Logo and Business Card Design for ESPAR
I was contracted by Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer Recharge (ESPAR) to design a logo for their growing business. They are in charge of understanding and regulating the aquifer water changes in the southeast Idaho area. A logo is a very important aspect of any business since it’s usually the first visual piece we are introduced to when learning more about a company. It should be simple and easy to read or distinguish. Try not to have too much text or tiny details because a logo needs to be versatile enough to fit on a small letterhead or to be printed larger on T-shirts or advertising material. Take a look at some of the first ideas I had below when starting to brainstorm.
I thought it would be good to highlight the area ESPAR covers in their logo since that is a distinguishing factor about their business. I used Adobe Illustrator to create a vector image of the land area and tried a few different color options. I was deciding between a tan color to represent the land or blue to represent water. In the first ideas, I was using a smaller font to fit within the land boundaries but decided with further iterations to use a bigger font to help the acronym stand out even more since that should be the focal point of the logo.
After designing the logo the executive director asked me to design a business card for him. I came up with various ideas for both one and two-sided cards. He preferred to have a one-sided card so it was important to find a way to adequately distribute the information and logo without the card looking too cluttered. I printed 100 cards from AlphaGraphics and got the back the same day and they turned out great! It’s also good to note when printing out logo or business card materials the colors will always print a little bit darker than what your screen displays, so be sure to bump up colors a little bit lighter/brighter than you think so it will print closer to what your screen displays. I usually have my screen brightness set around 75% when designing and editing photos.
If you’re looking for an online printer I would recommend working with MOO. I used them for my personal business cards. They have great customer service and deals throughout the year to provide you high-quality business cards. They also have a sample paper pack you can order that shows you the various sizes, shapes, and textures of paper they have available so you can feel and see each one in person before you purchase. They usually have a 1-2 week turnaround time. Check them out for your next project!