I had a blast with my first business card design and learned a lot in the process. Here is everything I learned, from beginning to end.
Client: My girl Heidi at Casa Pena Designs, an interior design firm
We’ve been talking about updating the CPD logo for awhile, but it hasn’t happened yet. In the meantime, a great networking opportunity made business cards a priority. I used the current logo as a point of reference.
Considerations: Heidi incorporates a lot of blues into her designs, and loves those clean lines
I wanted the design of her business card to represent her distinct style, and here’s what I came up with.
Design Program: Canva
After a few revisions, I completed the design. Heidi quickly double checked the details before uploading to Vistaprint.
Printer: Vistaprint
I have used Vistaprint in the past, so I knew they could turn the job around quickly and deliver a decent quality product. Plus, they almost always have a sale.
After the cards were ordered, we both realized that there was one little detail we had missed: the website was wrong. Luckily, Heidi was able to work some sort of web magic to resolve the issue.
When the cards arrived, the fonts were smaller than they looked on the screen, but otherwise, they looked great!
Lessons Learned:
- Logos are Complex
I spent a lot of time researching logos and logo design before deciding that logos are far more complex than I thought. Perhaps I’ll go into it another time, but it’s worth noting as one of my major takeaways from this project. - Be Careful with Font Sizes
In particular, modern fonts on printed material. Next time, I won’t order 500 cards the first round, no matter how enticing Vistaprint makes the offer. - Confirm the Details
It did occur to me that I should get up from the computer and take a 5 minute break before uploading and sending to the printer, but we both just wanted to get the project done. Next time I’ll trust my instincts and try to have fresh eyes when I finalize the design.
