Well, I've decided to take a look at using Adobe Illustrator. My oh my, what a complicated yet powerful bit of software

Anyway, following on from my other thread (here), I wondered what you thought about this.

Nudge nudge / subtle hint: if any experienced AI user wants to have a go, I can supply the files

Looking for a simple, minimalist, yet classy and sophisticated look, if ever that was possible

BTW, I came across a fantastic set of watercolour brushes and they look real cool, but I can't figure out how to change their colour :confused: Any pointers?

TIA

Edited 13 April, 200917 yr by tfboy

That's a good start.

If you want me to have a go for you - Please send the picture files to me:

[email protected]

I'm a tad busy at the moment but will give it a go after my company is set-up

Not a helpful post from me but the subject reminded me of this

I think the card would be better with dark colour text on a lighter background. And maybe if a photograph could be incorporated to show just what you do.

Not a helpful post from me but the subject reminded me of this

I think the card would be better with dark colour text on a lighter background. And maybe if a photograph could be incorporated to show just what you do.

:rofl:

My first ones were black / grey text on a white background.

I thought of inverting it because (a) it makes them stand out compared to the traditional black on white and ( it matches more my website which is on a dark background.

Photos can be "distracting" and they'd have to be washed out a fair bit for the text layered over the top to be visible. Plus, I wouldn't know what to put - a portrait, a landscape, a wildlife shot? Or maybe a mosaic / montage of several? But then, I think it would run the risk of making it look cluttered and confusing.

I dunno :confused:

edit: looking back at the original card, I thought the web url would be better without the "http://" bit, but then I think the contact should look smaller than the website, which is why I put the http in front.

Should you not really be using InDesign for the business card layout and Illustrator to edit/create any vector based material you want to use?

I'd quite like a play with your watercolour brushes, what colours were you looking for?

Should you not really be using InDesign for the business card layout and Illustrator to edit/create any vector based material you want to use?

I'd quite like a play with your watercolour brushes, what colours were you looking for?

Maybe :confused: I guess it just shows how much I know about art drawing design

Re the brushes,it was a 50MB free download clicky

Looks OK. But I like a fresher look with a light background and maybe a metallic colour rather than the Black and Grey/White. Have a look at my ad in the Freedom members services for my company colours or google "citri". I can't claim to have any say in the designs as I have an in-house graphic designer that sorts this sort of thing for me!

Looks OK. But I like a fresher look with a light background and maybe a metallic colour rather than the Black and Grey/White. Have a look at my ad in the Freedom members services for my company colours or google "citri". I can't claim to have any say in the designs as I have an in-house graphic designer that sorts this sort of thing for me!

Hmm I like the embossed, metallic, 3D effect. Looks good

Now how on earth do I do that ?!?

I'd lose the black if you're going for 'classy' and 'minimalist'; whitespace is your friend.

Use a bolder font weight when using white text on black, as the contrast is different to black on white and you really need a clearer letterform to make it feel right.

I'd suggest dropping the http:// as you said. but I'd also drop the titles (web/contact) it's just extra copy that isn't really needed. I'd also disagree that your website should be bigger. If they have (or are given) your business card then they know what you do and are more likely to want to speak to you than be using it as marketing material. It's important to have the address on there, but mostly business cards are used to contact people so I'd emphasize the email as a priority.

If you're going for classy and modern then you need to spend on it. Looking at the other thread you've avoided grey as it's difficult to print? If you have a local printers nearby ask them for a quote. If you use Pantone references to a grey colour it'll print as crisp as black on white would. In fact grey/black would only be a two colour job if you referenced the colours - so you could get it cheaper than a full colour card, proper litho printed and have 100% control over the exact colours you want. Granted it'd probably be more expensive than somewhere online, but that's a budget issue really.

I'd go for something more along the lines of:

I'd lose the black if you're going for 'classy' and 'minimalist'; whitespace is your friend.

Use a bolder font weight when using white text on black, as the contrast is different to black on white and you really need a clearer letterform to make it feel right.

I'd suggest dropping the http:// as you said. but I'd also drop the titles (web/contact) it's just extra copy that isn't really needed. I'd also disagree that your website should be bigger. If they have (or are given) your business card then they know what you do and are more likely to want to speak to you than be using it as marketing material. It's important to have the address on there, but mostly business cards are used to contact people so I'd emphasize the email as a priority.

If you're going for classy and modern then you need to spend on it. Looking at the other thread you've avoided grey as it's difficult to print? If you have a local printers nearby ask them for a quote. If you use Pantone references to a grey colour it'll print as crisp as black on white would. In fact grey/black would only be a two colour job if you referenced the colours - so you could get it cheaper than a full colour card, proper litho printed and have 100% control over the exact colours you want. Granted it'd probably be more expensive than somewhere online, but that's a budget issue really.

I'd go for something more along the lines of:

Ooooooh. Thanks. Your mockup looks great and is inspring

I think the whole grey problem was because their online wizard thing doesn't work too well in CMYK.

The newer template in Illustrator is in CMYK colour space, with grey being just a percentage of black, and using rich black (100% K + 40% C) on large black backgounrds. I'm hopeful that the final printed version should look exactly like it shows on screen.

I'll have another play

Sorry, Ben, I've completely ripped off your design Please take it as a compliment

The newer template in Illustrator is in CMYK colour space, with grey being just a percentage of black, and using rich black (100% K + 40% C) on large black backgounrds. I'm hopeful that the final printed version should look exactly like it shows on screen.

Tinted black will still not print as nice as you like, as It'll be using a halftone screen to get the tint (ie it's made of dots of black with bigger gaps between them for the lighter the grey you try and print) Darker grey will look better, but will still be dots rather than a solid shade which can look messy.

And careful of using rich black (usually 60/40/40/100 for heavier paper) with white text on it. If it's litho printed, any misalignment on the screens can give you ghosting and make smaller type unreadable - you're also adding plates by using rich black which can up some costs unless you've been quoted for a 4 colour/CMYK print.

No problems if you want to rip off my design, glad it's some help . Only advice I'd give for your design is to check the black stripe - the idea behind it (on mine anyway) is that when you drop your business card into the expensive leather businessman's wallet there's a stripe that's visible the top (so you can grab it to take in/out) - that's the area where you want your email address - so it's readable and noticeable when the wallet's open too low and it's just another black card in a wallet.

Thanks Ben. Well, went to the local printing.com office and have a 1000 cards made up.

They use full CMYK printing and I followed their guidelines for rich blak, ensuring you don't go over 225% or whatever it is.

There is a £20 cost on top of the cards for them to check it's all OK (colour balance, amount of colours), basically ensuring that the printed result will be achievable and look like the electronic design.

In the end, I went for the basic business card design (£49 for 1000 with the special offer), but they do have lots of other finishes - glossy, laminated, fancy shiny embossing, etc. I'll wait for an improved design before doing it (and spending more).

Thanks again - if you want any photos taken, you can give me a shout :P

For those interested, a big for printing.com. Picked up the cards the other day and they're fantastic. Excatly how I expected them to turn out and superb quality. Witht he BOGOF offer this month, it ended up costing me around £70 for a 1000 and that's including their £20 hand-holding checking service, and next time, I'll probably be a "disk risker" instead and save the extra £20.

But very professional, very friendly, and exactly what I wanted.