OUGD502 - PPP2 - Own Business Cards

I wanted to make my own business cards as I was going to two web design events and I wanted to be prepared. I thought it could also be named under Responsive as I have given myself a brief - to self brand myself and create a business card and get it printed within three days.
Here is the development of them.

As I was working to a tight deadline, I drew a couple of quick ideas but went to screen quickly.
I opened Illustrator and started to make the font I had drawn using the Pen tool and the Shape tool. I think it might look a bit too much.

I started trying to reduce the design a bit by just keeping the N's in an aztec style but then I thought it looked a bit too plain and out of place.

I played around with a few different variations.

I then thought that it wasn't improving because the letters are too elongated the stroke is too thin. So I made the stroke thicker - 3pt - and condensed the font a lot more. This immediately improved the design I think. I really liked the R with half the main stroke, and I think it looks better now it is thicker as it stands out more. I also made the curve more condensed.

I felt like I was getting somewhere now and still tried experimenting to see what the best A would be.

I made sure I used guides to make sure the height was always right.

I also made sure the bar on the H, A and R were the same height to keep it balanced.

I started doing the front of the card. I knew I wanted it to be portrait as the logo is quite big, and would have taken up too much space height wise if it was landscape. This would have meant my content would have been quite squashed, but by being portrait it gives them more space. I added a line to separate the logo and details to show the division of information - it also gives me a clear space to write a note on it.

I did try landspace, but there was too much wasted space.

I took the logo into InDesign and changed the kerning as I couldn't do it as accurately as quickly in Illustrator.

I tried my logo on a grey background to see what it could look like as my picture on Behance.

I also tried it without the line, but I think this makes it seem a bit chaotic.

I definitely prefer the line.

Something still wasn't quite right. I needed to change the A. The bar was too high, so I moved it down and then I was much happier with it. It matches the space in the lower end of the E. In InDesign I made sure the kerning was all correct as it is easier to do in this programme than Illustrator. Here you can see the guides I placed.

Here is without the guides.

I shrunk the Harrison to make it justified.

Here is the final design for the front of the card.

Then I started working on the back of the card. I wanted it to be my logo so that it stood out, but also said my title so people know what I do without having to turn it over.

I tried the center positioning with the logo in the center and the title underneath it.

But I preferred the composition when the whole design was centered.

Now my business cards are finished, I can send them to print. I saved them as a PNG and bought them with printed.com.