Assignment One- Business Card & Letterhead

Business Card:

Front

Back

Letterhead:

Reflection:

    When choosing a company to use for Assignment One, I tried to think of a company that was in some way connected to me and that also may have needed the help. I decided to go with my boyfriend’s sister’s company Blissful–an online boutique that sells women’s clothing via Facebook. Not only do I have a real passion for clothes and shopping, but I was also immediately drawn to the company’s  unique way of business and affordable prices.
    I had a great time creating a business card and letterhead from the original design of the logo which used bright shades of green and blue, along with a very doily-type framing design. Boutiques, in general, are different from other retail stores in that they provide unique clothing at a higher quality and so I tried to recreate that element of uniqueness into the design.
    For both projects, I started by cropping the doily design from the logo–leaving just the name for the top of the card. I did this because I felt that the grand design of the doily took the eye away from what the card was really trying to accomplish, which was to get the name out there. I did, however, use the design for other parts of the card and letterhead by rotating the image and placing in on the side of the card (making it bleed off), which helped it look more like an element rather than the focus. Because this is a Facebook company, I also chose to list the necessary information to cater towards this including an image of the Facebook logo and the URL to the page, while not including a mailing address.
Although I know there are still some things that could look better (like the back of the business card), I am very proud of my work overall and hope that Blissful will feel the same.

Originally posted at Brought to you by Brooke

So here’s a new type of post for you guys. This post is about the first assignment in my PR publications class. The assignment was to create a business card and letterhead for an organization of our choice. I chose to use the organization that I am currently interning for called City Care. It is a nonprofit organization in Oklahoma City that focuses on helping the homeless and underprivileged in the area.

Business Card

The audience for this business card is anyone that works with City Care and that we talk with on a one-on-one basis. Since City Care is a large nonprofit with five different programs there are a lot of different people that we work with daily. It is important that they know how to reach us and let us know what is going on in our various programs. I chose a very simplistic design for the front so the audience knows who we work for and what our job is, and also how to reach us. I put a quote on the back that connects our audience with who the organization is as a brand. City Care is focused on reaching out a helping hand to people in need, no matter how small. So I felt this quote really exemplified that. I also used the skyline on the back as a repetition of the logo. I tied the colors from the logo into the rest of the design and stayed with the modern/minimalistic feel that the original logo has to keep everything cohesive.

This business card was a challenge for me at times when I was designing it. At first I knew exactly what I wanted and how I wanted the card to look and feel. But after finally placing all the information and logos on it I did not like it all. I had to step away and come back to it a few different times to get the placement right. At first it looked too crowded and then I didn’t like where the information was placed. After that I changed the font like three different times. I’m somewhat of a perfectionist so even when it was done I was still afraid to turn it in thinking that it might not be as good as I hoped it would. So it was a bit of a struggle at times.

Letterhead

This specific letterhead was made for a thank you letter that would go out to people who had donated at City Care’s last big charity banquet in January. I incorporated the skyline from the logo again here for repetition and recognition of the brand. I put the logo along the bottom and faded it out so that it wasn’t too domineering over the rest of the document. Other than that I kept the design very simple so that it did not distract the reader from the actual content of the letter. Also so that the letterhead could be modified and used for different purposes within the organization. I tied in the name at the top with the logo by using the same color as the skyline for the text. I also put the address and phone number of the organization so that our audience knew of a way to contact us.

The letterhead was a lot easier than the business card for me because it didn’t have as much going on in the design. Once I knew I wanted to repeat the use of the skyline as a way to tie the two documents together it was easy from there. I liked using the same color scheme and keeping things very simplistic because I didn’t want to make things too overwhelming. Overall I like the way both of them turned out and I think the design is cohesive through both.

I enjoyed doing both of these documents. I had to basically relearn how to use inDesign again, since I had used it before in high school. But I was surprised to see that I remembered more than I thought I did when it came to the basics. I still had to ask my teacher about stuff just about every class period though, but thats expected when we’re learning how to do this stuff all on our own. All in all I’m happy with the results.

