Business card / Logo C&C please

[Daniel Bates]

Hey all,

I've been designing a business card in case I might need one someday. I've only got the front done now, but I wanted to post it for critiques to see if I'm on the right track. (Yes, I know about the Show Us Your Business Cards thread--but that's more of a gallery than a critique thread.)



What do you think?

--Daniel

[CaptainTom]

I like the color and the droplets. I don't like the horse and jockey. I get the connection to Derby, but either lose it or go completely with the Derby concept.

[Daniel Bates]

Thanks for commenting, Tom!

On a related note: should I go with Derby Graphics or just do something like Daniel Bates Photography? I picked Derby because it was the pronunciation of my initials (DRB), but I don't exactly have any jockey backgrounds or anything like that.

[NathanJK]

I find the text hard to read on top of the droplets and the bit o' blur to the texts is compounding the problem to me. I agree with Tom about the horse and jockey. As for your name vs. Derby Graphics...are you planning on getting a dba form filled out so you can deposit checks made out to Derby Graphics? If you put yourself out there as a company and have paying clients it might be weird to them if you say "oh, could you actually make that check out to Daniel Bates?" instead of them just filling it out for Derby Graphics. Of course, then you'll probably want to get a tax id etc. I think it kinda depends on just how far you want to take things business wise as far as what your name should be. Personally, if I was you I'd go with something that included your name so you could get around the whole dba thing, although you still might have to worry about a tax id if you ever really get things going!

[Daniel Bates]

True. I don't intend to make photography a full-time job, but I would like to do some weddings and things like that to help pay for my gear. Business cards are almost a necessity there... I didn't think about the tax ID and all that. Argh, business...

[Daniel Bates]

Okay, how about these two designs?



Which works better?

--Daniel

[NathanJK]

I really like the second one of the newest batch! Its easy to read, simple, and elegant!

[Daniel Bates]

Thanks, Nathan. It's also nondescript enough that it could be a card for almost any type of photographer, which is good for the long run... I don't know what I want to focus on, so a general-use card is nice.

Should I just print the back side white with maybe an email address on it? Something like this maybe?



Alternate color:


--Daniel

[HotHolly]

I like the alternate color - and warm colors catch eyes (if you leave them places).

I also think leaving the back semi-blank is a good idea. Then you can write a note, if needed, before you hand it to someone.

[shutterflypro]

The last one is defiantely the one for you.

[d2creative]

Can I offer you a bit of advice from a graphic designer?

Well i'm going to anyway.

Don't design your logo around your business card but rather design your logo first, then design the business card. A company's logo is one of the most important things it has. Develop your identity first, and then all the other stuff like business cards, staionary, etc is easy. And those things can all change over time but the logo stays the same for the most part. All the business cards you posted could work if you had the same logo on all of them. The logo needs to be easy to read. It needs to be simple enough and easily modified to work dark on light, light on dark, pure b/w, color, work as well small as it does big, make a nice watermark for your photos,.... Even if your "logo" is just a typeface or slightly modified typeface (nothing at all wrong with this, it's done all the time) you want to make sure you convert it to paths/outline and use that same exact logo all the time. Don't change typefaces based on your mood of the day. Come up with your brand indentity, THEN design your card.

[srwatters]

I agree with Dennis and will add one more thing.

Dump the gmail address. Get yourself a domain and keep it. Using a gmail, yahoo, or hotmail free account can give the impression of a fly-by-night operation. Plus your outgoing mail is more likely to be dumped into the bulk or spam folder if your domain is from one of those providers. At a minimum get a free AOL email account, but that would be the bare minimum IMHO.

If you choose to go with Derby, always have your name and what you do on the card. Never just list the business name. If I have your card and want to call you, who do I talk to? What is your business about?

Just a couple of suggestions from my experience.

[JohnT]

Daniel, I like the most recent design, and I agree with Scott regarding the email address and the other points he made.

My two cents.

[Digital Prophet]

I agree with all of the above. And I love the reds and yellows in the last post.

But I have a question: what kind of photography are you trying to sell? Because if I saw that card I would be more apt to think (from the design alone) that it's a graphic designer card and not a photographer. Which is fine if that is what you intend. But if not, then re-examine it.

For designers and photographers business cards are more than just "calling cards". For that you could just use the simplistic text design (which by the way I like also for it's simplicity). But cards that go beyond "text only" are more than calling cards, they are freebies. They are samples. It's like being at the grocery store and the sample lady says "Hey have a bite of my taffy." Then she tells you where you can buy more of it. The sample is just a taste of what you can get more of if you like what you see. Wow, that sounded like an ad for hookers. But I digress.

The card is nice, please do not think for a moment I don't like it. But it tells me nothing of what you shoot, or give me an idea of what your work looks like. Unless you specialize in abstracts that really gain thier impact in post production.

For example, I shoot horses. So one side of my card has my contact info (the calling card as it were) with my logo. The other side has a photo of a horse. In fact I have several different designs, each one featuring a different horse photo. This way I am not just saying "Hey there, I'm a photographer." I'm saying "Hey there, I shoot horses and by the way here is a sample of my work. If you like it call me."

As for the Derby thing, I much prefer to see a comapny name as opposed to a person's name. Don't ask me why, that is just my thing. But if you do go with the "Derby" make sure the logo shows a race horse and not a jumper (2nd horse card). And make sure it's a horse in full stride, not mid-stride (first horse card).

But hey, in the end ya got to do what you like. Trust me, if you have a hand full of business cards you hate they are never going to get handed out.

Personally I am going to start handing out business Pikas. Hmmm, that is a post right there.

Prophet out.

[rages4calm]

I agree with what dennis said.

When designing business cards there are always 2 major things you must try your best to keep in mind and work with.

First and foremost your idenitity is most important so base your design around your logo, the logo has to really stick out because it defines who you are.

Second typography is by far one of the hardest things to do when it comes to design and you can easily ruin your entire design with a simple inproper use of a font.

Keep it simple, some people base there entire business cards off text and make it look really good.

I like the design btw just not the text.

before adding a background try starting with a blank template and playing around with your logo and typography a bit once you are satisfied with it.. go from there and see what looks good and what doesn't.

Here are 2 examples worth checking out of good use of typography
http://ic1.deviantart.com/fs12/i/200...d_by_Kurak.jpg
http://ic3.deviantart.com/fs9/i/2006...y_mogwaiii.jpg