First business card attempt

[Nathan Quattrini]

Seeing the very helpful response to another user in his design I figure I`ll post my first attempt up as well to see what happens. Theres a I was thinking to leave the front with no background and put the lense as the background on the back where it lists the software/equipment I have available...but not sure. Its all up in the air at the moment. here are a few close variations of the stage i`m at...there may be other things listed at the bottom eventually...i`m very picky about symmetry and such so i`d like the rows to be 3 and 3...unless i`m told otherwise looks fine heh

[Jay Gladwell]

One of four things needs to happen...

1. Flip the camera image so it leads into the text, or...
2. Find an image of the camera from the opposite angle, or...
3. Move the camera to the right side of the card, or...
4. Get rid of the camera altogether.

As it is, the camera's facing left leads the eye off the card. It should be "pointing" toward the copy leading the eye to it.

[Sean Walsh]

Yes Jay's right....it's just more comfortable if the camera is pointing in and leading the eye that way.

I'm not sure about the lens background...it might be a little too busy - maybe knock the opacity down to make it more of a watermark effect.

Ok, time to put my money where my mouth is...

I ran out of business cards last month and was forced to get some more. I did a quick redesign and this is what I came up with....the double sided version was around an extra $20 from my local printer.

One thing to look out for - I think it's important the card isn't too thin...cheap offers tend to use cheaper card and they 'feel' cheap when you handle them. It's hard to define, but when you get given a cheap one, you know it!

[Nathan Quattrini]

i`ll try sliding it to the other side. Since the viewfinder is on the left of the camera shooting it from another angle would lose that. I do want to maintain using the camera i actually use on the card, for a visual connection as well as possible conversation starter. The lense is less visible in #4...do you suggest even lighter? I don`t care for blank white cards, they look too drab for creative based businesses but I`m not quite sure what to do to fill the space. Also the lense may work better as a back...

[Sean Walsh]

A happy compromise could be, instead of using the whole lens as a backdrop, maybe try half or three quarters....that would leave some white space to one side. You could put some key info there which would then make the text stand out more and be a little easier to read.

You're right though, in a creative industry you need some impact and a talking-point to make you stand out from the accountants, carshops etc.

[Nathan Quattrini]

thanks for the ideas, i`ll try a few variations when I go home tonight

[Bill Grant]

My 2 cents Remove the camera. Unless you are trying to get hired as an A1 operator and not a producer. Try to find a clean colorful design that is not too camera/rechnology specific.

[Nathan Quattrini]

I`m not aiming to get hired just for one thing. I can do both camera work and editing side work. And since I own my own equipment I`d like that to be known.

[Glenn Chan]

I'd pay attention to the edges... your cards may not cut/print perfectly on the edges, so you need to design in some padding on the sides. (Kind of the same idea as overscan in video.)

[Nathan Quattrini]

ok so i was playing around with it more and have stumbled into this....i feel its got too much un-used space...like I need a logo or image in one upper corner....its much simpler and hopefully more pleasing to the eye at least

[Tom Vandas]

Hi Nathan, good designs have lots of "unused" space (white space), the info side of Sean's card is a clear example.

White space allows you to control where the viewer looks. If you fill the canvas, there will be no focus. Resist the urge to fill the white space just because it is there.

Finally, get yourself a copy of Robin William's "The Non-Designer's Design Book".

[Erik Norgaard]

Originally Posted by Nathan Quattrini

ok so i was playing around with it more and have stumbled into this....i feel its got too much un-used space...like I need a logo or image in one upper corner....its much simpler and hopefully more pleasing to the eye at least

I like that the back side must be blank, I always use it to take notes to place the card into the right context, or I won't remember why I should call back.

Then:

I want to know what you do. I don't know who you target. The words "Video editing, videography, short films, DVD Production", all refer much to the same thing: "stuff with video", seems mostly to be there to take up space.

I'd cut that, and replace it with something more descriptive of what you do, and not the media you work in, for example: "Event video production: Weddings, anniversaries .."

