p.1 #1 · New (Revised) Card Design... Your thoughts?
I am working on a new image, one that is more commercial in nature. I would like your thoughts on the card design below, from the point of view of your first impression when you look at it about the person that is handing it to you. If you see any clear design flaws (I have some thoughts myself but I'll keep to me until I hear from some of you) they are most certainly welcomed.
I appreciate your support as I move into the next stage of my business development.
p.1 #2 · New (Revised) Card Design... Your thoughts?
First off, you might want to ask yourself if a low-key shot conveys best what you do. You list several kinds of photography, neither of which I directly associate with low-key lighting. Well, save maybe some forms of portraiture. It might make receivers of your card go "Huh??" and that's something to be avoided.
As for the other big issue ... I find the use of the fonts (the fact that it's plural is already a possible problem) to be distracting and confusing. You may want to replace the font with something that is less elaborate and thus more readable. Why? Well, ideally you want to get the message across first-glance. (Hence the remark above about association.) A very stylish and elaborate font will throw a proverbial spanner in the works because it takes someone longer to process the text. So does using four different font sizes and three different font colors/filling. Keep it clean and uncluttered, send a clear message.
As a final thought: try to improve alignment. Your initials to the right appear not to be at the same height as the text on the left. The phone number is placed slightly lower than the e-mail and website text.
p.1 #5 · New (Revised) Card Design... Your thoughts?
I'm a firm believer of white space being valuable, which makes your card seem cluttered to me. Specifically a few things... Your initials down the right side seem to be an afterthought, and don't add anything useful. The text "Ph:" and "em:" seem extraneous to me. I would list your web site as "www.njw.ca" rather than the clumsy "http..." in front.
Your business name seems to be at about 90% opacity, which makes it look a bit fuzzy, I'd just do that at 100%. And lastly, your email addres "[email protected]" seems awfully impersonal. Why not "[email protected]"?
p.1 #6 · New (Revised) Card Design... Your thoughts?
tracknut wrote:
I'm a firm believer of white space being valuable, which makes your card seem cluttered to me. Specifically a few things... Your initials down the right side seem to be an afterthought, and don't add anything useful. The text "Ph:" and "em:" seem extraneous to me. I would list your web site as "www.njw.ca" rather than the clumsy "http..." in front.
Your business name seems to be at about 90% opacity, which makes it look a bit fuzzy, I'd just do that at 100%. And lastly, your email addres "[email protected]" seems awfully impersonal. Why not "[email protected]"?
Dave
My thoughts exactly.
Plus, biz cards are cheap. I would suggest making different cards with different images that best represent what specific areas of photography you offer.
p.1 #7 · New (Revised) Card Design... Your thoughts?
Thanks for the tips Dave... great stuff.
Scott: I'm sort of on that path already, with the main concept remaining the same, but with different background images based on the target market. In the final rendering, there will be 2 styles and maybe a third. This one, one with a Wedding themed background image, and possibly one that is either blank or has something natural or textural on the background.
Based on feedback so far, I've posted the revised design and I want to again thank everyone for their excellent comments to help me iron this thing out.
I may also post the wedding themed one, once I know that the text elements are in place and pretty much locked down.
Cheers
njw
PS... with regards to the email address, I was actually thinking that each card would have a segment specific email address - like [email protected] and [email protected] so that I can more easilly organize emails based on topic. info remains for the general stuff. But I hear your thoughts, Dave, on the idea of making it more personal. I'll give that some thought today.
p.1 #8 · New (Revised) Card Design... Your thoughts?
Norman...the idea would be to make it as easy as possible for people to get in touch with you. I would go with one, simple email on all cards.
I realize you're from Canada, but is there a specific reason you went with the dot ca domain? I tend to believe...as do most web-types I know and have talked with about this...that going with a dot com is best in most cases. Something like normanwilsonphoto.com? Just curious.
p.1 #9 · New (Revised) Card Design... Your thoughts?
Scott:
I had normanjwilson.ca and normanjwilson.com, but when I went for the shorter njw.com it was already in use by one of those 'search' sites, so I took njw.ca and dropped normanjwilson.com. So I have both, njw and normanjwilson with the .ca TLD. It's working fine, and I score quite well in Google if you search for my name, and I know I'm getting increasing traffic each month. My SEO scores are pretty decent, and improving as I learn more about SEO, so that side of things is going quite well in my mind.
I agree... a single email is the better choice, and I'm still pondering a change in that area, but info has been in use for a while. I used to use [email protected] but actually had people complain that it was too long and hard to remember. Hence [email protected]. Short and sweet, albeit impersonal. I like your suggestion of [email protected], and may still make that change this week. Of course, we all know how hard it is to get our existing contacts to make the move to the new address. I still have people sending emails to an address I tried to kill off 2 years ago. Sigh!
p.1 #10 · New (Revised) Card Design... Your thoughts?
njw wrote:
Of course, we all know how hard it is to get our existing contacts to make the move to the new address. I still have people sending emails to an address I tried to kill off 2 years ago. Sigh!
There's no real need to kill off the 'info' address is there? Just leave it, and let it come in from folks that happen to have that in their address book. But use the new one on future cards, etc. Or am I missing something?
p.1 #11 · New (Revised) Card Design... Your thoughts?
No, Dave, you're not missing anything. I guess I'm just reaching that point where I've had too many email addresses in the past few years, and am trying to de-saturate the inbox a little. But you're so right - one more won't make that much difference. And, I can keep info in my site code for more generic requests from the contact forms, which will actually let me separate those from the ones that come in from cards. Hmmm... greater tracking opportunities!
p.1 #12 · New (Revised) Card Design... Your thoughts?
I'm in the same boat, email addresses all over the place. Hasn't caused much damage yet, other than I have a few folks that seem to have collected several of them, and copy each one when sending me mail
One last thing, I just noticed you've omitted a digit off the phone number on the latest card. You may have done this on purpose for the FM review, but I'd hate to not mention it, then hear "you bastards didn't notice it and now I have 1000 useless cards!!!"
p.1 #14 · New (Revised) Card Design... Your thoughts?
I know it's not likely, but if I ever find myself near where you are all located, or you ever find yourself in my part of the world, the first round is on me!
Beers to you all!
njw
(note: this offer does not extend to those that chime in after the offer is made)
