I have been working with this client for some time now, first for a logo redesign, then later on a business card design, label design and lastly on a brand new website using WordPress as the CMS (content management system).

The blog design journey has been fraught with interesting and fun challenges, and the site has had many incarnations,  fascinating exercise, as a designer to leave personal taste out of the equation. After all, if we always insisted on forcing our clients around to our way of thinking, all our work would begin to look the same, and the client would probably  not be as satisfied as they tend to be, when they have been an integral part of the design process, and had a hand in most of the decisions. As a designer, I find that the best role for me is to advise, suggest, provide samples, and then leave the final decision up to the client.

Here is a series of images, showing how this particular blog design developed.

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What you will notice is the abrupt departure from the original design about three quarters of the way through. My theory is that when you feel like you’ve been looking at the same design for too long, and made too many changes and tweaks sometimes it helps to throw a brand new design into the mix, keeping those original elements that the client liked initially. What you end up with is a cleaner, less fiddly design, that works all around, and that the client is happy with!

The content is still being loaded, but if you want to stop by and check out some of the best looking cupcakes I have ever seen, then check out Yummy Mummy Cupcakes!

One of the first questions, that graphic designers usually ask of themselves when embarking on a business card design, is whether or not to orientate their design as landscape (horizontally) or portrait (vertically).

Some designers tend to prefer one way or the other, all the time.

On occasion, the decision is easily made, given the dimensions and shape of the clients logo, or simply the clients natural preference.

But I say, ask not what your business card design can do for you, but rather what you can do for your business card design, and if the design calls for it, the client wants it, and it works, then why not both?

Both? But surely, having landscape on one side and portrait on the other flies in the face of every last design principle you ever had drummed into you at art school?

My favourite design principle that was drummed into me, was, “Never forget to constantly push the boundaries, and completely ignore all the rules if you have to.”

So, if you are making use of the awesome double sided cards from Moo, then this is the perfect time to use such a design.

Here below is the design that I created for new brand, Yummy Mummy, The Cupcake Foundry, which uses alternating designs on either side. As you will see below, the detail side of the card, makes use of a portrait design, and the image side is a landscape layout.

If you consider, that no one is physically able to look at both sides of a business card at the same time (unless they have two – and why would they?) then this makes this set up perfectly plausible.

What do you think of the concept, and of the design?

If you want to order your own designs from Moo – then please visit their website by clicking the square banner below.

Thank you for reading!

This is a test post. Using a design for an ‘image side’ to a Moo.com card.