Designing a Business Card

*Photo taken from google

The newest project that we as students embarked on in art class this week was to create a convincing and nicely designed business card for a design consultant. As of the late our tasks in this course include the planning and eventual execution of redesigning spaces within the Saunders Secondary School building of which the teachers are not pleased with the current appearance of.

The struggle of designing our business cards, in the case of my own business card was at first coming up with an idea for a design that was both simple but creative. I only wanted to put the most basic of information on my business card such as my name, my phone number and email for contact purposes. In the corner I had also included my student number for the school to be able to identify me as a student of the TVDSB.

For the image on the card itself I used warm colours, but not a colour that was too bright that it would blind the user a colour that was plain enough that it would be both attractive and pleasing to the eye. I used a tawny colour with a slightly darker border to keep within the colour theme. In order to "spice up" the design I used my knowledge of programs such as Adobe Illustrator to create a circle pattern design within the upper left hand corner of the card. To contrast the design I added a single shaded in circle at the bottom right hand corner, which the eye will be drawn to after looking at the design.

In this manner the card succeeds in having the viewer look at the entirety of it's design. Including the Saunders Secondary School logo of a saber in upper right hand corner. In my attempt to maintain a simple but "fun" sort of card design I used a font I felt that fulfilled this role well. Gungsuh was used to create the title or more specifically my name. LilyUPC was used to create the wording underneath "Design Consultant." These fonts, although different are indeed similar and thus why I choose to use them together within the design. On the note of LilyUPC it was also used to make the student number.

GulimChe was the font used to make the telephone and email address on the card, which concludes the amount of type used within it's design. 

After aligning the card's font to be mainly center, but slightly to the right I felt that it was concluded to look attractive and pleasing to the viewers eyes. A lot of effort is poured into creating something as simple as a business card, and depending on how well such a job is executed can make the difference of whether or not you are hired for that dream job you have been wanting. Thus, although all of the detail and thought put into the design may seem pointless or obvious it is not always the case, and sometimes it's best to take a few moments and think, "What do I want this to look like?" 

Art as a Language

Art is a language all by itself. In order to better understand art it is divided into the elements of art and the principles of art. A good site for referencing these elements and principles I'll be reviewing here is Project ARTiculate. Also, it is important to note that I do not claim to have made/created ANY of the following images.

Elements of Art

• Line
• Form
• Colour
• Value
• Texture
• Space

Line

Line is important to art as it is the point of moving through space with a single stroke. Line can be complex or it can be simple, regardless it is an element of art that cannot be easily overlooked, and it ties in nicely with the other elements as well. Such as Value.

Form

Form is the idea of depth to a piece that we know is otherwise a flat surface. It is also formed of basic shapes to help create something unique and creative. Also fundamental to the basic elements of art it is similar or a build up of line.

Colour

Colour is made up of the basic hues of red, green and blue, from there all other colours are made. Colour is essential to art as it brings new design and shape to the piece. It can help set mood or create harmony or contrast depending on how it is used. As such this element is important to be understood.

Value

Value is light and dark of a piece. It works closely tied with the lighting of a specific area and can be viewed best in a grayscale painting. It is the contrast that stands out in a painting.

Texture

Texture is the real or implied feel to a painting. Like the feeling of water or rocks having been brought to attention of the viewer and is given more detail in order to help create the desired affect. Texture helps give the image a little bit more shape and the two work closely together.

Space

Space is the relation of area in a piece of art. The example here is the sky takes up a majority of the painting and is viewed as bigger or more well defined then the man in the painting. Space works well with the human concept of perception and we can see depth to a painting or drawing which we are aware does not actually exist.

Principles of Art

• Pattern
• Movement
• Scale
• Balance
• Unity
• Emphasis

Pattern

Rhythm or pattern is repetition in a work of art. It creates a beat or theme that is identical in the piece.

Movement

Movement is the implied movement in a piece of art. Something that doesn't move has the affect that it is moving or about to move.

Scale

The size of pieces of art in relation to other pieces within it. For example a man or box standing nearest to the audience will appear larger while another man or box standing furthest from the audience will be seen as smaller or tiny in relation to the distance between them.

Balance

The evenly distributed areas of a work. It creates a sense of proportion or evenness of the work.

Unity

A work that seems competed or in harmony. It goes well together.

Emphasis

One specific area of the work of art is shown to stand out more and attract the eye of the viewer.

This end my review of the elements and principles of art. Now, hopefully you can understand that art may seem random or odd but in reality it is a language that works together in a way that creates a desired affect.