Lessons in the Life of a Business Card

I've been struggling for a long time to create a personal brand. You'd think I'd sit down and take the time to figure out how I would want to represent myself and the image I want to portray. And I have. The only thing is, I've been at this for a few years now, and I'm not the same person I was when I started. I look back at some of those designs now and am so glad I trashed them.

It all started with Japan. I wouldn't describe myself as an Asian Addict, but I've always held that country in high esteem and my early designs reflect that. As I describe my brief journey to the card I'm using now, please remember NOT to do any of these things and take it all in as a lesson of what to avoid.

Sanada Kyuu
Say that name. Its pronounced Sah-Nah-Dah Kee-you. Does that bring anything to mind? No? Exactly my point. That name doesn't mean anything. It doesn't tell you what I'm about, what I do, or who I am. Its not my first name, my last name or my middle name. Its not an animal, vegetable or mineral. Plain and simple it was a bad idea for a brand. Lesson 1: If you're going to brand yourself, pick a name that is relevant and makes sense.(side note: Sanada is the last name of a famous Japanese historical figure. Kyuu is the word for "ten"...it still doesn't make sense does it?)

Fresh
This was at the beginning of my foray into grunge. My business card was all black with white writing on it and a piece of sushi as the logo/icon. What? Exactly. I'm not a sushi chef. I don't own or work at a restaurant. I do eat sushi but that isn't something a potential client cares about. I couldn't tell you why I thought it was a good idea, I'm just glad I realized it in time. Lesson 2: Don't be misleading, intentionally or unintentionally.

Kitsune Creative
I was going through another phase, but this time I was into abstract looking images. At the same time I was doing some research for a series of fictional stories I was working on. The combination of those two things was, well, unfortunate. During my research, I found out that the etymology of the word "Kitsune", which means fox in Japanese, apparently came from an ancient Japanese folklore story. I immediately thought "fox, huh. Clever as a fox....great!" Obviously, I'd forgotten that I live in America and that the average person wouldn't speak Japanese at all let alone know anything about ancient folklore stories. Lesson 3: If you have to explain it, you may need to rethink it.

The Ox

This pretty much brings us up to present day. I've always been incredibly proud of the fact I was born in the Year of the Ox, I mean we have some pretty great attributes. I thought I should brand myself with something that was a part of me, so I began working on an icon/logo for myself. This big orange giant was my first attempt. Its a bit abstract, but I liked it. I used it for a while with a lukewarm reception. I thought "these people just don't get it" and chalked it up to their "lack of cool"--that was until a friend of mine saw it and said bluntly "what is that? It looks like a blob." Wow. Lesson 4: Your image conveys a message. If they don't get the image, they wont get the message.

So I moved on to the next ox in my life. I'd been creating a Kamon (Japanese style crest/icon) for a friend of mine to use on his business card and thought that an ox kamon would be perfect for me. Again I had the bright idea to combine elements of my two signs into one icon. That's how the "Ox under Moon" came about (I'm a Cancer, our governing planet is the moon). Not bad. But still not the modern bold statement I was looking for, plus it didn't test well. Lesson 5: Test. Test. Test. Try it out on a few people before making a big debut.

I hope my follies in business card design helped some of you out there. If you're interested in seeing the current card I'm using now, read my up coming post Design Log 1: 639. And if you have a minute, check out some of my business card designs on Zazzle. I'm always open to feed back. Remember: test, test, test! For additional reading, check out this blog post: The Basics of Business Card Design