Business Card Design

Moxi · Apr 6, 2007

And dont forget DeepSpring....Cheesy is relative. Cheesier than some. Not as cheesy as others.
Your cards will evolve over the years, as will you, as will your business.
Keep on keeping on.

eravedesigns · Apr 7, 2007

honestly thats a horrible horrible design. If you printed that and gave one to me I would never take you as a professional. Nothing to fix with it just start over and look at some business card examples on good graphic designers websites. I am sorry to be harsh but really dont print those

neea · Apr 7, 2007

I would have to agree with the last few posts.

But I understand how frusterating this kind of thing is.
I've changed my 'logo' about a zillion times but I must add that each one got better than the last, same goes for my webpage.
As for business cards... I paid someone else to do it for me.
And that has given me great ideas for how to do my logo, webpage, and business card all the same next time and much better (i hope).

good luck and be sure to post the end result.

DSLR noob · Apr 7, 2007

doesn't look very printer friendly.

DeepSpring · Apr 8, 2007

How about this one? The back will be the clouds

If I can caome up with a logo I'll use that. I have been trying for a long time and looking at stuff but I'll find one eventually. And if you are going to say I should have a real website on it not myspace I know. That is also in the process of being put together.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far

Jen Brown · Apr 9, 2007

Hi,

This is my first post (woopie!).

It's interesting to see everyones comments and how you have progressed in your layout.

I think your latest layout is far-better then your first idea - but I think there is still one MAJOR thing letting it down - your chosen photo. Yes, it may be the "best girl" selected from the first layout - but (to me at least) it doesn't say "Hire me! I'm a fantastic photographer! I can turn you into a goddess or make you look interesting" - in stead it says "I can take a photo of someone from a high angle and make them look normal - in fact, this is a photo of my daughter that I took at our family BBQ".

You said in one of your posts that the reason why you put so many images on your business cards was to show prospective clients your "range of photos/styles". Ummm... all the photos are the same portraits of teenagers all with the same lighting and mood. How is this showing a range of your photographic talent??

If youre going to include a photo on your bus card it needs to be interesting, it needs to catch the viewers eye, it needs to make the person say ****, thats good! or how did he do that? or I want him to make me look like that! just as one of your other critiques says 90% of the people will throw away your card. At the moment Im throwing away your card

DeepSpring · Apr 9, 2007

Thankas Jen Brown. I was thinking of keeping that layout but shooting her again and getting a more interesting picture.

RMThompson · Apr 9, 2007

I agree that this photo doesn't really show off your skill, not that I've seen your other work.

I just don't think it says "professional" to me. I have no idea your age/status as a photographer, but just looking at the card says "17 year old guy with a camera and aspirations".

Now, that could be a good thing, if your prospective clients are fellow highschool/college aged people for Senior Photos/prom/portraits, but not if you'd want to do other work like weddings or artistic work.

Just my 2 pennies.

neea · Apr 9, 2007

Jen Brown said:
Hi,

This is my first post (woopie!).

It's interesting to see everyones comments and how you have progressed in your layout.

I think your latest layout is far-better then your first idea - but I think there is still one MAJOR thing letting it down - your chosen photo. Yes, it may be the "best girl" selected from the first layout - but (to me at least) it doesn't say "Hire me! I'm a fantastic photographer! I can turn you into a goddess or make you look interesting" - in stead it says "I can take a photo of someone from a high angle and make them look normal - in fact, this is a photo of my daughter that I took at our family BBQ".

You said in one of your posts that the reason why you put so many images on your business cards was to show prospective clients your "range of photos/styles". Ummm... all the photos are the same portraits of teenagers all with the same lighting and mood. How is this showing a range of your photographic talent??

If youre going to include a photo on your bus card it needs to be interesting, it needs to catch the viewers eye, it needs to make the person say ****, thats good! or how did he do that? or I want him to make me look like that! just as one of your other critiques says 90% of the people will throw away your card. At the moment Im throwing away your card

Wow. Welcome to the forum.
This is the best first post I've seen yet.
Most people sort of warm up for a while first. I still am and I've been here a few months.
You get right to the point and right away!
That's awesome. I think we'll enjoy having you here.

