Hey Dave, I like that! The colors, the typeface, and the 3 dots idea works to make a fun impact on me.

Erm, should it be ‘these are 3 dots’ instead though?

I like the gestalt part a lot: I think it represents well your vision, and it forces the user to interact with the card (immediately, I had a little story run into my head, prompted by your card).

The right-hand side seems a little busy in comparison, but I’m not quite sure how it could be improved, or even if it really needs to.

You came up with: This is three dots, this is a story? It was so good I thought you were quoting someone. Now I get to quote you :-)

Very nice David, not just a business card.  Good stuff.

Yes, as a sworn deputy of the Grammar Police, I have to agree that it’s, “These are three dots,” but I LOVE the card!

The left side is wonderful. It’s visually elegant and it communicates instantly, and it’s very much “you.”

But the right side is way too cluttered and it overwhelms the left side.

Call in your inner editor and lose everything you don’t need on the right, including the little drawings and the red carets. Let your color scheme come from “the three dots.” Drop the blue and red and stick with your greens, grays and black.

Reconsider your use of all caps for the description of what you do. (They’re hard to read).

Terrific design! You’ve managed to make your business cards thought provoking, and that is a trick. The hole punch makes me think of punching out one of the dots, for another layer of meaning! You probably tried and discarded that idea already.

The fact that you have made it harmonize with this site is another bonus. Many people forget this important point.

And don’t sweat the grammar police! You are referring to the graphic element as a (singular) whole, not the dots themselves (plural). It’s that gestalt thing!

I was reading Robert Scoble’s website last month, and he had a few hints and tips on business cards.  Here is the link:

http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/2006/07/05/business-card-best-practices/

I think you have one of his tips down already… “this is a story”, makes me wonder what the story is.

Worth a read if you’ve not done so already.

I agree with Becky’s comment on the similar styling with the site, continuity is good.

Thanks for the comments! Yes, I need to simplify the right side, and I really don’t like the caps…the space is SO AWKWARD and I hate center justification in general (the all-caps legibility issue would be somewhat taken care of by better justification, I think). In draft two, I’ll take everyone’s comments into account. Interesting observation on the grammar: yep, I was thinking “this is (a group of) three dots”. Perhaps it would be better to phrase it as “this is a group” and “this is a story”...I like that a lot better!

Yeah, those red carets were ill-advised, and I knew it the moment I put them in, but I put them in anyway to see what would happen…it is a hacky fix to focus attention mostly on my name. You know the saying…when in doubt, make it red… :-)

brilliant! this is why you are design.. :) very though provoking and nice. one day i hope to make my cards (and entire graphic image) better than the garbage that they are. hope your boston-day went well…

These are great and straight to the point.

Don’t change it to “this is a group”...it telegraphs the punchline. “This is/These are three dots” is coming from, well, you don’t know where it’s coming from. “This is a group” sets up an example.

Dude, the “three dots” idea would make a sweet shirt design.  Threadless, perhaps?