I'd place the what-part right under the important name: If it's a company, under the company name, if you're an individual, under your name. If you're an individual in disguise as a company - consider what is more beneficial, maybe promoting your own person, remove the company name. This shows that the one your potential client talked to and established some trust is also the one who will do the trusted work. But it may also signal limited resources. Depending on your target either may be better.

Last part is the contact stuff, I really don't want to be bothered reading how to contact you if I don't know if I should contact you. I like to group internet stuff together - web and e-mail, while real world stuff, address and phone in another block. There's no need to write "address", "e-mail", "web", it's pretty implicit by the form: E-mails have @, web starts with www. You've left out your web address - surely you must have a website up, right?

Cheers, Erik

[Nathan Quattrini]

Hmm..i`m open to suggetions of how to word what I`m aiming to do. I would take any position related to film work, AD, producing, camera work, editing, directing, pre-production, etc. For non-film I am more intrested in camera work, editing, planning out video whether it is nature, music video, events, etc. Eventually all of those things need to be put on a DVD so that would also be done, but can be done separate as well. So i`m not sure how to sum that up in a couple of words.

I am a little more intrested in film, but need side work to support it, so they are both important to find new clients and people to work with.

I will eventually have a website, I forgot to put it in there since it hasn`t been made yet :D I'll try and work that in there.

i may remove the street though...not sure about that one

[Sean Walsh]

Hi Nathan,
I'm starting to like the latest design. It's a lot cleaner and the background seems to work really well.

How about something like 'filming & production' to encompass what you do. I have to say that trying to define the work I do in a simple phrase has taken more than a year - and I'm continually trying to improve it.

I started with something like 'corporate broadcast communications', then went with the company name and a tag line :'creating a difference'.
I now use 'films for business' and occasionally 'connecting business to people' - depending on which clients I'm trying to win over.

And if we're going down the total design and branding route, as well as a website how about creating an eye-catching and memorable corporate logo?

Also take some time and have a look at some big corporation business cards. Many of them spend a small fortune on corporate branding - so why not benefit from their design and development work...and cherry pick the best aspects of the ones that stand out.

[Erik Norgaard]

Originally Posted by Nathan Quattrini

I am a little more intrested in film, but need side work to support it, so they are both important to find new clients and people to work with.

I will eventually have a website, I forgot to put it in there since it hasn`t been made yet :D I'll try and work that in there.

i may remove the street though...not sure about that one

I like your last design, the left half can bear more weight (content) which you use to carry the company name and address at bottom, while the right is more light. If you delete the address this balance shifts. In that case you might want phone + e-mail on left, web on right and e-mail+web on the same line. This has it's logic: Direct contact on left, bottom line is Internet. You effectively present yourself as the important person by centering and using a more heavy font than the company name.

Now you just need to figure out a good one liner. If you want to target different clients you may want multiple cards matching each areas, ex: "Event videos", "ENG - Sports", "Corporate Media Production", etc. When doing this, don't think about how you understand the one-liner, but how the client understand it. That depends on the context. You might want to accept a boring one-liner (like the examples), as long as it doesn't stink, to get your business up while you think of something better.

When you hand out cards, have a pitch ready to go with it. The one-liner should be a resume of that pitch - people who get your card by other means should want to call to hear the pitch.

I think everyone is more interested in films and shorts, it's more artistic and more fun. Question is how useful it is to have "short films" on your card, maybe "camera operator" as it shows where you can fit into the crew for a short.

While you may not have a web site yet, do get just one page ASAP: It should contain the same as your card, and a short bullet point list (3-4 points) of what you do. Here you have room to elaborate more.

In a future version of your card, you might want to replace the lens background with something you have produced - for example, I want to do show reels for actors, what's better than having an actor craze out? Less sterile, more personal I think - underlines the one-liner and builds an image that people will recall. In that case, name and one-liner can be flushed to the left to leave more room for the image to stand out on the right.