Business Card Design

I decided for my business card, I wanted to create something that would portray what I do much like the ones in my research (https://akbrodie.wordpress.com/2014/12/21/business-card-research/). I decided to create a laptop which had google’s search engine open looking for a local web designer. First I went about designing the laptop complete with keyboard and touchpad, next I added my logo on the front upside down like on the macbook range so that it can be seen the right way up from people looking at it. Something worth noting here is that created the word “Found” using the same typeface and colours as google to give it that recognisable feel, but avoided advertising them on my business card. You can see this mockup here;

After printing this version out I decided to turn the logo the right way up because the business card is all about the user experience. I also removed the details from the back of the card to ensure a clean look which is more appropriate for the ‘luxury’ styled branding I wanted to achieve. I also used google search to directly impact the design stage and here how I have used the same colour and style on my card;

– I must note here the reason for the circle shape ate the bottom is a line for me to cut out when it is printed so that you can lift the screen up. If you look carefully, I have also tried to avoid putting across the idea that there are other competitors, so underneath me at the top there are a few other ‘designers’ which are completely made up with names and descriptions that make them sound really bad. I have also faded them out the lower down you go so that the main impact was my details. The only way this card looks different to the real thing is the fact that it has an arrow and my telephone number to the side.

Below you Can see the different versions I printed out with the first on the left, you can see both outside and inside, the physical changes I made to the design.

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Promotion Pack – Loyalty Card

I thought something that would be really useful to include would be a Loyalty card for the client, this way it almost guarantees they will keep the card if they have already thrown away the business card. A constant reminder of my business every time they look in their wallets. Although I’m giving the client a 25% discount off my services, firstly it makes them believe they’re getting a cheaper deal, and secondly I would account for that when pricing up my services. I have tried to stay in line with other luxury style cards you can see my inspirations and mockup below.

MY DESIGN;

I was reasonably happy with my initial mockup so I made no changes at all, below you can see the initial print and then the final print, as you can see this final version looks like a much higher quality.

References;

http://www.barcodesinc.com/cats/plastic-id-cards/loyalty.htm

Business Card Research

To create a strong, professional brand, I will need to apply the same visual identity to all of the products that I produce. Materials used in letterheads are very important, there are lots of types and thickness of paper that can be used depending on style and design of the actual letter. I spoke to a company Marqetspace, they mass produce trade printing from business cards to letterheads to flyers and asked them to send me examples of the different types of paper that they print on. A couple of things i learnt from actually receiving the products were that thickness generally provides the user with a sense of quality and luxury while the opposite is said for the thinner pieces of paper.

Above are pictures of all the different cards that they sent me and it allowed me to actually touch the cards, feel the material and have a deeper understanding of how they different card effects the overall feel of the brand. I found the “600gsm uncoated” card to feel the most professional out of all the examples I was given.

This is the book which had a sample of all the different card types from G.F. Smiths which had a bigger selection to choose from. In this book I was given during my visit there is a large collection of different colours, transparencies, gloss, coating, thicknesses and materials. I selected my favourites, cut them out the book and you can see them here;

The first one that I decided I liked was the Softy White 380gms, the reason for this is that the thickness makes it feel like it has a real luxury quality to it. The front is covered with a soft fabric which makes it nice to touch, if a clever design was printed on the front it would make it a really interesting card.

The second one I chose the Peregrina Classics 336gsm because its reflective shade of red on the front making it stands out from all the other materials in the book. It still has a quality thickness and comes across as very professional card before it’s even been printed on.

Another nice material was the woodside garden pine, this is styles as wood and you can seed it almost blends in with my wooden table, the only issue with this card is that there isn’t much of a contrast between the silver typography which makes it difficult to read, especially in low light conditions. That being said the thickness is the highest at 398gsm so it does have a quality feel, so it would depend on your trade as to whether you wanted to use this card.

The most professional of the cards I liked was the Loreenzo White 220 gsm as it was a plain white card with a very subtle design on it using a very small layer of fibres on it. This card is probably the one out of the four that would be most widely used in the market as it isn’t too extreme and can easily be printed on.

It is important to have a creative business card design as it would help promote you and make you look better than your competitor if your card is better than theirs. First impressions count, and the right business cards will improve that. A good card works around of the them of area of business, this fitness trainer has hit the nail on the head by allowing the client to tear of the fat mans stomach to make them thinner – the whole purpose of going to gym.

The design below is really interesting and could be used as inspiration for my business card as my logo is a graph, It could be a purple card in a black envelope which has holes in the shape of my logo. Then when the card is pulled out they have my details on the back. This card gives the client a nice visual experience.

Again relating the card to you specific business is what the best business cards do, you can see this picture frame company business card uses a frame with the details printed on the back;

This plumber has created miniature plungers with his details as one way to stand out from the rest, so there are a ways to stand out out that dont even use the tradition print method, this is an interesting way;

This business card is very professional as instead of being made from paper it is actually made from dried meat which suits the company perfectly as they work in there area of survival training.

References:

http://www.peppermintprint.co.uk/products/letterheads/

G.F. Smiths Paper Company Visit

To understand the process of creating a physical hand out like a business card or letterhead, I found it was vital to research the companies that produce these things. I organised a visit to G.F. Smith, the paper manufacturer and Wyke Printers.

G.F. Smith is a paper manufacturer founded in 1885 by George Frederick Smith. The start of any printing process is with the type and style of paper you are going to print on, so i took a trip to the premises and got a private tour. I spoke to a manager about the history of the company including how debt almost destroyed the company in 1915, supplies being shortened in 1939 because of world war 2 and the purchase of the Hull premises in 1969.

During the tour I was shown the room with their clients whom had had used their paper in their packaging. It also showed off all the different colours they could offer their paper in. You can see an example of this book here:

This room full of different types and colours of the paper which was for clients to touch and feel the actual materials they might be using in their product. The most important lesson I learnt during my visit, was there are different weights of materials measured in GSM (Grams per square metre), different colours,  and effects that can be applied to the card such as a gloss. These allow the card to be styled in a certain way. The company also offer press services to imprint the card with a certain design, a client would buy a press designed specifically for their needs for anything up to £2,000 depending on size and intricacy. You can see one of G.F Smiths presses below

Companies like G.F. Smith offer hand made services as well, to do jobs that cannot be done by machine, things like making bespoke envelopes. You can see a team of women sat at a table here making hundreds of these type of letters. With hundreds of clients around Yorkshire, they have a huge warehouse that stores all the paper. This means they can work hand in hand with a company like Wyke printers to meet a clients need for a really speedy delivery on the deadline.

I was also shown another client area, where customers can come and physically feel the paper itself. As you can see with these images:

There are lot’s of different types so by having the client actually being able to touch the product they would be buying is a brilliant way to make sure you know what your buying, having the right quality material is very important for any business and the market is estimated to be around $23.8 Billion a year.

References:

http://www.bugwood.org/intensive/forest___paper_industry.html