I like the second option better if I only had two choices.
But, I agree about the pictures not being too interesting.
I think the background is.......WOW. Too bright. I almost wanna say to busy but not by normal definition of busy... I dont know. It's not right IMO.
If you stuck with it it'd definatley have to be printed on glossy paper in order to make the background 'work'.
I like your font alot though!

kcusnem · Apr 9, 2007

I checked out your myspace. I like the ShanShan sitting on the bench in duotone. From a designer point of view, I'd minimize color and use select color as a 'punchline'. Like B&W with only her boots bright red. (Of course, this is my own silly opinion

. As for the logo... it'll evolve. Simple is always better. I like the font, but I think it's a little long. I'd put 'photography' in avant garde (or something simple) and stack it underneath (it's done a lot, but it help focus on your business name). I don't have photoshop here or I'd do it for ya

Maybe it'll look like poo, but you don't know until you try. Good luck!!!

neea · Apr 9, 2007

I too have visited your myspace. There's alot of great pics there.
The one of the guitar really caught my eye. I could see this on a business card (although it may be tricky to make it look like a photography card instead of for a band).
It's very clean and the white space would give you plenty of room to put catchy text.
It'd be very simple and clean.

Another one of my favorites (I remember seeing it in a gallery a while ago) is of a guy with a black and white guitar and a girl singing.
If you're going to be doing alot of band photos this might be a good one.
The one with the girl on the right is my fav.
If you erased some of the background and made be faded it into white then again, you'd have alot of free space for eye catching text.

Just some options if you're willing to explore.

harrisoncj · Apr 9, 2007

Get another picture that showcases your lighting a little better. The lighting on her is kinda ****ty, mainly because it was either shot backlit with the sun, or you have a light really freakin close to her.

DeepSpring · Apr 9, 2007

RMThompson - That might partly be because I am 17 and my clients would pretty much be highschool kids

neea - I must agree with you that was an impressive first post. I have two pictures of guitars. Do you mean the red electric or the black acoustic with the red rose? Because both have a lot of white space for other stuff so I wasn't sure. A while ago I printed myself some cheap ones with the guitar with the rose but then I was thinking if I am mainly trying to get portrait jobs, wouldn't it be better to have a picture of a person? Honestly portraits are not my favorite thing to do but to try and make some money now that's about the only way. I am also interested in music photos too tho and if a band saw my current design I'm sure they would think all my shots are too "pretty" or something to hire me to shoot rock 'n' roll so I'm thinking one of the shots with the asian guy who has the black and white guitar. That shows off I can shoot a person to look good as well as the harder more rock thing I believe.

I haven't been able to figure it out but do you know how I can fade out the side of a picture? What I have done in the past is put an inner shadow but that was over a black background. As I was typing this tho I'm pretty sure I remember seeing an option to change teh shadow color? So I would just set it to white?

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/member.php?u=15531kcusnem - I'll look into a different font or maybe just a bit smaller for the photography. Possibly smaller but stretched wide. I'll see. I must agree that the name bugs me sometimes because it can be kind of long

harrisoncj - You got it back lit by the sun. We shot at JUST the wrong time about 30 minutes before the "golden hour" so the sun was there just a little too much but I was shooting someone else after her so we couldn't wait.

I've said it a million times already but I really do mean it when I say thank you for all the suggestions. Since my first post I have learned a lot by now and you guys do a great job helping out and I appreciate it a lot.

eravedesigns · Apr 10, 2007

hey I hope you dont get mad over this but I made a quick card for you. You can use it if you like just PM me and I can send you the psd.

neea · Apr 10, 2007

Wow eravedesigns. That's a great example. Feel free to design my card anyday.

deepspring- I think what you may have to do is print two types of cards.
One about portraits and one targetted towards bands.
I don't know where you plan on printing them at but I've used vistaprint.com and I think they're fantastic.
You can upload your design. You also get 250 free with whatever type of business card you pay for.
I've had magnets done. They're great and probably less likely to be thrown out. I think they would work well for your band card.

And the prices are always reasonable and good for small budgets (like mine

)

With the free ones though they do print their little logo on the back. Which I've learned not to mind because I've always been pleased with their stuff.

EDIT: You can get free fonts at 1001fonts.com. They literally have thousands and thousands.