Today I want to take a look at a different type of business card. This is a realtor's business card. When you are in a business like realty, it is even more important that you find ways to stand out and create your own image within the bigger brand. People need to not only connect with the realty company, but you want them to individually connect with you. Let's take a look.
GENERAL: If you are working with a larger realty company, then some of the design elements for a business card might already be established. The logo and colors are going to be the same for every realtor in that company. For this card we find the usage of a photograph to help differentiate it from others. That is a great idea. Unfortunately, this photo is not creating the impact that it could. As we look at the photo of Laura, a few things stand out right away. The photo on the card was faded (suggesting either a poor image quality or a poor print job). The placement of the photo feels like Laura is being pushed into the corner of the card with very little breathing room. She is also facing away from the logo, which tends to be a defensive stance towards something or someone. The back of the card is too close to the edges. All of the information has no separation, making it feel like one big blob of text. The address is too small. The overall gold color does not create enough contrast with the white text.
LOGO: The logo on this card is not going to change because it is part of a bigger brand. It is a good logo, but the way that it is used on the front of the card, makes it difficult to place the image. As a result, Laura is pushed to the bottom corner of the card. On the back of the card, only the circle with the four in it is used. This is ok, but it feels too large and it too close to the sides of the card in the corner.
FRONT: The front of this card doesn't feel as inviting as you would hope. In real life, the black background looks more like a dark purple (another sign of poor printing). Regardless of industry, the quality of your business card counts. The quality of print communicates how organized and proud you are of presentation. Flimsy, poorly printed business cards communicate something negative about your business. The picture of Laura is faded and has a harsh edge, showing a poor crop job. Laura has her back to the logo and the larger portion of the card.
BACK: The gold color background is slightly faded, which makes the color feel more dirty tan than gold. The white text is all evenly spaced and grouped together making it hard to read, but also hard to find specfic information. The address at the bottom is too small. There is not enough space between all the information and the card itself making it looked cramped.
So how do we turn this card around to inspire confidence and make Laura memorable.
GENERAL: I wanted to make sure this card had a good overall feeling to it while making sure the most important information was in the right place. Many clients want lots of information on their business card. This can be a challenge, but getting information on a business card is only half the battle. You have to make sure that information is easy to read and easy to find. I moved the text in so that it wasn't too close to the edges, making the card feel bigger. I also grouped information as well as used color and thickness of the fonts to differentiate certain information.
LOGO: It looked a little funny to have the logo only represented by the circle with the "4" in it on the back. I chose to use the full logo on both the front and back. I changed the text color to help make it stand out on both the black and white backgrounds.
FRONT: On the front, I moved the logo up, to give more room for Laura's photo, but also to give space to list her name. You want people to see your name and face at the same time. It allows people to connect the two in their mind helping them to remember you better. I cropped Laura's photo to show more of her, which feels more natural then just seeing her face. She is facing the logo and her name, which is a more inviting pose. I made some adjustments to the cropped photo to make it blend more with the background. The right side of the photo does not have a white outline or a fussy edge. The left side of Laura has a little bit of white, representing where the light is coming from. If you blend a photo into a black background fully, it looks like the person is hiding in the dark... which is not an inviting feeling.
BACK: On the back of the card I used a white background so that it would look clean and crisp. The font is in black with information being grouped together based on types of information. I wanted to highlight that this realtor is bilingual, so I made that text in bold and used the gold coloring. I made sure none of the text was too close to the edges.