This is an illustration I did for a business card which I designed and created in Illustrator and Photoshop for a motorsports development fund.
Rather than the standard old 86.6 mm by 53.98 mm rectangular thing they asked for a graphic representation of a Formula One steering wheel. It’s great when clients come up with brilliant ideas!
I was really inspired by this job and, after searching Google images for examples of these steering wheels, I set to work first in Illustrator. Here is the basic outline I did together with two of the dials.
As you can see I did only the very basic outlines in Illustrator although I did take care to get the dials and lights looking fairly realistic. Once I had done one dial I grouped the objects, copied them and then re-colored them with the Recolor Artwork button that sits in the Control palette at the top of the screen (see above). This is a really great way to change the hue of a group of objects.
Once I was happy with it in Illustrator and had every major object on different layers I exported the document as a .PSD in Illustrator (File > Export…). Then I opened the same document in Photoshop and began the finishing touches.
The most important thing to do in Photoshop was to add the highlights, which really add realism to the illustration. I also added a bit of blurring to the main body of the steering wheel as well as noise to the dials.
Finally, the outline path from the original Illustrator file was used as the die cut for the printers to cut around the edge of the illustration.
Thats a great card design, Rob. What paper stock was is printed on…400gsm? I assume it was coated stock, at least on the image side?
I was wondering, is the clients information on the back in the central area?
Hi Andrew, the client organized the printing although that’s what I recommended. I did a little investigation and was amazed by how much more the die-cut adds to the printing cost. Here is the back of the card. The client’s information goes white out on this:
Yeah, I heard die cuts are a bit on the pricey side. I’m having my own card printed soon, and I considered having it the same shape as my new “AK” logo. Oh well! Now, however, I think I’m just going to have 10mm rounded corners instead, printed on 400gsm card.
I hope your client does a good job with the typography!
BTW, I had my weekend in London, it was great. I’ll be writing a post about it soon. Have a great weekend, Andrew
wow..nice idea….its very cool design…wanna exlink??
Wow, that is really great. I am super impressed with that illustration. i am curious what something like that costs.
yups..I like design and frequently ‘play’ it in photoshop….but, i think you give me the new idea..thanks a lot!!!
Wow i love this design. It is very interesting. Great work !
Yes, very neatly done! It never ceases to amaze me how creative and ingenious people are, especially on the net. It’s sure a great place to showcase and exchange inspiration.
Hello cool photoshop tutorial, if you wanna ex-link please let me know the PR3 page you’ll put my link on and I’ll put yours here: http://robcubbon.com/link/
Hi Minnepolis SEO, it’s not a good idea for me to divulge prices here, but thanks.
I’m glad I’ve given you a new idea warren, all this came from “playing in Photoshop! Thanks!
Hi Online Fashion Shopping, glad you like the design.
CheersDTs Flash Drive Blog, everyone is creative and ingenious!
Thanks, Andrew, didn’t see you up there. The die cut would have been particularly expensive due to the trickiness of the outline. Circles, rounded corners, triangles, etc. are cheaper, apparently.
And, I’m looking forward to your post on your first trip to London. Did you make it up the London Eye or to Tate Modern?
That´s a nice looking business card! i do some design, and what i find most difficult is to find clients that are willing to risk a little bit and do something out of the box
Thank you diseño de logotipo, I was lucky with that client.
I love business card designs that stand out – if someone passes me a white card, with the cheap raised one-color, I think ‘ugh’! Nice idea though
A lot of people do make the point that a bog standard business card makes people think, “oh, unimaginative company!” But people don’t always have the money to pay for die-cuts and quality paper stock when printing them.
Cool design. I really love creative business cards.
This is a cool design, to bad I do not know how to use illustrator
I need to learn it fast.
Thank you, guys, I think Illustrator is almost essential for a job like this. Although possible, I think it would be more difficult in Photoshop alone.
Maybe not the most practical of business cards but I absolutely love it. What a creative and brilliant design.
Thank you, guys, I was a great idea for a business card design (not mine, I’m afraid). Printed on the thickest paper possible due to the impracticalities.
Great design! That’s thinking outside the box. Almost seems like you’d have to produce them in plastic, or with a laminate background? Either way it does it’s job and stands out.
Thank you, Clayton, the client deserves a lot of credit for basically giving me the idea. I don’t know how they were printed but definitely on very thick stock whether it was paper or plastic or a mixture of the two.
Great business card design. I hope you post a photo of the finished product (the actual business card) and we’d love to feature it on our blog!
Hello from Germany! May i quote a post a translated part of your blog with a link to you? I’ve tried to contact you for the topic Exciting business card design | Blog | Graphic and Web Designer London UK, but i got no answer, please reply when you have a moment, thanks, Sprueche
Hello Sprueche, if you would like to talk about this contact me by email. I have sent you an email and it bounced.
Is that a card???WOW!!! Its a very different idea. Haven’t seen such till date. Man you rocks!!
Love the design.