Business Card Design

[Sec19Row53]

Sec19Row53:: It is just me at this point. I have a good 5 years or so before I become licensed and start adding employees. I haven't thought about the vase. That may be a play on my name, but the complete wrong play on my name. People always think I am Chinese because of the name, but believe it or not my last name is English. Its a variation of the Means/Minges/Minnes names. I'm English on both sides of my family with just a bit of Sioux Indian thrown in there for good measure.

Damn - how was I to know

Agreed with the 'Principal' title. Love Andrew's idea, but as you've stated, you can't do that.

[Mings]

Sec19Row53:: It is just me at this point. I have a good 5 years or so before I become licensed and start adding employees. I haven't thought about the vase. That may be a play on my name, but the complete wrong play on my name. People always think I am Chinese because of the name, but believe it or not my last name is English. Its a variation of the Means/Minges/Minnes names. I'm English on both sides of my family with just a bit of Sioux Indian thrown in there for good measure.

Damn - how was I to know

Agreed with the 'Principal' title. Love Andrew's idea, but as you've stated, you can't do that.

I wasn't busting your balls or anything man. Trust me...it is an extremely common mistake haha. I get quite a few..."I thought you were Asian by your last name" comments.

And yeah, I love Andrew's idea too, the legal thing doesn't let me.

[SDX]

I'd go for the first one.

Also on the website, why not register it now and set up the email address then do the site at a later date. that way you won't need to do a re-run of cards when you get round to launching a site

[Mings]

Good idea sjdyson. I think I'll make a opening page teaser type with an under construction thing on it.

Look for an update hopefully within the next couple days. If not then, then sometime this weekend.

[SDX]

Good idea sjdyson. I think I'll make a opening page teaser type with an under construction thing on it.

Look for an update hopefully within the next couple days. If not then, then sometime this weekend.

Just another thought you could have a 'spalsh' screen with your logo dominating, then Random thumbnails of your work underneath so it changes everytime someone visits giving the illusion that its constantly changing.

[jassica]

The fourth card on the right in the first row looks really very professional and promises an enterprising outllook. I think you should go for it.

[Mings]

Good idea sjdyson. I think I'll make a opening page teaser type with an under construction thing on it.

Look for an update hopefully within the next couple days. If not then, then sometime this weekend.

Just another thought you could have a 'spalsh' screen with your logo dominating, then Random thumbnails of your work underneath so it changes everytime someone visits giving the illusion that its constantly changing.

That is a really good idea. Have it the same size as the icons on the page, then do either an animated gif or have Pollux help me code something else and make it a bit dynamic. I like.

[Blackjack76]

Good idea sjdyson. I think I'll make a opening page teaser type with an under construction thing on it.

Look for an update hopefully within the next couple days. If not then, then sometime this weekend.

Just another thought you could have a 'spalsh' screen with your logo dominating, then Random thumbnails of your work underneath so it changes everytime someone visits giving the illusion that its constantly changing.

That is a really good idea. Have it the same size as the icons on the page, then do either an animated gif or have Pollux help me code something else and make it a bit dynamic. I like.

This thread is what I like most about this site...you are getting some great feedback and as a result, I believe you will have a better outward-facing product to promote. Best of luck.

[SDX]

Good idea sjdyson. I think I'll make a opening page teaser type with an under construction thing on it.

Look for an update hopefully within the next couple days. If not then, then sometime this weekend.

Just another thought you could have a 'spalsh' screen with your logo dominating, then Random thumbnails of your work underneath so it changes everytime someone visits giving the illusion that its constantly changing.

That is a really good idea. Have it the same size as the icons on the page, then do either an animated gif or have Pollux help me code something else and make it a bit dynamic. I like.

I use something similar on mine : http://www.sdxmedia.com/ Just the portfolio bit changes everytime you refresh.

[Mings]

Update time:

These are probably the final two.....what do you all think? Is there a previous I need to keep in the running?

Thanks again everyone for the great C&C. Thats why I love this place.

EDIT: Also, If you all have ideas on the graphic part of the logo feel free to shout them out. Not sure I am happy with the graphic right now.

[SDX]

I prefer the one without the symbols,

[Mings]

Here is my final. Thanks everyone for the help.

Feel free to critique the logo as well. Also, who would you guys recommend for a website hosting service? Something decent, but not on the expensive side would be good.

[SDX]

I use a guy local to me who offers a decent deal for what i need. his site is www.vtsdesign.co.uk was with ipower before and would advise you to stay well well away from them.

[Kit]

Here is my final. Thanks everyone for the help.

Feel free to critique the logo as well. Also, who would you guys recommend for a website hosting service? Something decent, but not on the expensive side would be good.

Critique: you scaled the "a", which changes its line weight relative to the M. That's very awkward to read. You also have the "a" set lowercase, and the "M" uppercase; what value does the "a" have? In fact, why even have the monogram? The wordmark is already compact and representative, and works great in the orange enclosure, which is a great brand device for a client-work driven business.

I'd also look into shifting the wordmark to one of the two ends of the tab, rather than centring it (asymmetry is good).

I'd also say you should set the text on the back to have the same amount of gutter between the flush-right edge and the tab as the text on the front relative to the edge of the card. Also, what's with the double-colon separators between snippets? There are plenty of good symbols that I reckon would work better there (even simple whitespace), maybe bullets?

I'd drop the www. from the URL; these days it's not necessary, and makes the (already long) URL seem longer. Ws and Ms are already difficult to decipher at small font sizes.

Looks great though. I think you picked the right option.

[Mings]

Thanks for the critique Kit. I've been thinking there is no need for a graphic portion to the logo as well. I'll definitely try out those suggestions when I get the chance.

[Cola]

Here is my final. Thanks everyone for the help.

Feel free to critique the logo as well. Also, who would you guys recommend for a website hosting service? Something decent, but not on the expensive side would be good.

Also, what's with the double-colon separators between snippets? There are plenty of good symbols that I reckon would work better there (even simple whitespace), maybe bullets?

I'd drop the www. from the URL; these days it's not necessary, and makes the (already long) URL seem longer. Ws and Ms are already difficult to decipher at small font sizes.

I like the double colon separating the info. Better than a bullet or white space in my opinion. There could be a better alternative, but I think the double colon works.

I do agree about dropping the "www".

[Mings]

Thanks for the critiques. I have an update.

In this version:

1) Got rid of the Ma Graphic and moved the logo to the edges of the color fields.

2) Removed www. from the web address

3) Removed the areas of expertise as they weren't very relative because I most likely will be doing small projects under my own name for awhile.

Thoughts?

[OpaqueChicken]

All jokes aside, I am liking what you have. Simple yet effective.

[Kit]

Thoughts?

I like the changes to the front of the card, but the back is now so bare it's a little awkward.

The padding between the S and the right side of the tab is/appears different to the padding between the M and the left side of the tab on the back.

As far as fixing the back of the card, I think maybe aligning the top of the URL with the top of the text rather than the tab may seem more natural. The URL can also afford to increase in size. Is it the same point size as the name on the front?

It's probably worth mentioning, too (I'm not sure how/whether architecture teaches it; apologies if it does), that since you're using orange, you should pick the colour based on a PANTONE swatch if you're printing offset (factoring in whether or not you're planning to print on coated/uncoated stock). Orange tends to have a wide colour shift between RGB and CMYK, so you'll often be caught unawares with a colour shift and you'll likely be stuck with 250-500 cards you don't want to hand out.

[Mings]

Last one?

Fixed some things that were pointed out. Kit, I am using a Pantone color, a 75% screen of 1585 C.