treemanJAKE Business Card

treemanJAKE Business Card - student project

What is my business card for?

I will be creating a business card for treemanJAKE - my illustration and design business.  My primary focus is on creating fun, nerdy illustrations and other geekery. 

With the help and inspiration from this class and other Skillshare classes, I have been working to define my brand, create a business plan and design all of my brand goodies like the logo and business cards.  

I will be following along with the "Unique Business Card Challenge" session schedule and I'm really excited to continue working on this project!  

Reference photos and inspiration:

I am in awe of the amazing business cards that people have created.  I made a Pinterest board to collect my favorites:

https://www.pinterest.com/treemanjake/business-cards/

treemanJAKE Business Card - image 1 - student project

treemanJAKE Business Card - image 2 - student project

My favorite JukeBoxPrint.com card:

It is next to impossible to pick a favorite JukeBoxPrint.com card - they are all completely amazing.  One of my favorites is definitely the letterpress.  While it probably isn't appropriate for my business, I love the look of it and the possibilities.  I want to frame this one and hang it on my wall :-)  http://www.jukeboxprint.com/letterpressed_business_cards.php

treemanJAKE Business Card - image 3 - student project

I love the metallic coloured edges of this one and I think that it is a cool, eye catching way to add a pop of color (especially if you get a couple stacks with different colors to display at a show or something:   http://www.jukeboxprint.com/cotton_business_cards.php

treemanJAKE Business Card - image 4 - student project

And I love the layered look of these for the same reason... http://www.jukeboxprint.com/layered-business-cards.php

treemanJAKE Business Card - image 5 - student project

Finally, if it was appropriate for my business (which I wish it was), I would be the first to get these totally awesome sparkly cards :-)  http://www.jukeboxprint.com/sparkle_business_cards.php

treemanJAKE Business Card - image 6 - student project

My Rough Sketches

I created tons of super rough sketches for my business cards.  Here are 2 of the many versions I drafted.

treemanJAKE Business Card - image 7 - student project

treemanJAKE Business Card - image 8 - student project

After I created a million paper sketches, I opened Illustrator and created even more digital possibilities for my business card.  Since color is such a huge part of my design, I found it a lot easier to play with the design in illustrator with my actual logo and color palette.

Here are some of my rough illustrator sketches:

treemanJAKE Business Card - image 9 - student project

treemanJAKE Business Card - image 10 - student project

treemanJAKE Business Card - image 11 - student project

My next step is to choose which layout I like the best and then refine it until it is print ready.

I'm having a lot of fun with this project and can't wait to see what I finally come up with!

10/20/15:  UPDATE - I thought that I would post a quick update on my process...

I have narrowed my options down to 2 different layouts.  I'm having a difficult time deciding which one I want to go with.  Any input is welcome!  Here are the finalists:

treemanJAKE Business Card - image 12 - student project

treemanJAKE Business Card - image 13 - student project

I am going to keep playing with them and will post the winner soon :-)

My Final Business Card Mock Up

Here is the mockup of my final business cards.  I chose this design because it was fairly simple and clean... yet still fun and characteric of the illustrations I love to create.  The template that I used for my mockups seems to have dulled the color a bit but it is really fun to see what they might look like in person.  I can't wait to get them printed!!

treemanJAKE Business Card - image 14 - student project

Thank you for this class and the session!  Even though I finished a little earlier than the session schedule, I look forward to following along with everyone else's projects over the next couple weeks.