Business Card Issues....
polycounter lvl 10
So, I'm trying to come up with a business card for GDC this year and I've gone through several designs with the "help" of a business design forum and those that have responded, each one of them have their own thoughts on my card and not one has really helped me out, except the fact my design has improved and I may need assistance for those IN my chosen industry. I'm freaking out a bit about this and this group is beginning to annoy me. I ask questions, they tell me what I shouldn't be doing, instead of offering an alternative.
The gray card was my first initial design and compared to the others is rather dull. The two with the wireframe background is a map I've built for my portfolio and think it's a clever design, my personal favorite but the focus is on it and not on my contact information, according to one guy on the other forum page.
I'd like some font ideas to or some tips on improving what I have. I've done a little more research and if I go with the dark card, I'll change the green to a red color, not pure red, or maybe a gradient of a couple shades of red. I'm rambling now and I'm going to bed.
The gray card was my first initial design and compared to the others is rather dull. The two with the wireframe background is a map I've built for my portfolio and think it's a clever design, my personal favorite but the focus is on it and not on my contact information, according to one guy on the other forum page.
I'd like some font ideas to or some tips on improving what I have. I've done a little more research and if I go with the dark card, I'll change the green to a red color, not pure red, or maybe a gradient of a couple shades of red. I'm rambling now and I'm going to bed.
Replies
Try to get a little more personality in there. And with the text...
All it takes is a grid to make sure your border is consistent and everything lines up. Also, the "Environment Artist" should definitely stay.
Also, help us help you. The slideshow is annoying, has an ad, is just another link to click (the lazy won't) and it's hard to compare the cards to one another. Would be better to do something more like this, and embed it in your post:
Hope this helps a little. I say keep an interesting strip of wireframe (make sure it's got no gross jpg artifacts or jaggys, HQ screenshots only) and have a nice clean strip of it on the right to balance out all your text being listed on the left.
Good luck out there.
The wireframes above it don't communicate anything great about you. In fact it's worse than blank, because it is telling me you don't know how to present a wireframe that's easy to read.
Backface-culled wires, or shaded wires, are much easier to evaluate. For example:
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1752193&postcount=4
But anyhow, presenting environment artwork on a business card is always going to fail, it's too small and too low-res.
A business card isn't going to sell you. Your initial impression when you hand it over, that's the important bit where you get the person interested enough that they'll want to contact you later. The biz card then just needs to communicate the contact info. And it helps if it's not ugly.
I'm thinking front and center on the back with my logo in the middle. Depending on the final color I go with on my card, the logo would be green and the code black, or vice versa depending on what looks best. I handed my cards out mainly after the show at parties and bars in conversation. The code helped out instead of spelling out my site.
Also make sure your card has some white space. I like to write notes on a card to remember our conversation, like where we met, the date, the subject, that kind of thing. Sucks when I get a card made of plastic or all black.
I like the idea of a QR code, just don't forget to have a physical written-out link to your immediate portfolio as well (like in the front with your name and contact info, or right below the QR code)
I put some skills on the back. This used to be a list of the games I've worked on, but I've been branching out lately as a freelancer, beyond just games, so this reflects that.
You could do something similar if you wanted to list various skills (hard surface modeling, digital sculpting, normal maps, PBR, whatever).
Oh, and I use my inkjet printer to print them out. I use the pre-scored biz card stock from the office supply store, and Avery's online design tool. It's actually pretty good.
http://www.avery.com/avery/en_us/Templates-%26-Software/Software/Avery-Design--Print-Online.htm
Also, I currently use Deviant's professional portfolio site as my main portfolio location. For those that don't know, Deviant, a couple years ago added a feature to their company in that a user can have their original Deviant page and a professional portfolio site, and it's what I currently use and has worked for me. Once this card is finished, I planned on matching colors, placing logos on it as well as my resume. Should I match the font to the resume and business card as well? My initial thinking is yes I should.
I used Verdana for everything, just bolded and/or colored some parts. Verdana is a wider font than Arial, so it's a bit more relaxed-looking to my eye. Arial is very generic and boring, so I avoid it when I can.
I'm glad you said something, I wouldn't have put any thought into it. No need for my home address so I replaced it with my portfolio.
edit: nvm.... Just looked it up. Similar. not the same though.
Personally, when I see a DeviantArt link that instantly puts me off a bit, before I even jump into the link. I've come to expect less when I go there, just because there's so much crappy fan art, furries, etc. It doesn't give an impression of professionalism. Better to go with your own URL, IMHO.
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Portfolio#Methods
This is good to know. I'll look into this link when I finish this card. I was doing some digging on portfolio sites, anyone use Dunked?
