Business Card - Documentation & Evaluation

When creating a business card there was two main options for me. I could either create a really well designed, professional looking business card or create something that would be related to my professional practise and have an interesting quality about it.  After trying to design a business card for some while without having any design background and not having the funds to pay for someone to design my business cards i set about making a unique business card.

My first initial thought was to create a concrete business card. the reasoning for this was because my most successful pieces of work have been made through casting. This would be another opportunity to learn a new casting technique. However after weighing up the costs for this and the time it would take to make enough wouldn't be worth it. Practicality of a concrete business card isn't going to fit in your wallet however it would have been remembered. Making it more likely for someone to research my name to find out what other pieces of work i have produced. 

I then looked at the subject of my work, plants, how could this be incorporated into my business cards. I began researching how to make my own paper from plant material yet this was a very length process which i didn't have time for. Then i thought about printing on the material themselves, printing on leaves or laser cutting them out however this would make them extremely fragile and unlikely to survive someones pocket. I then looked at making one of a kind business cards using the hammering technique of crushing plants onto paper. I trailed this and the outcome resulted in a brown splodge on the page.  

After a process of elimination i was left with no possible options that were do able. I then began thinking how can my business cards benefit the planet more then just being made out of recycled materials? This got me researching how we can save the planet at home, one step at a time. A lot of the information was about reusing materials and recycling. I then came across the meadow movement. The loss of bees declining and other insects as their isn't enough native pollinating flowers. I thought what better way to promote saving the bees and the environment is to provide business card seed packets perfect for growing your own meadow. 

I hand printed and filled each envelope and sealed it with a pressed flower making each business card unique and giving that personal handmade quality. The pressed flower not only relates to my pressed plant work but also to the meadow inside the envelop. The overall aesthetics of the business cards i like however i don't think they look professionally made. i don't mind that, i knew my skills in design weren't high and thats why i didn't design a professional business card these are more for the fun of growing your own meadow. And it means the business cards have to be kept till next spring to been sown meaning the business card is less likely to be tossed away.