Nice

That bleed will cost you. I love bleeds, but on business cards, they're too prohibitive.

Thanks David.

I'm not sure what you mean Steve. I was instructed by my printers to use a 3mm bleed for the cards (as standard -- no extra cost).

Does anyone think the type is too large? I've had a couple of comments from people that the size of the type (10pt FWIW) looks a little unsubtle. I've also had some negative reaction towards my use of Stone Informal -- I like it, and I've chosen it to try and give my company a unique look (I can't think of another brand or company that is associated with Stone Inf. and it's quite a distinctive looking face).

Thanks again,

Jordan

I think that the stone informal makes quite a nice contrast to the rigidity of the 'Nivelo" logo. I think the overall design looks really good. I wonder what Steve is talking about.

Thanks Christopher, it wasn't the reason I went for it but it's a good reason nonetheless!

Jordan

Your name and number could be better kerned, but that descriptor is a mouthful, my reaction would be to do without it on a business card or rewrite/edit it. Your e-mail is a bit lost on the back, it would be more useful on the front. The strip of colour/white looks too narrow to my eye. But the type and colours are good choices.
Tim

I like it. I want to try and use the upside-down 'v' as the 'n' as well, but I assume you probably already tried that.

I agree the descriptor is a bit long, but if that's the things you want to focus on, so be it. (One option would be to make 3 different cards...'design and branding', 'accessibility consutancy', 'online application development'.

As someone that is slowly getting into accessibility consulting myself, I find it sometimes worthy of its own focus.

I'm not a big fan of punctuation-less phone numbers, but that's pretty minor.

I'd definitely put your email address on the front with the rest. That's a basic usability issue...being able to put your card in a rolodex, photocopying it, putting it in a card sleeve, etc.

As for the bleed, I'm not sure of Steve's comment either. Looks like a pretty basic bleed that any printer could handle.

Tim : I thought that about the strip too, it's 3mm at the moment, maybe I'll give it an extra mm or two. You're probably right about the length of the descriptor, but seeing as I lack a snappy tagline I don't think I can lose it. Maybe just 'design and consultancy' will suffice.

darrel You know, even though I love faces with that kind of 'n' (DTL Prokyon being one of my favourites), I never for a second thought of doing that. I don't know why, I spent ages designing an entire alphabet and posting it up for critique ;-) -- you'd have thought it would have crossed my mind at some point!

Three different cards is a nice idea but a luxury I can't afford

Phone number -- in England we rarely (in fact, I can't think of a single case) put any punctuation in phone numbers, so that's a cultural thing I guess!

You're absolutely right about the e-mail thing. I was too carried away with the 'style' of it to properly consider practical things like that. It looks as though I'll have to make the type smaller to fit it on though.

Thanks guys, your input is much appreciated!

Jordan

If you wanted three cards, the printer will gang up your artwork to make full use of the paper size, so you should be able to produce up to 10 versions out of a sheet of B4 (allowing plenty of room for gutters, grip etc) for minimal extra cost.
Tim

Tim is right. As long as you have a decent relationship with your printer, they'll usually do multiple versions of cards on a sheet. It doesn't take any extra work on their part, other than making sure they set the different versions in pre-press. All of the printers I use have at least 4-up on a sheet for a 2-sided card (8 up divided by 2 sides). That means you should be able to have 4 versions. Even if you don't have an existing relationship with your printer, if you understand the process and if they know that you understand the process, it is difficult for them to justify charging much, if anything, for it.

Aloha!
Scott

Mr. Jordan Harper, nice design.
Since that is alone on the backstage as well,
I would adjust the track/kerning of your e-mail address.

Best,
AS

Thank you very much for all your comments and advice (particularly the interesting info about the printing Tim/Scott), I've made a few changes to the card:

* Increased the width of the red strip (and it's corresponding negative on the rear) to 5mm. It looks a lot more substantial now I think.

* reduced the type size of my contact info and switched from the font metrics to Optical kerning (in Adobe InDesign), which seems to be doing a much better job!

* moved the descriptor the rear of the card, with the website url, more space for it here, and I think it gives the rear some substance.

* added my pseudo tagline 'design & consultancy' to the front.

How am I doing? Thanks in advance,

Jordan

PDF of Nivelo business card, V2 bcard-final_v02.pdf (31.2 k)

Jordan:

I think the new card addresses most of the concerns in a very intelligent way. Nicely done!

(the only issue is the kerning in 'design and consultancy'...it seems a bit varied throughout.)

Much better than the first variant...I didn't liked the italics at all. Now they're on the flipside (the red one) and now they work well. Perfect...

Thanks once more for the comments, guys.

I think maybe the url on the flipside should be in italics too to keep the rear consistent.

I think you're right about the 'design and consultancy' kerning darrel, the optical setting in InDesign is doing a stellar job elsewhere on the card but it's a bit dodgy there. Will try and address.

Not sure about the positioning of the 'design and consultancy' bit full stop. I don't know if I should use an initial capital (the all lowercase setting is purely stylistic, though it does match the lowercase logotype) either.

Other than that I'm quite happy with it now, though any more comments from anyone would be most welcome!

Jordan

Though I understand and even agree with your decision to leave a white stripe to echo the red one on the front - I fear the back may end up looking like a printing error - its really somewhat of a subjective point depending on the creative eye of the person looking at it. as designers we instinctively look for such relationships - others may not. That being said - I really like the overall look ove it and really like the color choice - Plus I'm a sucker for a solid color back of the card like that.