Here we have a case study in resourcefulness, as Erica Heinz, designer [and yoga teacher], uses engraved artwork of yesteryear for her present day business card. Old engravings and artwork from previous centuries are in the public domain, so are therefore free for folks to use. While a designer may be pressured to do all his/her own artwork, I don’t mind the recycling of key art like this.
This card is letterpressed, which is impressive that they could achieve such fine detail with letterpress. No idea on printing credits or paper stocks.
You’d think that the staff at the Staples Copy & Print Shop would have better cards! I mean, they are in the biz, are they not?
Both cards pictured are plagued with bad typography, colour inconsistency, bizarre thermography patterns, and pathetically thin card stock that feels entirely wimpy in hand. Also, two people from the same store don’t even have the same card. What’s going on here? Total fail.
Craig Ward, the highly-decorated and highly talented typographer/designer, has worked in multiple countries, for numerous clients, for many years … without a business card. Finally taking the effort to design one, and have it printed, I am pleased to present his card.
A single-colour, letterpressed card, printed by Dave at Print Icon in New York City on 110# Mohawk paper. A first run of 500, which I imagine he’ll take some time to get rid of.
What better way to promote your fabrication business than with a small machine disguised as a business card. In this case, it’s probably not the most practical device, but we have to admire the novelty of it. Right?
Cardnetics is the company behind this craziness, and apparently this is what they do.
Recently, I popped into Jack Rabbit and spotted the card of the store manager. It reminded me of the ongoing trend in making the name on your card really, really, friggin big. What do we think, is having a giant name a useful tactic on cards? I admit, it’s easy to see, but after the card goes into my desk drawer, or whatever, the size of your name doesn’t really matter, does it.
The above is my grandfather’s first business card from the year 1945. In itself, it is remarkable that he kept a single business card for so long, but what’s more amazing is that he’s kept every business card for the past 65 years! At least, his own, that is, I’m sure a few have fallen through the cracks over the years.
I’ve begun to upload the cards to a Flickr set and will update this as I find the time to retouch and upload the cards. Also, I’ll have to listen back to a video I filmed where my grandpa time-stamps each one and tells a bit about the backstory.
But yo, a card from 1945! Check out that phone number. Brilliant.
Spotted this gorgeous example of a letterpressed card on the Dolce Press blog. While there is no shortage of excellent letterpressed business cards out there, this particular post is not only photos, but a bit of an explanation/tutorial on how to design for letterpress when you’re working with large fields of colour.
Ok, this isn’t a business card, per se, but it is a pretty cool reference to perhaps the most popular mention of business cards in pop culture — that scene from American Psycho.
The geniuses at ThinkGeek have created a mini filing cabinet for your business cards! How awesome! It’s pretty self-explanatory: you put cards in it rather than a rolodex or notebook. Here’s a look in action.
I am indeed surprised that Paul Rand, of the most famous and prolific graphic designers ever, has such a starkly spartan business card. Surely, this was intentional. Right?
If you’re a letterpress shop, you’d better have a sharp card. The above image is so very lightly pressed onto the card that you can barely feel it. The lines are extremely fine, some maybe as fine as 1/8″ pt. And the image doesn’t leave an impression the reverse side.
The reverse side isn’t much for layout — 5 typefaces? Really? — but the same technique applies. I’m definitely going to ask these folks to bid on my next letterpress job.
Normally, I’m not a fan of Avant Garde, and still insist that it was only created to spell out the words “Avant Garde”, but it seem to work here for Market Publique. The M and A make an odd kerning pair, no?
The card of illustrator Christopher Soprano isn’t so much a card, but a sort of paper puppet/miniature POP display. It’s pretty cool.
At first, it looks like a regular card. The typography is whimsical but with a sense of sophistication. There are elements of hand-crafted goodness, and a bit of stampy action.
And then they stand up and become something else entirely.
Here’s a close-up of the mechanism, so to speak.
This isn’t the first pop-up card featured on the site. Older ones are here and here, to start.
What do we think, are pop-up cards a pleasant surprise in the day-to-day of card design, or an eye-rolling act of creative half-rebellion?
Tagged: agency cards, clever, letterpress
No Comments »
via @
