I really enjoy business card projects. Every design is different and comes with a unique set of challenges and considerations. I love the process of figuring out what the client wants, what they need, and how I can use my design skills to make it happen.
In this post, I detail the design process for Rustic Treehouse’s business card, including what went well and what could be better. I learned a lot on this one and am excited to see how they look when they come back from the printer.
Client: Rustic Treehouse
My talented sister, Emily, and her wife, Missy have figured out how to successfully turn their passion and talent for repurposing used wood into beautiful, handpainted signs, like these cuties:
Their business is growing organically and they need a basic business card that works in a variety of situations. The primary purpose is to include with completed orders. New business is a secondary objective – how awesome is that?!?
Logo
They have a logo that they love, and I have to say, I love it too. Until now, Missy had been hand painting it on the back of the signs, and in some cases, burning it in.
When I saw the wood burned version of the logo, I was excited to turn the image from a photo into a digital logo that they can use on future promotional material.
I asked Missy to text me the photo. Once I received it, I uploaded it Adobe Capture, a fun app I’ve been playing around with for a few months.
Say you were walking down the street and saw something that inspired you so much that you had to take a picture. Capture can be used to, well, capture, whatever it is about the image that inspires you – perhaps a color or pattern for example. In this case, I wanted to extract the shape, and it took less than a minute to do it!
Capture is compatible with other programs in the CC Suite, so I plopped it right into Photoshop, where I knew I could quickly transform the background from white to transparent.
Image
Early on, I floated the idea of using an image of wood instead of a solid colored background. They loved the idea, so I provided them with a few samples to keep the project moving. This was the crowd favorite after our initial design conversation:
It just feels more authentic, which makes sense, because it is. I was thrilled to replace the stock photo with an image that truly represents the business.
Fonts
Fonts were the most challenging aspect of this design.
The client uses a beautiful cursive script in most designs, and I wanted to honor that by incorporating a similar font into the business card. Early on in the process, we decided to use Playlist Script as the attention-getting font, but font pairing options were tabled until the last minute.
As if font pairings aren’t complex enough, I was too excited about using Capture to transform a photo into a digital logo to notice the R and T, which are a far cry away from a script font.
While the idea of pairing seemingly random fonts moderately inflamed my OCD, I wanted to get all the information on the card before playing around with the fonts. Before I could get back to fonts, the client fell in love with the back of the business card. If they’re happy, I’m happy!
The front of the card, however, was a different story. It took some time to find a font that we could all live with, and I hope I can revisit the font sitch at some point. For now, this is the front of the card:
Crystal Ballin’ Rustic Treehouse
This Side Hustle has the Potential to be Much, Much More
The rate of organic growth for new sign requests is insane. What started out as a fun hobby for my favorite sign making pair has turned into an almost overwhelming obligation. I have a whole business plan designed in my head, and they know I’m here when they’re ready to move to the next level.
Tutorial Opportunity
They put a lot of time and love into each sign, and I’m inspired to document their process. This would allow me to build my video/tutorial skills, while delivering a solid marketing asset if they should ever want or need it.
If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to my blog (on the right hand side of the screen) to learn with me. Check out Rustic Treehouse on Facebook to see more of their inspired designs.
That poster that Agent Mulder has in his office though!
