It’s amazing to note the impact that this tiny little card has on the customers and the business. You need to consider some of the aspects before you design your business card.

Business card design should have the following features:

Logo
You need to consult a professional designer for creating your business logo. You should see that the logo matches with the type of industry you are associated with. You should be able to use the logo on your business cards as well.

Slogan
You can add more variety to your card by adding a one liner slogan about the product or services your business is associated with.

Website or email
Prospective customers would be like to know your email address. You can get it printed on the business card. If you are worried about spam, you can have two email addresses. One id should be for prospective customers and the other id for your business associates and other friends.

Legible
You should request the designer to use fonts that are bold enough to be easily readable. The color of the card and the font color should be distinguishable. For cards with light background colors, have the content in dark color so that they are easy to recognize.

Attractive
Make your business card look attractive so that it stands out even in a pack of other visiting cards. You need to use high quality paper, bright colors, or even you can get your photo printed on the card.

Quality
The first impression people get from seeing your card is very important. If the card is not printed on a quality stock, prospective customers may misjudge your company or the services you provide. Hence you should get the business card done on a quality paper and a good printer.

Business card design plays a very important role in the success of your company or services that you provide. You need to continuously replenish the stock of cards so that you do not lose any chance of meeting prospective customers.

It’s not the first time GoDaddy has pushed the .co TLD (not to be confused with .co.uk): for a little while it was even the default TLD for searches on their website. But before you go for their sales pitch, let’s do a little background.

What Is .co?

Like many alternate TLDs, .co is actually the top-level domain assigned to a particular country. In this case, that country is Colombia. Countries who have their own top-level domains can create their own rules about who can purchase domains using them. For example, Albania requires that .al purchasers have an Albanian citizenship; France’s .fr requires a local presence.

Colombia obviously allows anyone to purchase a .co through select registrars, including GoDaddy.

Do I Want It?

The quick answer is: probably not.

- It certainly won’t help your search engine rankings, and may even hurt them as some algorithms may favor standard TLDs.
- People may even get your domain name wrong as a result of using .co (assuming that it’s intended to be .com- potentially taking them to a competitor’s site).
- Some potential customers may wonder why you didn’t go to the effort of acquiring the .com version of your domain.

The vast majority of organizations should stick to .com, .net, .org, unless they’re eligible for specialty TLDs (such as .gov or .edu). There are exceptions- if you’re actually conducting business in Colombia, for example, such a domain may provide a local touch. A .co domain might be useful if you want a playful domain name- if you sell art deco prints and you can acquire art.de.co, maybe you should try it.

But most organizations should avoid .co and other country-based top-level domains. Don’t let any registrar tell you differently. Remember: they’re trying to sell you that domain.

Graphic Design is all around us in our society.  It is what drives advertising, attracts us to brands and makes public settings enjoyable or “hard on the eyes”.  With this being said, it is no wonder why Graphic Design is so important to our everyday lives.  As times and styles change, the socially acceptable elements of Graphic Design change.

Lets look at some examples of changing design.

In the 1970′s there was a lot of design being done with flowers and Earth Tones.  This was due to the state of our society being in the “Hippy” era.  Designs were Psychedelic and crazy with floral patterns and fun shapes.

In the 1980′s we found the masses being attracted to bright neon colors and a sort of robotic feel.  This was most likely due to the advent of computers and the emergence of technology.

The 1990′s brought us a sort of transition phase to where we are now.  I personally cannot think of any defined style or relevance of the 1990′s but it was probably in anticipation of the new millennium.

In this dawn of the new century we have a new style that is prevalent all around us.  This is sort of a minimalistic, yet bold approach to design.  Quite a few ads and designs are not much more than well placed images with a couple splashes of text and a logo.  This style has been driving Websites, print ad campaigns and outdoor media for quite a few years now.

No matter what style of design an individual likes, if they are a designer, they still have to follow some basic elements of the trends around them.  Adopting parts of various styles will make a design unique, but making sure it appeals to the masses is what will make the design successful.

I am really excited about this upcoming exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art. I always enjoy the opportunity to see future talent. It’s great to see that art lives strong through younger generations. Every year, its always a treat to meet some of these astonishing young talents.

The Young Masters Exhibtion will feature selected works created by Advanced Placement^® Studio Art, Art History, and Music Theory students participating in the O’Donnell Foundation’s Creating Schools of Excellence in Fine Arts Incentive Program^™ in the Concourse beginning February 5.

After twelve years of recognizing outstanding artistic expression of AP studio arts students, the exhibition expanded in 2011 to celebrate the creativity and skill of all three fine arts programs, reflecting a mission to develop participating high schools as self-sustaining national models of creative excellence.

The AP fine arts students were invited to submit an original essay in response to a work in the DMA’s permanent collection, an original composition, or an original two-dimensional or three-dimensional art work.

Incentive program schools with students represented in the exhibition include: Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Coppell High School, Creekview High School, J.J. Pearce High School, Lake Highlands High School, Lovejoy High School, L.V. Berkner High School, McKinney Boyd High School, Newman Smith High School, Plano East Senior High School, Plano Senior High School, Plano West Senior High School and Richardson High School.

In the eighteen-year history of the program, more than 10,000 arts and music students have benefited from the O’Donnell Foundation’s AP Fine Arts Incentive Programs. Last year, graduating seniors earned over $16.8 million in scholarships. For more information, visit http://www.apstrategies.org.

Images:
James Cole Burnett, Lovejoy High School, House, 2011, mixed media

Michelle Yi, Coppell High School, June Infestation, 2011, digital

Silvia Zapata-Schleicher, Creekview High School, The Dimensions of Cards, 2011, playing cards

*Information provided by the Dallas Museum of Art (www.dallasmuseumofart.org)