As part of the branding development process for Carlyn Ray Designs I presented several concepts for a business card layout to help visualize how the trademark would look applied to a familiar object. The examples below were part of the refinement process for the primary and secondary typefaces. After reviewing all of layout options we selected this design because it was visually exciting, while maintaining a sense of refinement and legibility.

While discussing the printing options I suggested that using a letterpress would allow us to use an impressively heavy paper stock, and that we could set the plate pressure to get an imprint when the logo printed, and that would add a nice textural element as well as give a very formal sophistication to the presentation of her trademark. After doing some research, we contacted Kevin at Advantage Letterpress in Washington state and started a dialogue with him about the best way to proceed with this design.

Kevin discussed many technical details with us and was willing to run some tests so we could see what the front and back would look like printed on the letterpress. Although we liked the way the trademark printed, the back of the card didn’t hold up well. So we decided to print the front of the cards on the letterpress, and the back of the cards on an offset press and laminate them together.

It’s easy to see that the final results are rich and amazing, the weight of the paper and subtle imprint on the logotype make an immediate impression on the recipient. This card surpasses most business cards one encounters today, because it is more like a formal invitation than a business card. It’s a good bet that no matter what event you will find Carlyn at, she will have the most striking cards of anyone around.