Business Card, Letterhead, and Envelope
This assignment is to create your very own logo for business
cards, letterhead, and envelope for a company that you create. The class
will look at several examples and discuss logos from famous companies.
A logo is a name, symbol, or trademark designed by a graphic designer
for easy recognition for a company or organization. You will be creating a
selling point for yourself (for example: fashion consultant, professional
student, match maker, etc.) or maybe if you already have a business of
your own you can use that. You will insert your own personal info and
logo. Your logo should reflect your selling point or business. Your logo
needs to be a vector graphics that you create from scratch in Illustrator.
Use the pen tool. You may use images off the Internet to use as a base
and then do vectoring over it. I expect you to save the pure Internet
image so that I can check what you started with it. You will be printing
your logo out to “fill the page” and will include it onto your display
board. Your display will be on a colored piece of matt board. Also, on
your display board will be your business card, letterhead, and envelope.
Once your logo is complete, then begin to work to your business card. I find that the template from Adobe
Illustrator 9 works the best to create business cards if you plan to print them onto to any standard business card paper.
I have included this file in the class folder, which is BusCards_template. This gives you a guideline for your
business cards, but you should create your own design and can alter any placement or size as long as you keep the
boundaries. Pick an appropriate font for your card and business. Stay away from the borders of your card – imagine a
¼” border all around and avoid it. After you finish the card and have it approved, select it all, group it and then copy
and paste it into the other cards. I have a special paper for you to print these on which you will need to feed into the
printer. You can choose to either have it grayscale or in color.
Business Card Checklist
Many of the items in this list are optional. You must decide which ones are appropriate for your business card (those
listed which are bold must be included, while the italic words are optional).
Use this as a check list:
_____ Name of Individual, __ Name of Business or Organization,
____Address, _____Phone Number,
_____Fax Number, _____Email
Address, ______Web Page Address, _____Job Title of Individual
_____Tagline or description of Business or Organization, ______ Logo,
______Graphic Image(s) (including purely decorative elements like a
shape, border, or an extra design), _____ List of services or products.
The items listed below are to aid in designing your business card. Some
may not apply, but these are some of the design decisions you will need
to make:
• Horizontal or Vertical Layout?
• Emphasis on Business or Organization (name and/or logo),
Individual, Title of Individual, or Emphasis on a particular part
of the contact information (phone, address, email, etc.)?
• Size of logo or other graphics — large (dominant) or small, etc?
• Number of colors and use of white space (blank spaces) toward
the middle or toward the outer edges?
• Conservative typeface (such as those used in the stories in your
textbooks), fun, sophisticated script, or informal typeface (such
as crooked letters, funny shapes, odd sizes, or type that looks
like handwriting)
• What will your theme/style be for your business card?
After you finish your business cards, I would like you to create a letterhead with the same information and
style. A letterhead is the printed design or stationary that normally includes the name, address, logo, and
phone number. For businesses, a company name and logo is used. Optional items to include in a letterhead might be
a slogan, company philosophy, or the names and titles of individuals in the firm. A method that is often used with
letterheads is a phantom screen. This is similar to a watermark and is where an image or font is at a low opacity on
the bottom layer. If you choose to use a phantom screen and put a large shape in your white space then you will need
to keep the image at 5% opacity. The letterhead will also be printed in color after receiving approval.
The last part of the assignment is to create an envelope, which needs to include your return address and your
logo. Make sure that it is created in the same style as your business card and letterhead. You will find a template for
the envelope under File-Open template, business set. Business envelopes are number 10. I will demo how to print
your envelopes and business cards. When mounting everything on your matt board, please make sure your alignment
looks good and you do not use too much glue.
Business Card Rubric
name ______________________________________
5
Always
Project Objectives and Assessment
Logo Design and Craftsmanship
3
Sometimes
2
Rarely
1
Poor
0
Never
xxxx
xxxx
xxxx
xxxx
no
/35
Are your vector points smoothed out or are they rough?
How is your alignment with your with colors and values?
Did you use too many vector points and anchors?
Do you utilize economy, balance, and proportion to create
unity in your logo?
Does your logo make sense and illustrate your selling
point?
Did you expand all text and everything with outlines?
How creative and eye-catching is your logo?
Business Card
4
Usually
yes
/25
Did you include all the information needed? Name,
address, phone #, e-mail, job title, and logo
How well planned out is your color composition?
Is your font cohesive and sized appropriately?
Is your proximity and alignment successful?
How creative and eye-catching is your card? Added
Elements?
Letterhead
/15
Did you include all the required information : name or
company name, address, phone #, and logo?
Is your style cohesive with your logo and business card?
Is there any added Elements?
Did you create an appropriate amount of white space for
writing and did you unify your information?
Envelope
/10
Did you include all the required information: return
address and name?
How is your craftsmanship and alignment? Did you leave
white space for postal stamping and addressing?
Demonstrates Professional Qualities
/15
Utilizes all class periods productively
Attends to completion details – completes color print &
mounts carefully and neatly to matt board
Any unv, tardies, or absences that you did not make up?
Column Totals
Total Score __________ /100