talkmagic.co.uk

Hi guys I've been playing around with a design lately for business cards. But I'm not entirely happy with it at the moment, and i was hoping if people could give me some constructive criticism. Like what i should add/takeout, change, color etc, etc.

Link: http://yano1986.deviantart.com/#/d38golk
My card isn't like for professional use, as I'm not a professional magician. But i'd like to use it to try get some gigs around some places

I'd like to see some business cards of other people's, since i really didn't find much on the net to get an idea how a card should look. So if you could link or show me some other magician business cards that would be great .

Does this artwork fit an existing business card size?
If not, you'll find it hard to find an affordable printers.

It needs bleed. That is when you extend the artwork beyond the edges of the card dimensions (2mm at least to each edge is usually recommended). This is so that paper doesn't show through at the edges should it move out of place during trimming (only needs to move a fraction in order to look bad).

The top hat looks low resolution and badly clipped (jagged edge rather than rounded). It also looks cartoony and out of place compared to the 1 colour text and portrait in the corner.

Use a lowercase 'Y' on the email address.

The red wont come out as vibrant red when printed. It'll look paler and more pink. This is because printing presses use cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink as standard and they can't mix them to achieve perfect reds, greens and blues. There are 3 ways to solve this, pay more for custom red ink, change the colour to an achievable one or accept the red will look weak.

Yup the card was down sized for vistaprints template.
Yup the hat was meant to be jagged looking/cartoony. Ye it does look out of place i guess, I might decide on a different looking top hat. I Just thought it would look different to others. But its definitely something i'll think bout.

Ah i see, i'll use a lower case then. Just wanted to know though, is there any reason why its mean to be lower case? since i dont really know much bout business cards.

I quite like it. It's clean and it's eye catching, if you're using Vista Print's template then I assume that you've taken the bleed into account.

Dave's right about the colours, printed colours will always look different to those on the screen but that is some times a case of trial and error.

I like the design, clean and to the point.

I know naff all about card design but I like your layout very much indeed. The point about the hat is valid but once it's shrunk to card size many subltleties will probably be invisible. Generally all e-mail addresses use lower case but I've seen plenty of adverts and posters etc where upper case letters have been involved, rightly or wrongly.

Is there any way you can submit the design to VistaPrint and get them to check about bleed and positioning from their point of view?

Thanks for the feedback .

Regarding the bleeding this his how it looks from their perspective. I kept it all in the safe area.
Link: http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn15 ... s_Card.jpg

Link not working for me, sorry.

http://s303.photobucket.com/albums/nn15 ... s_Card.jpg

Hopefully this link works then.

Quite a selection there!

The bleed is incomplete. You are not extending the black of the portrait image off the sides. That will be the biggest culprit for a bad finish since black contrasts more with the white of the paper than the other colours. Even if you just mirror the image to create the bleed, it'll stop paper showing through if it moves during trimming.

I look at customer artwork all day, every day for my business and I wouldn't let something go to print with lack of bleed like this as some cards would have visible faults on them.

Another thing I have noticed is that the red band on the top hat is a different red to the symbol on the hat. I really do think you need to find a more suitable hat too. It is low res, badly cut out (the jaggedness is not a good thing I'm afraid) and doesn't fit in with the other images.

The rest of the design is looks good. I can see blurry, pixellated edges on some parts but the finished article is quite small and you should get away with it.

you might find that your text is a little close to the edge but it should print ok.

Is it a good idea to not have any text saying what you do? The design certainly hints magician but is that enough? Any advice from people who have their own business cards?

Dave I'm not 100% sure what u mean sorry for lack of understanding. So the black part of the picture should go little pass the blue lines? or right upto the red?

I think everyone knows what a telephone number and email look like, so the little icons add clutter and are not needed, I reckon.

Other than that, I like it.

Yano wrote:Dave I'm not 100% sure what u mean sorry for lack of understanding. So the black part of the picture should go little pass the blue lines? or right upto the red?

It looks like the artwork should go to the outer edge of the blue margin and the bleed should go as far as the outer edge of the red, I think. The template isn't very clear but that would be my guess.

Usually, the margin indicates the danger area for important content. For example, don't but text in the blue or there is a chance it'll get chopped off now and then during trimming. The margin area is within the edge of the finished trimmed product so you definite need artwork to cover that.

The trim in this template seems to indicate the area in which the bleed needs to reach in order to be safe against it being out of place during trimming.

Does that make sense?