UPDATES at bottom of post.
I’m creating a business card for my wife’s company and would love any feedback. Here’s what the latest iteration looks like:
I very much welcome your suggestions or comments! I’m leaving a blank space in the lower right so we can add special notes or add additional details later. Likewise we might print some with a special message on the black stripe at bottom, such as a special discount.
I’m over-emphasizing the logo (size and saturated colors) to help give credibility to what is a new business. Later the plan would be to drop the glowing blue marble and reduce the size. There is a lack of realism in the lighting, so one obvious change would be to make the blue marble simply glow without the big white surface highlight.
We settled on the iconic microphone graphic early on, and iterated some logo possibilities with it in a circle:
On a website, the blue stripe would continue all the way across the page and become the navigation menu bar.
This is the most refined of several variations using the sound waves to either side of the microphone icon. This was my preferred variation initially.
This was my original quickie attempt to have something for her business cards and website right away.
UPDATE: Here’s a couple (edit: deleted one, will replace) of somewhat simplified versions, incorporating a number of suggestions. Still seems a bit “overwrought.” This card will be a foldout version to have room for additional information beyond the back of the card:
Superb! First and third, but maybe I wouldn’t know if the standard blk and white are better for any reason.
Did you intend not to put a search on your page? I was looking for your article about motivation for developers to design open source software. Thanks!
Thanks! Definitely needs search…and some other things. It’s on my to-do list 🙂
Something I would change if it were my card is the way the copy is presenting regarding her title to: Founder|Talent|Instructor. The commas and the “and” make it seem a little too casual.
Thanks. Good tip! I agree, and we’ve made some changes.
Hi Dave
Executive summary: you said “I’m not very skilled beyond simpler graphic designs.”
It shows.
Logo: there’s just too much going on. Gradients, outer glows, bevels, drop shadows, glassy looks. It sort of looks like you applied every single effect in Photoshop.
I like the middle logo best because it will work without all those fancy, overdone web influenced effects. This is important when you move beyond the web and business cards. Try embroidering a glassy look onto a polo, for example.
Fonts: Sure, same font face but there are too many variants. The thin/thick look on “voice results” and the name are fine. But then you’ve got the narrower variant for title, contacts, etc and a wider variant for the Facebook stuff below and then something else for the “over for class info”. By the way, I’d ditch that, and especially ditch the clip art arrow.
Too many points of entry: You may think you have to cover every single base but you don’t. Your business card does not need to send people to Twitter, Facebook, website, phone (surprised there’s no email). Send them to the one place you most want them to interact with you. Give them too many options, they’ll likely to do none.
Copy: Weak, imo. “Founder, talent and instructor” strikes me as trying to wear too many hats. “Over 25 years of professional voiceover experience” seems slightly better. But still ordinary. “Classes and resources for voiceover” makes me think random tutorial website. Not hire this person to be the voice of my campaign.
Crazy suggestion: QR code linking directly to audio sample/1 minute intro (on youtube even).
Good luck.
Great feedback—what I was hoping for. Appreciate it.
And…lol…I think there are some effects I didn’t use. Those are some hand-crafted gradients there! But: I’m aware that it’s over-amped in this iteration. I particularly don’t like the thick circle around the logo. Of course, logos always have a simpler, usually black/white iteration for things like clothing…but it isn’t used as the default.
Note that this is a training company by a working voiceover pro. Not talent looking for work. The extra info—and the person giving the card—will make that clear. But the fact that the card misrepresents is good feedback. So for that and your other reasons I agree that the copy is weak.
All that said, I also think it’s overdone, including the excess font styles. Will definitely ditch the “over”+arrow and change to a folding card for more info space.
If this were a person selling their services, agree about multiple contact points. Simply “Call me, I’m available!” would be best. But she’s educating people about her classes, so more contact points is okay. There is no wrong way to be in touch—she responds quickly via all methods
Lastly, love the QR code idea! Will have to find some way to use that. Email simply overlooked—thanks for that. Probably would have noticed eventually, but you never know…
Again, great feedback. Thanks for taking the time!
My only suggestion would be to change the Twitter bit to:
Twitter: @VoiceResults
or to use the little Twitter “t” logo: http://nickbaines.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/twitter-logo-1.jpg
before @VoiceResults.
Otherwise, I like it…
Ah! The Twitter logo—forgot about that idea. Great point. Will try it.
Thanks, Mike!
Hi,
I do like the card, but would use a different background color.
And loose the see-other-sidepic on the bottom. It is useless and makes the card more crowded.
Of the logo’s I like the blue one on top. It is a bit more now!
Good luck with the designs!!
Good points. I’m rethinking. Thanks!
I love how you’ve managed to fit the most important information. I think it looks great, but I would see about increasing the kerning of the smaller text … it looks a little cramped and could be hard to read. That may just be because of the image quality, though.
Good eye you have 🙂
You know, I struggled with that and wondered if I would have to revisit it when I do some print sample. Thanks for pointing out the appropriateness of the information included. It’s always a question of how much to include. Appreciate your taking the time to help me!
Well i like the black and white but if u want a different opinion about a sign I think u should put the sign of the microphone inside the “O” at vOice so it seems like somebody’s screamin from inside the O and it’s ur voice calling u. I think so anyway.
Great minds think alike! Great idea. I tried that early on. I had trouble doing a good job with the resulting design, so I switched to something simpler. I’ll go back and take a look at the idea.
Thanks!
I mean, it’s pretty boring. Doesn’t stand out. Then it tells you it has another side? Have you ever seen anyone take a business card and then not immediately look at the other side?
@Voiceresults/Twitter doesn’t mean anything
Three fonts on a business card? I don’t know about that.
Check this page out for some inspiration – not trying to be a jerk, you wanted feedback.
Not at all! Appreciate the feedback. Much, much prefer criticism over bland praise 🙂
Interesting comment about the other side. In marketing you always tell people rather than hope they will notice something, but I’m probably too web-centric (where you must give them a link).
It is kind of boring, isn’t it? I have visited that page before—and I love it! Many of those ideas are fairly advanced/expensive though. I’m not very skilled beyond simpler graphic designs. I’m good with photographic layouts though, such as movie posters. Not so much with logos. Not to say I can’t try, but my attempts tend towards the sophomoric when I over-reach.
All fonts are Helvetica, but different styles of course. Also, I’ll check out how people present their Twitter usernames on business cards based on your comment.
Thanks much!
Hi! nice work!
im a graphic enthusiast and i love the “icon like” design of your logo.
my favourite one is “the original quickie attempt [the final]” . have you tried it on a black background? or maybe a gradient black /gray bg?
or maybe the second logo [the black one] inverted on a black bg?
Hugs and
Good luck !
Yes, *sigh* … I know what you’re saying. Despite lots of effort, there is a lot to be said for the first attempt 🙂
And no, I *hadn’t* tried the second logo as white on black. How did I overlook that? Nice idea! Thanks so much for your assistance!
Card looks good except for the color. If you can change it, choose a trendier color like lavender, purple or lime green. It would look more up to date 🙂
Great point. We’ve been pretty stuck on blue, and haven’t much considered other colors. Hmmm. Will look into it.
Thanks very much!
Having been a television commercial producer for 14 years prior to starting my business, I like the black and white one. I think the sound waves are necessary. Just my opinion
I’ve been on the fence re: the sound waves. Appreciate your comment on them. Trying for the equation simpler=more elegant…but that’s not always the best guideline.
Same with the black/white version. I also prefer it somewhat (or perhaps in a subtle color), or at least losing the blue marble.
Thanks for taking the time to comment! Appreciate your insights.