1999-Era Personal Business Card
This is my business card from 1999 or 2000.
The idea behind this was that I clarified the essence of things, making them concrete, precise, and tangible. At the same time, I try to retain subtlety and beauty. If you held the card in the hand, it should appear that the metal ball was 1:1 scale. At the time I was very much into mechanical things, so the incidental markings on the side are part of that.
I modeled a simple sphere in 3DS Max, deformed it slightly so it wasn’t perfectly round, and then lit it the way I wanted. The shadow and the “S” etched into the surface were done in Photoshop, I believe.
My type is a little too closely set I think…elegant kerning has always felt just beyond my grasp.
I still rather like this card. I may have to update it if I can think of a good use for it.
NOTE: That’s NOT my current phone and fax number.
Business Card Draft 5 and 6 and 7
The evolution of the business card continues. You can read the design notes at my website. Reduce reduce reduce! :-)
Looking at this fresh, it feels very cramped on the left side. The gray bar adds nothing. Maybe if I’d used it to create a 2:1 ratio in the whitespace it would have accomplished something useful.
You can see the whole evolution of this card in the business card design set.
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The previous draft still seemed a little cluttered, and the top and bottom sections fought each other. So a little bit of re-layout, some contrast in size for better visual weighing and drama, and this is the current draft. First time I used the Illustrator brush styles too :-D
The flow is improved, but it feels kind of gimmicky and salesy.
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Got rid of the dot story and told it a different way. Now, there is no exposition required. The progression shows, in a more abstract visual sense, the process of information graphic design.
Also I dumped the “information graphics designer” tagline, and made it a little more broad because I want to do more idea-based design work. Still, I can’t turn my back on what pays the bills, so I spell it out. Each card is a tiny billboard.
Business Card 7 Refinement
Several people agreed with me that the amount of white space between the text blocks was just ever so slightly too much. Is the difference palpable, or in your imagination? :-)