Business Card Design

[tibberous]

What do you guy think?

 

trenttompkins.com/card.png

 

Clean and professional or bland and bare?

[nrg_alpha]

I have to say, I'm not fond of it, tibberous (no offense of course). I'm not sure why the two small logos in the bottom right hand corner.. feels like adverts. The choice of fonts and layout leave something to be desired imo. Overall, the look simply feels plain and lacks professional polish.

 

I would consider googling business card designs and borrow from something that catches your fancy.

 

On a positive note, when I visited your site, I knew I have been there before. I am in the midst of redesigning my site (too early to reveal at the moment), but I was having display issues with transparent png files on Safari (Mac) and IE 7.. (they displayed darker on those browsers, thus really standing out) Did some google digging around, and it turns out there is gamma metadata within the png files causing this (I am using older Photoshop 7 (yeah, I know.. get with the times.. can't afford to at the moment)). So Anyways, to make a long story short, I found out that I need to remove this gamma info, so one of the links pointed to your site. Gave the TweakPNG Command line a spin, and problem solved! No more darker png image display issues.. so thanks!

[tibberous]

The logos are for Green Apple Barter and the Better Business Bureau.

 

I know what you mean about it being plain but I don't want it to look so ornate that it either:

1) turns off a generally conservative local market

2) emphasizes design so much it detracts from programming and e-commerce services

 

I am thinking about either buying this template: http://graphicriver.net/item/spark-business-card/43885

or keeping the design I have but getting it printed on frosted glass with a white swipe so it doesn't look so bland.

[nrg_alpha]

The logos are for Green Apple Barter and the Better Business Bureau.

 

I just don't see a place for them.. perhaps on the back in a very faint light grey or something? (assuming the card is going to be white).

 

I know what you mean about it being plain but I don't want it to look so ornate that it either:

1) turns off a generally conservative local market

2) emphasizes design so much it detracts from programming and e-commerce services

 

I am thinking about either buying this template: http://graphicriver.net/item/spark-business-card/43885

or keeping the design I have but getting it printed on frosted glass with a white swipe so it doesn't look so bland.

 

I wouldn't confuse professional with 'ornate'. You can have a simple, clean whitespace look yet retain professionalism.. (think Apple).

That template you linked to is more professional looking. Compare its layout and usage of fonts to yours (although, I don't think I would go through the trouble of purchasing a template for that - you could custom build one similar). Just googling business card design brings some examples that you could borrow from:

 

http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumb_267/1210461632cdTtYv.jpg

http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumb_273/1211715860g76vxN.jpg

http://www.psdgraphics.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/beauty-salon-business-card.jpg

 

Just some examples.. I'm sure there are good quality templates for free if you want to go in that direction. Buttom line is, while I agree that you don't want to go overboard, you certainly want to look professional enough to be taken seriously. The professional look doesn't have to be ornate in nature. I would find a layout that you like, pick a similar working font that goes well with the theme, and go from there. No point in spending money on frosted glass-type cards if they won't sell your image to their potential.