Business Cards:
I wanted my business cards to remain their simplest on the details side as this is theoretically the most important side for legibility, readability and engagement with those that get hold of it. I stuck to a modular grid system that allowed formatting to be rather easy to set up. I complemented the information contents with icons that responded to each.
To be consistent with the logo ident I created for my website, I wanted four variations of the front of my card. 'Thinker' 'Do-er' 'Maker' 'Creative' to express my dynamic skills that I show in my every-day practice.
In regards to printing, until my big pay-outs come through from the briefs I have been working on, I can't afford to splash out on expensive finishing processes or stock. Or, I thought I couldn't until I came across Moo's luxe range.
The Luxe range is incredible for the price. Using GF-Smith Mohawk Superfine stacked up to 600gsm with a triplexed effect in the card along with high quality digital printing, I was amazed to see that it was only £60 for 100 along with 20% student discount on top of that.
I was sold so I got straight to ordering as soon as I downloaded their indesign template and set it up to their print standards. I decided last minute to make it 150 cards as that gave me roughly 36 of each design.
Shipping times were also impressive as it will be arriving at the university in two days. Really looking forward to seeing them in the pulpy flesh!
Letterhead:
For my letter-head I created a 6 x 5 grid that would help generate the consistent elements of any kind of letter I might send, such as an invoice, contract, brief, etc.
I wanted my ident to remain open and therefore chopped everything but A — Dyson, I had the idea to have a more content specific ident on each letter but realised it could quickly turn unprofessional, e.g. "I AM A — BUSINESSMAN".
I stacked the generic information along the left hand side in Fira Sans with complimenting icons to remain fluid with my website and business card. I also considered the spacing I would leave my banking information when used as an invoice.
Like my design work I like to leave things very simple with breathing space but remain structured with an obvious hierarchy. I feel like I have successfully shown this in my A4 format and am confident it will work for my other collateral too.
Invoice:
Using the same grid system and same layout, I converted my letter-head into an invoice by changing the content to a short amount of information along with a table I would use to break-down costing information to clients.
Contract:
Last year I wrote up a really good and concise contract agreement for all clients I worked with, for my current one I revisited that and amended it so it was a lot more professional and accurate.
"This contract is an offer by Designer to Client made for Designer to provide creative Work as requested by Client.
01. Work
Client requests Designer to create work outlined in brief. Work includes only the final, deliverable art, and not any preliminary work or sketches.
02. Payment
50% of the total fee is required before any services will be rendered, and the remaining 50% is payable within 14 business days of receipt. A £50 service charge is payable on all overdue balances for reissuing each invoice at 30, 45, and 60 days from the date of original invoice. The grant of any license or right of copyright is conditioned on receipt of full payment.
03. Estimates
The fees and expenses shown are minimum estimates only, unless an hourly fee has been agreed upon. The Designer shall provide the Client of a tally of hours within a reasonable period of time upon request if such is the measure of the fee. Final fees and expenses shall be shown when invoice is rendered.
04. Grant of Rights
Designer agrees to the perpetual license of the right to display and transmit work to Client, excluding the right to authorship credit, modification, and resell, which is retained by Designer. Designer agrees that work is produced with the intent it be unique and will not seek to resell or publish work, except as noted below.
05. Designer’s Right to Authorship Credit
Designer may use work in Designer’s portfolio (including, but not limited to, any website that displays Designer’s works). Client does not have to display Designer’s name together with work, unless being described with any editorial usage, but Client may not seek to mislead others that work was created by anyone other than Designer.
06. Cancellation.
The fee for Work is refundable pending only upon Designer’s breach of contract. In the event of cancellation of this assignment, ownership of all copyrights and the original artwork shall be retained by the Designer, and a cancellation fee for work completed, shall be paid by the Client. If the project is on an hourly basis the and project is canceled by Client, Client agrees to pay no less than 100% of the hours already billed for the project at the time of cancellation plus a flat fee 50% of the remaining hours that were expected to be completed on the project.
07. Limitation of Liability
Client agrees that Designer will not be liable for any incidental or consequential damages that arise from Designer’s performance of this commission (including, but not limited to, failure to perform in a timely manner, regardless of whether the failure was intentional or negligent.)
08. Acceptance of terms
The action of the sending and receipt of this agreement via electronic method will hold both parties in acceptance of these terms. Designer as sender and Client as recipient will acknowledge acceptance of these terms either through an e-mail noting acceptance or acceptance is acknowledged at the beginning of any work on said project. Electronic signatures shall be considered legal and binding."
Again, the design remained cohesive with just the content and header changing. Clients will get used to the way things work when working with me and will therefore find everything naturally easy to read and understand.
Brief Document:
For my brief document, I took the information categories from the university template as they have always served me well with getting all the relevant information out of a client and easily writing one out for them to accept. For this document I used a combination of my 6 x 9 grid for separation, and the baseline grid for type positioning. This created a really clean, easy to read document that matched the rest of my A4s.
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