Tom Hall's Business Cards

Hall Plumbers Business Cards.
The client Tom Hall wanted some business cards as he is a self employed plumber. The brief he gave me was simple. He wanted business cards designed using his name, occupation and number. I asked him about a colour scheme or a business name, but he didn't have any ideas and said 'whatever you think is best'. This brief is very open therefore as long as it had his name, occupation and number on it, I was free to do what I liked. I started to think about names for the business, and came up with a few. Asking the client what their opinion is on them and which one her would choose, he agreed on 'Hall Plumbers'.

The colour theme I wanted to go for with the business cards are 'water' colours, different blues. This will keep the business cards consistent with other plumbers business cards, as when people see the blue it will automatically remind them of water, which is related to plumbers. Going onto adobe kuler meant that I can quickly access different colour schemes and see what they look like together. This is the colour scheme I am using for business cards, although only three of them.

I have created a detailed water droplet using two colours from my colour scheme, and different opacities. This droplet will be used throughout the business cards, it will be used in the logo and as an icon for the business.

The business cards.

I think that using a collection of the droplet will look like water falling down, like a leak or soemthing that would need repairing by a plumber.

Entering the clients information I found that I would definitely need to include a business name. I have also decided to use an opacity of the blue as the background colour on the stock, this is to enhance the idea of water.

Using the typeface Century Gothic, I created outlines and using the pen tool I created what looks like puddles in the bowls of some of the letters, and included the droplet in the business name.

Trying out different colours of the type and background allowed me to see that it would be better to have white type on a coloured background.

I started to try out many different layouts, looking for which one will look the most effective and aesthetically pleasing.

After speaking to the client and showing him the ideas that I have had, and the progress I have made, he said that he really liked the name of the business, and the aesthetic of the logo. He also preferred the layout where the type is left aligned and wants to go forward with something like that. He also wanted me to think of a slogan that could be used.

For the logo I have used Century Gothic so decided to change the type from Arial to Century Gothic, but I think it would look better to have a different typeface for the information than the logo. I decided to use Helvetica, as the client wanted it to look quite modern. Not knowing what a serif typeface was, he said he wanted it very minimal, therefore I thought that a sans serif typeface would be appropriate for these business cards. 'Keep Calm and Call Hall' is the slogan that I thought would work well for a plumbing business, as if something goes wrong all the customers would have to do is 'Call Hall'.

As the client didn't really know what they wanted I decided to create many similar layouts to what he asked for. I used different colours and different backgrounds. Thinking about what he asked me for, I think that the designs with lots of droplets on the back of the business cards are a bit busy. He asked for something simple, which makes me think that the single droplet would be better.

I showed these designs to Tom so that he could choose the colours of the business cards.

He decided that these would be better for him as he thought that the lighter blue looked 'a bit too feminine' for him. I do agree that they the darker blue is the designs he should choose, and they would suit him better.

I mocked up both of the designs on Photoshop so that he could see what they would look like, this made it more clear which of the designs he preferred. I have sent him the files and he will be getting them printed, this is another reason why I decided to mock them up, as I wont see them professionally printed. Although I have printed them out to show the client, the finish wasn't great from my printer, and will look better being printed professionally.

Evaluation.
I have enjoyed doing this brief as it was quite a quick and small brief, but wasn't very specific so I was able to do what I wanted to do for the business cards. I suggested that I could design him some letterheads or invoices but he said that he didn't think he would need them he just wanted the business cards. If I were to do this again I think that I may have tried to do something more creative and different to see if the client would like it. Although he did say that he wanted a simple business card, so that may have been a waste of time. Overall I am happy with these business cards, and am pleased that the client Tom Hall was also happy with them.