1. Name: Mandy Schmall
2. Company Name: agf creatives
3. Website: www.agfcreatives.com
4. Business Contact Email: mandy@agfcreatives.com
5. Please give us a brief history of your business and some of the services
you provide.
agf creatives is a re-brand and rejuvenation of my past graphic design
business. For the past 7 years I was in director in the retail creative
environment and last year I happily stepped away to start my own businesses.
agf creatives focuses on branding design and creative consulting, specializing
in bringing brands to life starting with the roots, the brand/identity,
including logo, business cards and brand guidelines to ensure a brand is
consistent on all platforms. agf creative also offers brand strategy sessions
and consulting on creative process work flow for companies.
6. A big trend we have been noticing this season is to have small business
cards, for example 2x2 inch business card. The unique part of your business
card, is while the whole card is our standard business card size, the main
portion of the design is within a 2x2 space. This gives your card the
practicality of the standard size business card and also the pop of a small
business card. Can you talk to us more about that?
I maintained the standard business card size because although my work is rooted
in design, myself and many of my clients/potential clients are industry leaders
and appreciate the “standard card” size, for functionality and professionalism,
especially on the consulting side. I like to convey to everyone that I meet
that I am strong in designing, but I am very operational and professional in
all my businesses. I am not the designer that takes a week to reply or asks a
question already answered, I respond in 24-48 hours with articulate clear
answers and next steps In whatever process we are in. The short answer is, I am
a blend a creative and operational expertise and I designed a card I felt
emulated that idea.
7. Since your design is within such a small space, you used smaller
font. While we usually recommend larger font, smaller font is the topic of most
of our design questions to customer service. Your font was executed so well,
can you explain how you ensured legibility?
If I use small font, as I did, I ensure it is highly contrasted with the
background. Black copy on white background or white copy on a deep colored
background. I also take into consideration the font type, the cleaner the font
(san serif/not a script) the easier it is to read in small point size. Kerning
is an important element not to forget, I increase the spacing to ensure the
small letters don't jumble together when viewing from a distance.
8. The Blind Press Embossing
of your business cards came out looking exceptionally well with the raised
effect on one side and the indented pattern on the back. We can feel that
clients do not feel comfortable knowing how to incorporate the indent into
their back design. They either avoid embossing or they ignore the effect the
indent will have on their design. Do you have any advice for those wanting to
do embossing?
I LOVE embossing, but yes, it’s dangerous because it flips your logo when
viewed from the back. If your logo can be mirrored, like a “bd” then I would
totally incorporate it embossed by designing that as a key element, and letting
the print support the embossing area. I design the front and back of the
business card at the same time next to each other on my screen and I try to get
them to work together, vs. being separate designs and embossing supports that
the best. When I have an embossed area on the front I show it in light gray on
the back and use it as an element to design from.
9. What were the reasons behind your choice of Heavy
Nouveau paper?
Honestly I wanted to try this paper. I just designed my husbands cards and used
another paper which I really like, so it was more of a comparison call.