OUGD602 - Self Branding - Design Development

As a designer, I feel my style is very varied but I haven't quite yet found my niche. This is why on my business card and visual identity I want it to be quite neutral, open to interpretation and not limited to the work I produce. However, a completely different angle could be to make something that is fun and interesting and that you would want to pick up as a visitor at the end of year show.

Inspiration and ideas for a business card and self-branding:

One thing I would say is that I am very hard working and a perfectionist, always putting my all into everything I do, trying to push myself and achieve the best standard I possibly can. At the same time, however, I do enjoy playing around with my work and believe play is an important aspect of design because you need to allow yourself time off for inspiration to come your way. This is why one idea for my business card was to have the quote 'Work hard, play hard on the reverse.' It's a fun, well-known slogan setting the tone that I don't take myself too seriously, but also subtly conveys the message of my values and what I stand for. 

Fun concept for the design:

I've worked a lot with duotone images this year so thought it reflected my work well to use this style as part of the design. A Renaissance painting depicting a dancing party scene I felt fit the quote well and was quirky and playful.

A more neutral concept I thought was to set out the back of the business card as a blank page with just crop marks, registration marks and a colour bar. One thing that is consistent about my practice is that I'm a graphic design, therefore, this could symbolise a blank new strart for fresh projects with the possibility to design anything on top. 

The crop marks could also work well as a symbol for my design accounts Instagram icon as at the moment it is an illustration of a mouth with braces.