Art
313 - Corporate Indentity
More
issues...
You should be underway with:
Your Name
Your Defining Phrase
Your Logo
Your Palette
Your Typeface?
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* * * * *
More examples to get you thinking:
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Okay, okay, we get it...
Now -- On to the Business card...
And the Letterhead...
The Letterhead:
The
Blank Slate
Ground Zero
After the Logo,
Everything Stems From It
The
letterhead provides
the first concrete opportunity
to expand your identity...
- - - -
The
business card should be seductive,
but this is the most important one-to-one
contact you'll make with a client
Typical interactions include:
Introductions
Proposals
Requests
Personal Messages
Contracts
Invoices
etc.
- - - -
So
other than the name, logo, and defining phrase,
what is there to include?
Any department or division designation
Street Address
Floor/Suite/P.O. Box
Zip code (+4 digits?)
Country
Voice Phone/Extension
Fax, Email, web address
Office Hours
- - - - - - - -
So where do you start?
The good old grid...
Where can things really go???
Test your ideas with text...
You
can even fold it into thirds to insure nothing
too significant is affected.
So where do you get the cool sample text?
Where oh where...
Some issues for discussion:
Compartmentalized look with perf
Centered,
with watermark
Right-oriented, with border
Centered, Bleed, box concept
Elegant, subtle, large watermark
Left and center, vector/illustrated with solid color
Bottom
band
(see also top band, right band, and left band)
Bright
solids
Vector driven, watermark with touch of Mondrian?
More solids, but more minimal
What does more minimal convey?
Purple and green? Okay, it works here...
Earth tones, solids, rich and dark
Illusory, the "double-take"
Combined with cool stock...
Minimal -- yet expressive?
Logo -- top left? Top right? Center?
A type treatment with photo?
Cropped?
Bare bones -- but enhances the content
Don't overwhelm!
Specialty
papers -- look sharp every time!
Easy recipe!
The hand-touch
High Funk factor
Slick (but dated?)
More specialty paper...
An attractive gimmick?
Work towards achieving continuity
As
you build your elements, go back and further revise
old ideas
There
shouldn't be anything radically unexpected
between all of you media
Yet variety is a possibility...
DO TEST PRINTS!!!
Type can be smaller than you think!
You
could tile your work if you want to do it full bleed,
or print slightly smaller (~8x10)
Further Business Card Ideas:
There
is a lot you can do with this space --
how can you create an interesting piece
that someone will keep?
How about
including some information?
Directions?
Facts and Figures?
Trivia?
Recipes?
Or?
You might
also include an area in which people
can write or jot down notes
Build this into the design if possible...
The back
could be a full-bleed photo with a tagline
or some other promotional information
You could
take a minimal approach with just your
logo on a color field
Or maybe a more "maximal" approach will work?
Even subtle additions can play out in the rest of the design
Maybe
a subtle backdrop will offer a space for writing
and keep things minimal?
Small thumbnail photos could be interesting...
Additional Ideas:
Simple tagline on a color field
Inverted: Primary information on a color field?
Simple pattern on the back side -- logo repetition?
More patterns...
Inverted color scheme
Clever play on logo with "added" variation
Logo "in the field" or in context?
Minimal, clean, with options to expand...
Subtle stock variations
More compartmentalized
pieces
with a clean feel
Play and randomness?
Palette-based patterns
Zoomed
logo with textured effect and slightly
offset color variation
A simple photograph
Stock
variations are possible, but will need to be simulated
(nevertheless they are encouraged!)
Rounded
corners are possible -- gimmicky?
Or do they fit your concept
Rounded corner madness with abstract color fields (a la Rothko?)