Originally posted at Mary Morton- PR Publications Course

So assignment one is finally completed! I can’t believe how fast the time flew by. Although this was my first time to ever use InDesign, in my opinion I think it went pretty well! In the beginning, it was hard to grasp some of the concepts, but now I feel like I’ve gotten the hang of things.

For this assignment, we had to make a business card and letterhead for an organization. Over the past three years, I have worked with OU’s Campus Activities Council (CAC) Soonerthon. This year, I am on the executive committee of the recruitment team, and I feel like I have a personal relationship with many members of my committee. The business card and letterhead are tied to this organization by the use of logos and information provided on both of these documents. The target recipients of the business card would be businesses that we ask to sponsor the event and adults or students who want to learn more about CAC Soonerthon. The letterhead would be sent to all of the participants from the past few years, and would encourage students to sign up once again. Additionally, the letterhead could be sent to new participants as well to increase their interest in the event.

Throughout this assignment, I was able to use my knowledge of design concepts and apply them to my business card and letterhead. First for both of my documents, I wanted them to be clean-cut and not be cluttered by lots of information or images. I made sure the colors and font matched the logo and worked well together. In addition, I wanted everything to be aligned with each other, thus helping the documents appear clean.

For the business card, I envisioned the logo appearing on the front of the business card with all of the necessary information for the public to know. I made the front of the business card match the color of the logo, navy blue, and also used red Charcoal font to display my name, title, address, email, phone number and website address. In addition, I made the back of the card simple to understand. The white background helps the Children’s Miracle Network logo stand out, and the public is provided with the website once again. The contrast between the two sides gives the card a pop of color and a professional appearance. I aligned the information by what I thought looked clean and clear to the reader. All of the information is relevant and provides the important facts one needs to know about CAC Soonerthon. I also made sure that I used repetition on the business card and letterhead by using the same logos, fonts, and colors to make them similar to each other. Lastly, I used my space appropriately and the grouping of the information is logical. Below is my business card for CAC Soonerthon:

Front of the business card for CAC Soonerthon

Back of the business card for CAC Soonerthon

For the letterhead, I envisioned a similar look to the business card to show that the two documents are related to each other. For this document, I aligned the text on the top of the letterhead to match and align with the height of the balloon logo. After that, I made the rest of the document look like a news release that could be sent out in a newsletter. The continued block of text is easy to read, and helps the reader be able to follow along easily. At the bottom of the page, I made sure to include the CAC Soonerthon logo to show that this news release is sponsored by CAC Soonerthon, and the color of the logo stands out on the page as contrast. Once again, I used the same logos, font, and colors as a source of repetition, as well as used all the space necessary to make this letterhead clear and organized. Additionally, the news release provides relevant information about CAC Soonerthon to the public, and gives more insight to this organization. Below is my letterhead for CAC Soonerthon:

Letterhead for CAC Soonerthon (click on image to make bigger)

Overall, I thought this assignment was very interesting and fun. In the beginning, I actually thought it was going to be extremely hard and did not even know where to begin. I tried to get the logo early on from my source, but then heard nothing from the organization so I had to be patient and start working on other parts of the assignment. I would say that getting the logo was the part I was most stuck on, but I also was stuck on InDesign sometimes. I did not always know what to do in some situations, and had to ask for help. While doing this assignment, I would say I learned a lot about InDesign, and how to work the program. I still have a lot to learn, but for now I feel a little more confident in using it. I also learned that I always need to make sure I schedule enough time in and out of class to work on assignments. After I learned more about InDesign, I would say overall it was easier than I thought it was going to be. I truly enjoyed this assignment, and feel like I learned alot! I look forward to learning more and seeing what we do next in this class.

Originally posted at Megan Young - Gaylord Student