Business card development

When it came time to develop my own business cards, I wanted to create designs that were not only a small showcase of some of my work, but also projected my personality and style as an illustrator. I started by designing rough thumbnails of some ideas, using images that I knew I would put in my professional portfolio later on. These initial designs experimented with shape, size and layout of the content, and proved to be useful in further developing the designs I decided to progress with.  

The thumbnails were a good starting point for design ideas, however I believe that I could have greatly expanded on the quantity of thumbnails that I did produce at this stage. This would have helped me to more easily decide which designs to develop, as well as which layout to pursue.

Next, I created mock-up business card designs on Adobe Illustrator - this time using all the illustrations that I wanted to consider for the final design. These are an assortment of experimental fronts and backs that are almost interchangeable with each other, which made it easier to choose different designs that weren't in the same design template.

I am pleased with the variety of digital mock-ups I managed to create, with the monochrome designs complimenting my art style the most. These look professional with a good layout and it was at this stage that I decided to go with the standard landscape business card size. Through this decision, I tried to balance artistry with professionalism - with varied results.

Then, I selected three designs to further develop, with some experimentation with orientation and image size. The chosen font reflects my more traditional style, while remaining bold and professional. The text details can be clearly read on each design and are the negative space allows them breathing room alongside the illustrations. I believe these designs show a good amount of development for each of the three chosen designs, which led to interesting results.

Finally, I decided on which designs stood out to me the most and worked well together, resulting in me choosing designs that were not part of my original business card thumbnails. This shows that development is important in expanding options and making new discoveries in producing promotional materials.

These final designs are ones that I am content with as they show the elements of myself as an artist that I wanted to show. My business card will retain its professionalism by being digitally printed with a low card weight and matte finish. This will further emphasis my more direct, detailed and subtle style.  

By designing and developing my own business cards, I have learnt about experimentation with designs and how to communicate my personality and style through a business card. This is important in promoting myself as a professional illustrator, as it shows potential clients that I am confident in who I am and what I do.