Jan 2, 2009

Building a Better Business Card

In preparation for the opportunities ahead in 2009, I decided to create a new business card. Actually, the word "new" sort of implies there was an "old," which there wasn't. So, I decided to create a business card...


Using the excellent Paint Shop Pro X software, I designed and uploaded a texture, squandering L$10 in the process.

Climbing to the roof of my house, I rezzed a box, turned it into a thin card, and added a notecard script. By the time I'd finished, I had freely distributable object that can hand out a notecard with my details. Cool, huh?

So I invited my friend, the extremely talented photographer Seikatsu Koba over to take a look. Dangerous, because Seik's as honest as she is cute - sorry, pretty! And after casting her newly bespectacled eyes over the card, she said, "Why didn't you do it landscape?"

Curses! I had no idea why I didn't, even thought in real life the world uses landscape orientation for business cards. Sometimes I really think my brain has serious holes in it somewhere.

Lucky for me, Seikatsu is somewhat sensitive to my fragile ego and she offered to take my "first draft" and work on it. And she did. Within 30 minutes she'd revamped, restyled, re cropped and reworked the whole thing. She still thought it looked a little more like an ad for a male model than a journalist - thanks to the outfit by Yelmer Pfeffer of Alphamale - but seeing as I write and get paid to cover men's fashion, I didn't want to look like Jimmy Olsen.


The final card is wonderful. It pays to have someone with a photographer's eye take a look at what you create. Thanks Seik!

2 comments:

Seikatsu Koba said...

Your original draft was not bad, I just organized it a bit. And yes, landscape is a better layout.

Also, I can't let you go around saying that we are friends and not help you have professionally made business cards.

/me points at her eye glasses again ... pretty not cute XD

Siggy said...

I guess I should also point out to anyone else who may be reading that Seikatsu is a very talented photographer and if you are looking for such a person, she is worth every linden. You can see her wonderful work at Flikr.