Case study · Business cards · M3 Creative Studio
Hand-lettered, then gilded
A 16-point silk matte business card with a black hand-drawn frame and yellow gold foil roundel.
The idea
M3 Creative Studio is a San Francisco graphic design studio. Its card is drawn by hand end to end, from the ornamental frame and banner to the lettered contact details on the reverse.
Two rules
- 01Ink for the drawing, foil for one thing. The frame and lettering printed in black ink on 16-point silk matte stock to keep every line, with yellow gold foil reserved for the M³ rou…
- 02Vertical format. A portrait card, so the frame stands like a shop sign with the roundel at its centre.
Why it works
There's one foil element in a field of hand-drawn line, so the eye goes straight to the mark and then takes in the drawing around it.
Start from these materials
Same paper, foil and finish, locked in — nothing of M3 Creative Studio's artwork comes with it.
Questions
- Can hand-drawn artwork be printed on business cards?
- Yes. Scan it at high resolution and convert it to clean vector or 1200dpi bitmap line art, so the pen texture holds at card size.
- Should fine line art be foiled or printed?
- Printed, usually. Foil thickens hairlines. Foil the bold shapes and keep fine drawing in ink.
- Are vertical business cards a good idea?
- They stand out because most cards are horizontal, and they suit symmetrical, badge-like layouts.
