laugh at, so I'll keep revising this shiz.

    I'm out of town for the weekend, so no illustrator or photoshop handy. I do have a pencil, a scanner, and mspaint. Heres a rough idea that combines slums layout with a new logo design I'm kicking around. Sorry for the weird angle, paint only lets you rotate shit in 90 degree increments :P

    To be honest, I'd rather use and edgy font than a simple one, because I think it reflects his attitude and music. Is this a professional artist no-no? OK, feel free to rip me a new one:

    augie_card_6.jpg
  • Rhinokey
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    Rhinokey polycounter lvl 18
    list of things edgy font conveys
    15 years old
    poser
    ad campaign developed by old people to target young people
    douchebagginess


    how edgy can you be with your own buisness card?
  • tremulant
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    tremulant polycounter lvl 17
    imply the edgy, dont smack us in the face with it
  • MoP
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    MoP polycounter lvl 18
    edgy = hard to read
  • technodookie
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    technodookie polycounter lvl 17
    I understand what you guys are saying. I'll be the first to admit that my design skills are weak. It's something that I struggle with and want to get better at, so let me rephrase my question so I can get a more specific answer. I guess what I wanted to say was that I understand the need for readability, but didn't want to use a standard font because it seems boring and unoriginal to me. Maybe edgy is a bad word to use, but I wanted a more exciting font.

    Anyway, I got back home and played with illustrator. I still want to fix up the photoshop portrait, if just for the practice.

    augie_card_7.jpg
  • Illusions
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    Illusions polycounter lvl 18
    Don't forget a place for the contact information...
  • Wells
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    Wells polycounter lvl 18
    a nice readable font says 'classy' on a business card, not unoriginal.

    it's getting better - still not wild about the A and R, as they don't immediately read, which goes against the entire point of the card. are you planning on keeping the head as an outline? a black or gray fill, as in Slum's, would go a long way.
  • notman
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    notman polycounter lvl 18
    I think it would look good filled with the flesh tone he used initially. Then do a real subtle reference to a mouth and nose.

    The new card is definitely an improvement. The A and R don't really bother me. The contact info should go on top somewhere though, so it will look more balanced.
  • rooster
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    rooster mod
    agree with the last few suggestions, but it looks way more pro now smile.gif

    you could try some minor variations now on how you write his name, toning the waveform down a bit to improve legibility etc- maybe it'll look too weak, or maybe it'll still work fine

    edit: contact info *could go on the back if you wanted to keep it nice and clean, but I guess that might also cost a bit extra printing both sides
  • Mark Dygert
    Design by comity, gotta love it.

    It's come along way and its looking a lot more professional. Nice work!

    Suggestions:
    - Change the waveform to start before the A go flat under the A, underline his name and the pick the waveform back up after the O. I see what you want to do, by incorporating it into his name, thats a cool idea, But hard to do. The R looks weird and draws attention in a bad way since a wave form doesn't ever peak horiz. It might be smart to keep them as separate pieces and just tie them together instead.
    - Make sure to leave yourself a good margin and try to keep your contact info from getting too close to the edges. Business cards don't always get cut exactly where they should and having a good design with that in mind can make things easier on everyone.
  • technodookie
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    technodookie polycounter lvl 17
    YO! Still messing around with some little things:

    >Trying to fix the glasses so they dont look like cracked eggs. I put sawtooth and square waves in them to appeal to people who might know something about digital music.
    >Playing with different tones including using dark gray instead of black for lines and the text.
    >I'm also thinking that since his name isn't symetrical, it might help the balance to put his cell and email address in different corners. Maybe it makes the info too spread out...

    Anyway, right now I'm digging the middle and top right cards for some reason. Of course, in the end it's up to the Augmeister to decide what he wants to go with. Thanks again for the help! I'm learning a lot!

    augie_card_8.jpg
  • Thegodzero
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    Thegodzero polycounter lvl 18
    The white one with black outline and readable font for sure.
  • Paul_C
    I'm not sure about the mouth. He looks worried.
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