Even if they are not business card, they should guide you to get a more professional look, don't know the style you prefer, so, just browse this blog to find more graphic design:
http://www.mr-cup.com/blog/graphic.html
I strongly suggest you look around at current cards that look good, and just do something super similar. Don't try to re-invent the wheel when you're not a graphic designer.
SonicBlue, thanks for the link, I'll check them out if the designs below don't work, but I think I've got it close to finished. I also tried to overcomplicate my personal logo and got a headache more than anything else. So, what you see below are my initials in a minimalistic(maybe?) type design. I like it enough that I think I can use it on the back of my card, centered. OR place it opposite my name and position, scaled properly.
Edit: Changed out one image for another. Moved my portfolio link and italicized it, as well as the rest of my contact info. I think these two read much better for it too.
Also, I plan on joining a portfolio site and have something more professional, after looking around Deviant's professional styled pages isn't gonna cut it.
Look at tutorials online if you're new to this and here's more references for you to gander at: Linkage
& more references, simpler design's
You still need to apply some basic colour theory if you want it to 'pop' I suggest looking at (Kuler) Color CC
2-3 MAX out of a palette
This isn't exactly amazing since i've been awake for 30min's and i've got to go to work but i hope it helps.
Font's that are 'in'
Arvo
Champagne & limousines
Code Bold & Code Light
Caviar Dreams
Francois One
Back of the card has white space for writing on if it's one sided.
Don't mix fonts in a single block of text (or the face of a card in this case). Try to get what you need from just one or two fonts.
As far as design goes, you could do worse than check out sites like LLGD (Looks Like Good Design).
Thanks for the links and the font examples. I've been told I need to change my font but didn't know some fonts were considered "in". ha ha! I'm still blown away by the amount of help I'm receiving, compared to the other site. The backside of the card I thought about using for something but not sure what yet, maybe the QR code, or logo. I'm gonna try some of the designs you've suggested via the links you posted. I'm liking several of the "minimalistic" designs that are up as examples.
The nice thing about going for a modern look is basically making it look simple, but in a good way. (Minimal FX like staying away from gradients, around two colors max, good use of spacing, using usually a sans-serif/swiss font/etc.) If you don't have a collection of design fonts like teh overused but snazzy Helvetica you could try browsing through the free ones provided by google, they tend to be better than other free fonts from a place like dafont.com
I'm a DIN OT fan myself (portal 2 typography ftw!)
Basically, you can't go wrong with a clean font that's not times new roman, comic sans, or Arial with two spot colors max.
On the other side, you can go batshit grunge crazy and use ridiculously crazy fonts of doom to stay away from the corporate clean nature. Texture it up to all hell. I don't really recommend that though unless you're specifically targeting a rebel studio or you know what you're doing. If you'd like to go this route rather than flat, maybe think of some of the studios you'd love to work for and check out their websites and even box art from their games to see if you find a style that might jive with it.
Best of luck on the cards, and remember to not overthink it/freak out about it too much
Once I came to Polycount and asked questions and suggestions, I stopped freaking out about it. I've learned more on this post alone than I have than following that dreadful post on the business design forum and the responses I received that contradicted every other post. It got annoying.
I realized while at work there is a graphic design company here in town that the local restaurant I work uses for their website, menus, etc. If the next cards I have posted are not up to snuff, I'll stop by there after work tomorrow and talk to them about a design, or modifying one of my own for improvement. I'm getting somewhere though, this latest batch I'm much happier with compared to the rest.
Some things to keep in mind
-why is the text sometimes only 1 pixel away from a border? Why is it actually touching a border sometimes?
-why is the text further away from the top margin than the side margins?
I suggest you follow google's design document exactly.
http://www.google.com/design/spec/material-design/introduction.html#
I prefer the top left. I like that you're working with smaller text.
I think you could add one really simple graphic element somewhere. Something small. Your card is just a little too plain as it is.
I just now caught your post and I'll play with your card suggestion when I get home from work. I only have a half hour on my break to play with this and this is what I came up with on the other card. I'm liking my logo idea, in my head I think it should match the font I'm using, and it's placement I think is pretty spot on, middle maybe but I'll hear back from you guys and go from there.
Currently the only technical concern I'd have for you is that blue is probably going to be impossible for someone to write over/on top of if they or you want to jot something down during a conversation.
You can keep that dark shade of blue if that's what you want to go with, but I'd recommend having the back side white as the background. You can probably reuse your graphics on the back too with the background disabled as sort of an inverse treatment instead of having a completely blank side (you want people to know your name from both I'd say!), although you may have to either darken the colors a bit on the white side (not so much the orange probably since orange tends to read well on both light and darks since it's a very saturated color, but I have a feeling that light blue will be hard to read on white), or simply have them all the shade of dark blue you used for the front's background on the back's design elements in the foreground, if that makes sense
Best of luck!
