so, for the longest time, i had a terribly difficult time designing anything for myself for girlscantell. i hated making decisions about what things should look like, and ended up having really inconsistent branding - which basically amounts to no branding at all. the whole thing made me sad, and yes, i could have hired someone else to do the designwork for me, i suppose. but that felt wrong to me - after all, i have a degree in design from a well respected university and was designing things for my own design-based business. i should be able to make a simple business card, right?
how did i get over my designers block? well, a few simple things.
- think about your work as a collection. what unifying elements everything i make together? if you can't easily name one or two strong themes in your work, maybe it's your work you need to reconsider, not your branding.
- don't just do what everyone else is doing. your work doesn't need to be cute, and you don't need to use some extra fancy font. if your business card will make a first impression of your work, what impression do you want to make? clean and simple, thoughtful, embellished? what represents your business?
- what information do you need to convey? i used to want my cards to be multifunctional - it was a one size fits all approach, and it worked about as well as one size fits all garments usually do. realizing i could and should make business cards for shows that are different than the cards i would give at a networking event really cleared things up for me. at a networking event, meeting other designers or people in the community, i want my phone number, email address and something that will remind them of what i do. at a craft show, i want people to recognize my work, and then see where they can buy it - and sometimes i include a discount code for future orders.
- don't be swayed by cheap cardmakers: vistaprints comes to mind - having their name and address on the back of *your* card just isn't the impression you wan to give.
- and don't use canned templates. it's pretty obvious when someone hands you a card that they just plugged their information into. and it's pretty unimpressive.your cards deserve better. spend the time to make them yours.
if i learned one thing in architecture school, it's that if you have a strong idea and really understand what grounds your project, designing everything else becomes easier. i have no idea why it took me so long to realize that i needed to use the handwritten aspect of my work on my cards, and that girlscantell displays should be three dimensional diagrams. now that i'm embracing the simplest idea behind my work, things are almost designing themselves.
earliest business card disasters : bubbles? why?
i actually like this card, except that i only made one bag with this fabric - so it didn't make the greatest signature piece.
more bubbles for no apparent reason.
beginning to incorporate the diagram into the card, but in a very superficial way.
a watered down version of the previous card.
finally embracing the diagram. hand drawn information and the addition of grid paper as consistent elements for girlscantell graphics.
