The Rickie Report receives numerous emails and phone calls from readers asking a variety of questions. We’ve invited Caren Hackman, author of “Graphic Design Exposed”, to be a guest columnist to answer some of them.  The first topic is Business Cards.  

This month our topic is Business Cards

While some people feel that the business card is a dying part of the business landscape I believe that graphically the business card still plays a strong roll. In addition to offering a quick opportunity to pass important contact information along, it provides artists with an opportunity to distill their work into a small format that captures the essence of what they do. This distillation process is actually a much more difficult task than one might expect. Considerable thought has to be placed on repetition of styles, images, themes or personal philosophy within a body of work.

Part of the business card genre is the mini business card. This can be a 2” x 2” square of card stock or circle, (any shape you choose). The mini business card is a wonderful tool for artists with a well-developed web presence. One side of the card can contain the artist’s name and contact information, the other side a QR code to take a collector directly to the artist’s website.

Business cards can also be die cut or laser cut. A good example of a die cut card helping to promote work would be a ceramicist whose art involves carving filigreed shapes into hand thrown porcelain pieces. The filigreed shapes can be laser carved into the business card. A portrait painter might have one edge of a business card die cut to mimic a human profile.

If you feel that more visual information is necessary, consider printing any of the items below

• Folding business card with four or six 2” x 3.5” panels
• A postcard or rack card size piece
• An entire “one-pager” with bio or CV and images. For more information about this please see an article that I wrote in September for the Rickie Report in which I showed examples of three very different artists’ resume makeovers. http://www.therickiereport.com/2012/09/20/caren-hackman-shares-resume-building-tips-for-creative-profess

Please keep in mind several design principles that are important with any print or web work that you might.

• Use clear, easy-to-read fonts.
• Place text on backgrounds that assist with reading.
• Avoid red lettering on a black background.
• Use font sizes that are legible.
• One or two large well-displayed images are far better than many thumbnail size images. Take care that images maintain their correct aspect ratio. If a placed image is shown horizontally at 45%, it must be shown vertically at 45%.

 Please send your questions, no more than 250 words to:

rickie @therickiereport.com.

Rickie Leiter, Publisher

The Rickie Report

P.O.Box 33423

Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33420