Everyone knows that marketing and branding go hand in hand. I'm a firm believer that every point of contact your business has should make a statement. It should say exactly what your business is about and it should be memorable.
When I began sketching design concepts for my business cards, I knew that emphasizing the gears (or one gear as it would turn out to be) would compliment my logo. It would also make a statement about my work process, which I touched on in my previous blog article, Logo Design Case Study: Brainwerx Design.
I wanted my potential customers to have an "interactive feel" to the card and "moving the gear" (opening the card to reveal my contact information) would convey that feeling. For this to work properly, I had to keep the gear graphic to a specific size so that the information below would still be at a legible font size. Doing this would keep the logo on the front of the card, smaller than most start up companies would care for. Many companies would rather have their logo or company name as large as possible. That's part of marketing and advertising. I wanted my customers to "feel" what my work is about. That's branding.
Now, there are hundreds of ways that I could have dealt with the main gear graphic in the front of my business card. I could have used metallic inks, foils, even casting actual metal, but all those options are quite expensive. Anyone that has ever created their own business cards and wanted to do a custom die cut (the use of a metal template to cut away a specific shape) has found out that this is a very expensive process. So what's my big cost cutting secret? That's simple - having a very steady hand.
When I had decided to treat the gear graphic as a die cut, I knew that I could do the cut on my own for a very low cost. I bought a 1/4" hole punch, a 1/2" hole punch and very sharp X-ACTO knife, all for approximately $20.00. Whenever I have some free time, I sit down in front of the television and cut and hole punch the cards. I've never thought of it as a tedious project since I enjoy being constructive away from my computer. Plus it reminds me of my final semester at the Art Institute of Houston, preparing my final portfolio presentation.
Pete C.
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Everyone knows that marketing and branding go hand in hand. I'm a firm believer that every point of contact your business has should make a statement. It should say exactly what your business is about and it should be memorable.
Now, there are hundreds of ways that I could have dealt with the main gear graphic in the front of my business card. I could have used metallic inks, foils, even casting actual metal, but all those options are quite expensive. Anyone that has ever created their own business cards and wanted to do a custom die cut (the use of a metal template to cut away a specific shape) has found out that this is a very expensive process. So what's my big cost cutting secret? That's simple - having a very steady hand.
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