Creative business card design

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.

Brainwerx Design

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Logo Design Case Study: Brainwerx Design

In mid, 2010 I created Brainwerx Design as a way to market myself as a freelance graphic designer. Truly creative designers spend hours upon hours sketching the perfect logo for themselves or their clients. I do the same...usually. When designing a logo, I normally do not pay attention to my first few sketches. I consider those to be a starting point and know that they will lead to something greater. Those first ideas have so much room for improvement. Even after you settle on a concept, it can still be developed so much further.

Although I had sketched out several different logo ideas, I kept coming back to one of my first concepts, the design that you see in this blog post. Why would I do that? Well, allow me to refer to one of my previous articles (Looking for a "Creative" advertising agency) where I wrote: "Advertising agencies, design firms and freelance designers need to see themselves as their potential customers see them. They need to be aware of the market they are in, and market themselves accordingly." That's the key... market yourself accordingly.

I live and work in the very southern tip of Texas. For over a century the economy in this region has been well behind the rest of the US. It has only been in the past 25 years that there has been an explosion (revolt?) of high school graduates going on to graduate from college. And only in these past 10 years, has this area begun to grow to the metropolis that everyone knew it had the potential to become. Don't get me wrong, we have made great strides here. We have upscale boutiques, interior designers, etc., but I strongly believe that I could not successfully market myself in this area as an upscale graphic design service. Therefore, I could not use a logo that was too abstract. What I needed was something that was clever, creative and instantly memorable.

The image of the head profile with gears lends itself well to the Brainwerx Design name. They both emphasize the creative process. Aside from the final artwork that I produce for my clients, the "process" is what I want them to understand and hope come to appreciate. I want my clients to see that I create new images and not simply copy-and-paste objects onto a template. I custom create their logos, websites, advertisements, etc. I actually think about their business and their branding efforts.

Pete C.

Brainwerx Design

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I Wish I'd Done That! "Thought of You"

This beautiful animation was created by, storyboard artist and figure drawing instructor, Ryan Woodward. Ryan has worked in Hollywood since 1995, creating storyboards for various movie companies.

After so many years of working on commercial movie projects, Ryan had been wanting to do a side project that would include figure drawing, animation and expression through dance movements. After Ryan heard "World Spins Madly On" by The Weepies, he made up his mind that this would be the perfect song to tell a story about relationships.

Rather than creating a narrative animated piece that communicates a well defined story, this animation allows each individual who views it to experience something unique and personal that touches their own sensibilities.


It's quite simple for traditional artist to sketch a human figure. The technique calls for little detail and expressive line work, such as creating the illusion of strength drawing bold lines or making something appear delicate by making thin lines. The style and the technique are simple, but redrawing one sketch over and over again, making slight adjustments to tell a story and STILL keep that "sketch look" is pretty hard. Ryan Woodard's animation is flawless, expressive and creative.

Please visit Ryan Woodard's website to see a behinds the scenes video on the making of "Thought of You," and to view more of his figure drawings.

Pete C.
Brainwerx Design

Last minute illustration for Johnny Carino's

On Saturday afternoon (Dec. 4, 2010) I was asked to create a Christmas theme painting, for a local Johnny Carino's restaurant. The only catch was that I would have less than 48 hours to complete it. This painting had to be turned in early Monday morning (Dec. 6, 2010).

In all honesty, I was hoping to do a project just like this, but imagined that I would have a lot more time to create a different style of illustration. But when you're in a time crunch, you always go with the style you are most comfortable doing.

The image I was asked to create was simple, 3 old fashioned stockings hanging from a wooden mantel with Carino's gift cards sticking out of them over an open fire. I left plenty of room for Carino's to add text across the image at a later date.

I looked for some reference materials Saturday night and drew out the design. It was already late so I figured that I should get as much rest as possible, if I was going to finish this piece on time. In this style of painting, I normally work from back to front, and this project was no different. The next morning (Sunday) I started the project by painting a simple gradient background and added the flames at the bottom of the canvas.

My next steps were to paint the wooden mantel and put down some base colors on the stockings and add some shading to them. Next I refined the shading and added the colored stripes. In my final steps I painted the Carino's gift cards, added the orange high lights on the stockings and added a light glow to the flames.

Although I'm over simplifying the process here, this project actually took me the majority of the day to complete. Happy with the results, I turned in the painting early Monday morning.

-Pete C.
Brainwerx Design