Members boggs Posted October 3, 2011 Members Share Posted October 3, 2011 What are your thoughts on my new business card design? I am told that on cards, less is more. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alan Roberts Posted October 3, 2011 Members Share Posted October 3, 2011 Personally, I don't receive many cards with photographic images on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Philter Posted October 3, 2011 Members Share Posted October 3, 2011 I like it. It would make an impression on me. Only question is what about your own name? That is a beautiful head by the way. I love the wood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boggs Posted October 3, 2011 Author Members Share Posted October 3, 2011 Thanks. I have received feedback from another forum and they universally HATE the font. I was also surprised how few people have seen (or liked) photo cards although they did seem to like this one. Here are a couple of revisions I did... See what you think... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted October 4, 2011 Members Share Posted October 4, 2011 I like the headstock photo quite a bit, and also like the new font a little more, although you might want to consider exploring other fonts as well. I have one business card for my photography that has photos on it, and that seems to make a positive impact. I think anything that makes you stand out (in a positive way, obviously) on a business card is a bonus, in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members techristian Posted October 4, 2011 Members Share Posted October 4, 2011 The thing that I have learned about business cards, is that you can come up with the coolest design, but when you shrink it down to business card size it may be difficult to read. Clean clear fonts are the easiest to read. Also some printers may print DARKER than what you see on this screen. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members spokenward Posted October 4, 2011 Members Share Posted October 4, 2011 I like the image in the first example. The clear "paddle" headstock makes a connection with your brand. I don't like the text font. Are you vistaprinting these? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted October 4, 2011 Members Share Posted October 4, 2011 Thanks. I have received feedback from another forum and they universally HATE the font. I was also surprised how few people have seen (or liked) photo cards although they did seem to like this one. Here are a couple of revisions I did... See what you think... Still a little hard to read. The original font was definitely not a good choice, they were right. On my screen the smaller image above is about 8 or 10% bigger than a real card and it's a bit indistinct. Job one may seem to be to look cool (and I think the guitar graphic does) but if they can't read the website or phone, it's for nothing. Even if they only have to strain, why make it hard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dingoist Posted October 4, 2011 Members Share Posted October 4, 2011 The font on the first one was my major criticism (it sucked!). Don't like it, and it has to be readable. Don't go fancy, and don't blend too many. I'd suggest a modern sans serif font with some nice rounded edges. A simple test is to open some drawing program and create and off-black rectangle the same size of a card, and then put the text in white. Print it, holding it 14-17 inches from your eyes (just pulled up a business card and a measuring tape to see the distance between card and nose when held at a readable position for me YMMV) and see if you can still read it nicely. The dark background with white lettering will squash it so ease of reading is key. An alternative is a double sided business card, with that picture on the back, with the flip-side white with black lettering. If you need to get more text on it, that may be the way to go. I really like the picture in the first one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted October 4, 2011 Members Share Posted October 4, 2011 When I shrink the card down to a real-sized business card, I can still read the font perfectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted October 4, 2011 Members Share Posted October 4, 2011 1. Use Trebuchet or Tahoma typeface (normal, not narrow or expanded)2. Adjust tracking slightly inward so the type is a tiny bit more narrow.3. Leave more of a margin. The left margin at least has to equal the right margin.4. Rotate the guitar neck to the left about 20 degrees. The angle will get a lot more attention. After angling, the top of the guitar should not be higher than the lowest part of the upper line of next; you may need to put a thin outline around the web site letters if they can't be read against the guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Goobers Posted October 4, 2011 Members Share Posted October 4, 2011 Too many words. It's a card, not an ad. I'd remove "custom guitars," "setups," and "repairs." Just put the website and phone number on the bottom. Maybe move the pic up a tiny bit to fill in the more open space. Simpler, classier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boggs Posted October 5, 2011 Author Members Share Posted October 5, 2011 What do you think of this rework from Tdub of the Telecaster Guitar Forum... Personally, I think he did a helluva job even without asking to do anything! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted October 5, 2011 Moderators Share Posted October 5, 2011 What do you think of this rework from Tdub of the Telecaster Guitar Forum... Personally, I think he did a helluva job even without asking to do anything! It's what I was going to describe. Almost to the tee. Then, here it is! Except I'd go with a serif font. The logo font on the headstock is a sans serif. So good rules of contrast are to then go with a nice complimenting serif font for your informational text. Contrasting your heading (ROCKBEACH GUITARS) with your informational. I'd consider zooming the headstock just a little to give your heading text on the headstock a larger point size over the information stuff to the right. But the alignment to the right is great. It's not a great idea to spread your info into the corners as you did in your original. Where does the eye go first? It's confusing. No society on earth reads in a clock like fashion. Lead the eye. And, the larger text size of the phone distracts. Enlarge the heading. Standardize the informational. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ernest Buckley Posted October 10, 2011 Members Share Posted October 10, 2011 Less is more. Business cards should provoke the receiver to take some sort of action, i.e.: visit your site. I don`t care for the photo either. Takes up too much space. I would turn the photo upward and let it run down the right side of the card with just your website on the card and phone #. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scarecrowbob Posted October 11, 2011 Members Share Posted October 11, 2011 I like the concept of your logo on a head stock. It does not seem like it would be readable when printed on a business card. Perhaps if it were 42, with just the photo on the front, no text and the text on the back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted October 11, 2011 Members Share Posted October 11, 2011 What do you think of this rework from Tdub of the Telecaster Guitar Forum... Personally, I think he did a helluva job even without asking to do anything! Much better. I'm still a little concerned about the weight (boldness) of the font, but the only place it seems like it might really be a problem is the URL and they can probably figure that out from the headstock logo. Still... you don't want it to be a puzzle for people. As a rule. (I've actually had to work to suss out URLs on a few business cards, lately, actually. Seems like people tend to make that smaller -- yet because of the lack of spaces [and typically not even 'camel case' capitalization], the URL text is often the hardest to read, even at the same size.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rasputin1963 Posted October 11, 2011 Members Share Posted October 11, 2011 It's a good idea. I also agree that it would be better if your own name were also included in the text... I dunno, it inspires more confidence in your recipient. Me, I am kind of a pissy, artsy colorist... so I would suggest that your text be done in the hues of your guitar. Specifically, the blonde wood color, and the red wood color. (You might have to adjust Lightness judiciously for legibility's sake, but the Hue and Saturation can be those sampled from the wood). If you REALLY wanted to get slick, you would have your text appear in the exact same fontface as that of the logo burnt into the wood... (-; Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted October 11, 2011 Moderators Share Posted October 11, 2011 ...so I would suggest that your text be done in the hues of your guitar. Specifically, the blonde wood color, and the red wood color. Good ^ call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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