Initial Thoughts:
For the promotional part of the self-initiated brief, I decided that the best way to get my name out there would be so design some business cards. My aim is so create a simple yet effect design so that potential clients or even those interested in my personal work, get a sense of my style and most importantly provide links to my email and social networking sites, including this blog, which includes my work as a budding illustrator.
First of all, I felt it was important to create business cards based on my current style which I am developing. At the moment I have been creating a lot of watercolour illustrations, therefore I chose to include these as the main feature of the front cover on the business card.
Designing the Front Cover:
Using Canva , the same website I used to create a new cover photo for my Facebook page, I used a business card template to help me start my designs. Here are several front cover business card designs using my own watercolour illustrations. The slightly transparent black strip along the top of the card helps break up the image and allows me to add text in a clear way so it doesn't get lost in the tonesof the illustrations.
The website also allowed me to manipulate some of my illustrations using a filter once place in the template.
I think the filter does enhance my illustrations in interesting ways, though I do like the authenticity of my original watercolours which prove I have a sense of tone.
From all of the designs I created, one stood out to me the most and I feel relates to me personally over the other watercolour designs.
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| Front cover of business card |
The magpie watercolour illustration is elegant yet subtle, just what I want people to see in my work. Personally, I have always loved the beauty of the magpie and so this highlights my interests as an illlustrator, and also my interests in nature. It is simple and not over-powering, alluring any viewer into seeing what more I have to offer. I just want to give the client a taster of my work so that they can use the links on the back of the card to see more and then hopefully contact me for potential commissions!
Designing the Back Cover:
The back cover of the business card is the most essential part in my opinion. This is where personal contact details, websites and blogs are found so that potential clients can get in touch with the artist/ illustrator. I will include my name, email and links to my blog, Facebook and Twitter. This is all the information which I regard as essential at this present time as an illustrator. I will not include a personal statement about me as an illustrator on the card itself as I don't want to make it too busy and overwhelm the design. Therefore, I have included this information in the 'a bit about me' section on this blog and also in the information section on my Facebook page 'Carla Taylor Illustration'.
As I had chosen the watercolour magpie as the front cover of the business card, I wanted the back to compliment the illustration. Therefore, I choose the background colour as a light blue to reflect the tint of colour in the magpie's wing.
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| Logo Design based on magpie |
The next stage was to add my signature logo which I had designed myself on Photoshop and use as my display picture. However, as I couldn't delete the white background on Canva, I had to change the colour of the logo on Photoshop. To get the correct colour I used the colour code to select the right one.
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| Matching the colour in Photoshop |
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| New logo design |
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| Logo is now embedded into the background. |
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| Back cover of business card |
Overall, I am very happy with the outcome. The design is simple enough not to clutter the business card too much, but still holds all of the required information. The front cover can be updated to suit the style of the illustrations I am working on at the time, and the colour scheme of the back can be easily altered.
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