Thread: Business card - help!

Hi, I am thinking of looking at some freelance work and have started by mocking up my own business card with tag line. I am trying to keep it simple but doing this for myself as opposed to doing it for a customer it is difficult to see it objectively!

Any comments on layout, information would be welcomed, good or bad!

Thanks

Hi, It's not great to be honest, it doesn't look professional at all. I'd start over, also if you're just starting out, business cards should be the last thing to do, I'd concentrate on getting a website done, showing your work, then move on from that.

I agree with the above, we see this kind of thing time and time again; do you have any design qualifications or experience? Or just a copy of Photoshop and have decided you are going to be a graphic designer?
Sorry to be blunt, but the design is poor on a number of levels and certainly not something I would expect to see from somebody charging for graphic design services.

J

What they said.

Owch! but appreciate your honesty people.

I dont quite fall into the catagory of 'just got hold a copy of photoshop'.

I have worked in the industry for ten years, but not as a graphic design artist, I am primarily a graphics fitter (vehicle graphics, wrapping, sinage etc) and a cutter/finisher working with CAD.

I have become increasingly involved in the whole process from design to end product and have done various projects on my own. I use Corel 5 as my primary design tool.

My aim at the moment is to get more experience through local work with small projects through contacts.

Hence the business card is important at the moment, I accept it looks awful to you guys but can you be a little more specific please.

Thanks

Keith

I think the kind of replies you got were because of a more general problem in the industry of which you are just one example. Most of us trained for a few years at college before we even contemplated trying to design anything. And then people come along saying they're going to give it a go. In any other industry, imagine the response - "I've never trained as a plumber, but if you want you bathroom doing, I can give it a go."

If you want to do the job, get the proper training.

There is the odd person who just has a good eye, a natural aptitude for the visual. You aren't one of them. You need to learn about composition, typography, choosing typefaces, design history might be useful, get hold of and learn to use the industry standard software, the list is endless. That's why you're not getting specific criticism - if people tell you everything that's wrong with your card design they're doing the job for you.

Sorry to be this blunt, but I hope you can see where people are coming from.

I accept what you say and understand, training is a course of action I should follow, many thanks for your candid and honest opinion

...we are a nice bunch it's just that this Critique Forum can be pretty honest, hence the warning on the forum description

Personally I don't like the font and the drop shadow & gradient need to go, the colours are pretty boring to, take a look here for inspiration...
Business Card Design - The Largest Online Business Card Design Portfolio for Brands and Company Identities World-Wide | Taste of Ink Studios

Most useful and constructive, thank you Boss Hog :)

If you need some inspiration, have a little look at Business Cards - Creattica you will soon get an idea of what you should be doing.

(But for gods sake don't be tempted to copy any!! )