Talking about doing something like this! I barely got through your post and realzied just that and reversed the blues for the...ummmm...the reverse side of my card. Ha ha! I realized I gotta throw in my logo on that right side, across from my name but you get the idea.
The light blue might be too feminine. With the gold and navy text, it says "It's a baby boy!" to me, lol.
Here are some cards I just googled.
That last one especially I feel is gorgeous.
I can only get Google Goggles to recognize a black code on a white background. It can't recognize a white code on black, nor any other code color. Same with Optical Reader for Android.
What software are you using as well? I assume that it is Ai? If so, when showing graphic work, export as a png to remove the artifacts, can skew a opinion of a design.
Personally i work with 85 x 55 mm for business cards so they can fit perfectly in a wallet. Depending on the printing service 3-5mm bleed is normal. Give me a pm if you need a hand with anything on the print prep side or if you need a hand in general. Im off tomorrow and working on some graphic work anyway so.
Lastly, if you are uk based i'd reccomend www.print24.co.uk for printing. Double sided, 2000 cards, 350gsm glossy - £21 delivered. I've used this company for years and have never faulted them or been let down by quality/service.
Same goes with the thin font, as the person in the print shop pointing out, you may want to thinken up the lines.
Also remember to ask for a printed proof before you go for the full run, the actual colors will shift dramatically when printed. Most digital print shops will do a proof for free, though if the print shop you are going through does offset printing rather then digital, you may have to pay for it.
Can I be honest with you? You're an enviroment artist, why not have a sample of your work on the backside? A plain card with just your name is very clean looking, but also utterly forgettable. Assuming you attend something like GDC where your card will end up among many others in a person's pocket, you'll want to be able to tell what the card is selling (you!) at a glance, without having to read the title.
1. Some sort of art or design feature, normally centered or going off an edge the card. Normally you do NOT want this taking up an entire side of a card. It can be as simple as your name or a simple symbol. The clearer and the bolder, the better.
2. Some sort of interesting material or pattern. Sometimes this is by itself on one side. Sometimes this is the main feature or point of interest, but most often it's the art/design feature.
3. Clear, compact, and simple text for your name, job description, and necessary contact info, anything else is cut. 4 lines should be enough.
4. High contrast in value, (your current light blue design does not have this). In print black and white can be your friend, unlike with displays. Manage your lights and darks well.
5. Pay attention to alignment, spacing, and justification, don't just throw everything in a corner.
Personally I hate QR codes, unless you have a really complicated website URL. If you have a complicated website URL, find out a simpler website to have your portfolio on.
Just goof around. Copy and paste random stuff. Be at least a little unique.
The reason I did the light background was for the opposite side of the card. One dark, one light. Some people prefer to write business cards for one reason or another. Dark backgrounds won't show ink very well(obviously...ha ha!).What I could do, is keep the dark side of the card, keep the light blue background and create something goofy or a piece of art that fits my style or personality. Stick with the color scheme as well.
I'm using Photoshop, I'm also located in the states. I'm probably going to use VistaPrint for my business card. I work until 4pm CST. I'll contact you, if I need any help.
I don't have a business card but this is something I'd use on my own:
It's simplistic but also shows that "hand painted" is my specialty
Don't show too much graphic design know-how or you'll get shanghai'd into doing UI work!
I can probably take this as a compliment? Ha ha!
Here's the backside of my card with my personal logo on it. I think this is THE card for me. It's improved a great deal with everyone's help on Polycount and can't thank you all enough for it. Appreciate everyone dealing with me too. Ha ha! I'm not too worried about getting creative on the backside too much, if an idea pops in my head that will work, I'll try it out and post an update here. Anyone have thoughts on where I should have these printed? Which is better? Or is it more of a personal preference?
If you give this card to an art director, which should know a bit on what makes something visually appealing, he'll only notice your graphic design skills, which aren't as honed as your 3D skills.
So I'd say, in this case, keep it simple - no monogram, logo, patterns, extreme contrasts.
Just your name and contact in a nice font, black (or dark color) on white, maybe something about your experience. And also, good graphic design takes as much time as doing 3D, maybe even more until you come up with a good idea, you can't make a background in a couple of minutes - you need dozens over dozens of iterations. It's a mastery to learn what color schemes to use, when to use gradients or drop shadows, how to align text and use graphic elements to direct the eye where you want and need.
I would definitely integrate your art in the card, maybe a full color crop of something you made on the back. I also thing that as an artist you should at some point focus on graphic design, both in your business card or portfolio layout, this shows you know how to make something pop, but you need a couple of hundreds hours working in graphic design to realise this succesfully
I've learned quite a bit coming through this post. I won't be able to put something together as quick as the pros but I'm happy to have help anytime. I have darkened the orange a bit and it stands out a lot more compared to the previous version.
Here are possible backsides for my card....