Project Introduction
This is an optional extra credit project designed to help you think like a professional designer instead of a student completing an assignment. Your task is to design your own personal business card as if you were actively marketing yourself as a creative professional. Take this opportunity to check around to get some real business card design inspiration for this project. Experiment with non-traditional designs too! Maybe this project will help you redefine your own website’s brand… your resume… you see where this is going.
You will create three distinct design variations, each expressing a slightly different design direction. Clean. Bold. Minimal. Experimental. You decide. Business cards may be small, but they are one of the most common real world design deliverables. Designers create them constantly for freelancers, agencies, startups, and personal brands. If you cannot design a strong business card, you are skipping fundamentals.
Creative & Technical Focus
A business card is pure design discipline. You are working with limited space, limited information, and very little room for error. Every decision matters. Typography, spacing, alignment, hierarchy, and color all have to work together without clutter or confusion.
Professionally, business cards act as micro brand systems. They communicate personality, credibility, and style in seconds. This project encourages you to explore multiple creative directions and understand how small design choices dramatically change perception. Creating three versions forces iteration, which is how real designers work. Think of this less as “making a card” and more as defining how you want to be perceived as a designer.
Project Requirements
- Final Deliverable:
- Three unique business card designs
- All designs must represent you as a designer
- Each variation should feel intentionally different
- Created entirely in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign
- Export for portfolio display as JPG or PNG, and mocked up!
- Three unique business card designs
- WordPress Portfolio Requirements:
- Embed images of all three business card variations
- Include at least 1 Project Type.
- Add 5–10 Tags (examples: campus map, Illustrator, vector design, flat map, isometric, wayfinding, portfolio project)
- Create a unique Featured Image based on your map
- Write a project explanation (250–350 words) that covers:
- Your design intent for each variation
- What changed between versions and why
- Illustrator tools you relied on most
- What this project taught you about restraint and clarity
Project Grading Rubric
| Criteria | Description | Points |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress Portfolio Post | Intro, unique title, tags, featured image, clean layout, and all three designs embedded | +5% |
| Concept & Brand Expression | Cards clearly express personality and intentional design choices | +5% |
| Typography & Layout | Strong hierarchy, spacing, alignment, and readable typography | +5% |
| Technique | Clean vector construction, shape usage, and type handling | +5% |
| Effort & Iteration | Three distinct, thoughtful variations showing exploration and refinement | +5% |
| Total (possible) | 25% Extra Credit |
OCP & Standard Alignments
05.04 – Create formal or informal design layouts using guidelines, colors, fonts, graphics, and logos, because business cards require precise layout control and intentional hierarchy.
08.01 – Identify serif and sans-serif fonts, because font choice strongly influences tone and professionalism.
08.05 – Design and develop a print and/or digital portfolio, because personal branding materials are foundational portfolio assets.
09.04 – Demonstrate use of drawing tools to create, combine, and edit basic shapes, because custom layouts and accents rely on vector construction.
09.09 – Demonstrate use of layers by creating, locking, viewing, and organizing artwork, because organized files are required for print ready design.
Digital Media & Multimedia Design 