ROB HUANG

“Make this business card better”

Well let’s start by looking at this business card my TA made for us to critique.

Let’s just say this is quite atrocious.

If we look at the colour palette used, we can see that there wasn’t much thought put into choosing colours that would compliment and contrast well with each other. I feel the red is harsh, and too similar to the black, thus making it harder to read the black lettering. Furthermore the yellow text beneath the image is also too closely related to red, making it hard to read as well.

Next, let’s just look at the various typefaces used in this business card. There are simply too many, some easier to read than others. However, the whole card is an eclectic mess, with too many competing typefaces, and colours. Not to mention issues with leading and kerning.

I am bashing this card pretty hard, but like it was said in class, judging poor work, definitely helps you realize what not to do when designing.

Now let’s look at what I decided to do, to “make it better”.

As you can see, I went with the more minimalistic route. This was directly related to the fact that I was heavily bombarded with information, and more vibrant colours in the original business card.

I definitely don’t want to sound like I know about design, but I feel like the phrase “less is more” is definitely applicable to this scenario. With a simpler design, recipients of this card can focus on the information, rather than be distracted by needless elements.

Taking into the issues that occur in the original business card, I went ahead and eliminated them with my rendition. I used a simple two colour palette, a brownish grey, and baby blue. Colours which, in my opinion are more subdued yet work well together. I also put only the information I felt was the most important, in order to keep things simple.

I know this design is by no stretch of the imagination, professional or perfect, but it does simplify things. Good design in my humble opinion should simplify the user experience and place the most important elements at their fingertips, or so to speak.

Cheers!