After taking a weekend break from the last round of personal business card design, I headed to Starbucks to see if I could finally get the design resolved.
To recap, here’s round 1 and round 2:
And here’s round 3:
H: This is the combination of the round 2 feedback, fixing the bottom text address and trying a different slogan, which I ended up not liking because it seemed to try too hard to wedge everything in.
I: Having all the elements decided upon, it was time to come up with a final set of proportions and spaces. I noodled around for about 90 minutes at Starbucks, resolving balance and fixing weights. One problem that kept coming up was the balance of space between the top half and bottom half of the card (you can see how unresolved it is in H). So I tried splitting it, increasing the weight of my name from bold to semi-bold, and then tried crossing that void from the diagram to my name with a dotted line to draw a more immediate connection, centering the name to create a strong focal point with more whitespace around it. It battles the diagram in terms of visual weigh, but with the dotted line and separation I think it actually works pretty well. I also increased the weight of the contact information lead-in, so they would more actively draw attention from the bold name. I eyeballed a lot of the spaces to get a kind of consistent unit spacing with horizontal and vertical gaps by squinting at it…I think I have a pretty good balance (the name might still be a tad low, but it’s hard to judge with the dotted line).
Revision I is the release candidate, barring any horrors that come to light.
There are a few things I need to check, like whether the process colors I’m using will actually print anything like I hope they will, and making sure that I’m within the safe frame of the card edge (I think it’s 1/8th or 1/16th of an inch; it depends on the printer).
6 Comments
I love the dots leading to your name. I also like the name placement on I. Bolder, larger, but not too much larger or bolder.
Plus, I like the idea that YOU ARE THE FINAL STAGE or the FINAL PRODUCT.
Absolutely agree with Sid. Tying you in to the end process is a great idea. Love the bolder outline and the lighter color of the process tree. The outlines tie into the arrows better which helps pull the eye down to your name, leaving it to be the focus.
I can’t think of anything substantial to offer. I hope everything works out great at the printer.
The only constructive comment I can come up with: I like the less prominent border on your previous yellow boxes — although that may now be necessary with the dotted line addition which I agree is fantastic. Great work!
You are such an inspiration for me.
Dave,
I’m thrilled with I. I think the arrows (as opposed to the hearts) and the dotted line creates a great visual flow on the card. I’m glad you stayed with the parallel verbiage also.
My one personal tweak would be (similar to Kristin’s comment) to remove the darker borders around the yellow boxes and leave them a bit more like the boxes in H.
Overall it’s splendid, and I’m thrilled that you were kind enough to solicit our advice for it and show us the process of creating and refining it.
Love I. It pulls everything together!
I ❤ I. The connection line is great