Help Design Club TPR's Logo & Membership Card!

[SharkTums]

n7 - That's awesome!

 

Everyone keep it up, I'll have more comments soon but it's great to see how talented our readers are!

[Chroniq]

N7's entry is really pro..My concern would be can they really be printed at that fidelity and come out clear. Also the designs keep getting busier and busier

[themeparkologist]

algh22- Use the correct font if you want to win. (it begins with a G)

[piers]

I really like n7's entry! Very cool.

[n7]

Danke schön! If you guys see any problems with the design (I think I left out a few information boxes) please don't hesitate to mention them.

 

"My concern would be can they really be printed at that fidelity and come out clear. Also the designs keep getting busier and busier"

 

Yeah, that's the breaks when you go with card printing. I used to work for a place that did batch card production and I found that what you see on the screen is not going to come out the same the first few times. Solid colors are a gamble too...the ribbons required to print and the print head itself don't always make a good seal and then you get what are called "ribbon streaks". Gah, I hated card-printing.

 

The biggest problem I could see with my design is getting the black to come out sharp. The red, green and blue should be fine because of the texture layered in - but solid black can bring some problems.

[vuurvogel]

That looks really good n7

 

If a can make one remark I would only put the logo on the card. The word membership makes the logo style clash with the style of the rest of the card.

 

The rest looks superb

[frozenflames]

So far, I like the design by n7 the best. It's the only one I've seen so far that made me go "that...is COOL!!" Good incorporation of the colors, and I think the subtlety of the coaster image in the black section is nice too!

[Wes]

algh22- Use the correct font if you want to win. (it begins with a G)

 

Don't backseat moderate.

[atem122]

N7's is hands down the best yet, it seems most fitting for the site from my view point, one question, what's the background image of on your card n7?

[n7]

Thanks guys - I used a shot of Kumba under a 'free commons license'. It's the double corkscrew section.

[Ryan King]

N7's for the win.

[Chroniq]

Hey N7, Do you have experience designing cards? It just looks really cohesive and awesome. Is this printable even with the small black on black theme park review in the background?

[Hercules]

N7's entry is really pro..My concern would be can they really be printed at that fidelity and come out clear. Also the designs keep getting busier and busier

 

I certainly don't see a problem with the logos or details not being able to be printed in that way. A 4 color process logo on a 30 mil PVC card with either a press polish or a laminated finish would work out well. A decent card printer should be able to do anything 4 color process without any fear of it looking bad. I like the detail that some people are using, and don't see a problem with it.

 

Hey N7, Do you have experience designing cards? It just looks really cohesive and awesome. Is this printable even with the small black on black theme park review in the background?

 

Once again, shouldn't be a problem. Any good printer should be able to do that as long as a 300 - 600 dpi file is provided.

[MG]

N7 definitely the best.

I've found this quite entertaining since all the other logos I have done have been for products and companies. Never the 'fun' element that using Gadzooks font forces you into. I will be honest, it is a hard font to work with, but epitomizes the ethos of Theme Park Review.

[Chroniq]

@Hercules .That answers that..It's kind of cool that there are experts in all fields on this board.

[n7]

Yeah, that's the breaks when you go with card printing. I used to work for a place that did batch card production and I found that what you see on the screen is not going to come out the same the first few times. Solid colors are a gamble too...the ribbons required to print and the print head itself don't always make a good seal and then you get what are called "ribbon streaks". Gah, I hated card-printing.

 

The biggest problem I could see with my design is getting the black to come out sharp. The red, green and blue should be fine because of the texture layered in - but solid black can bring some problems.

 

Don't know if you caught that - I edited it in after I posted.

 

I used to work for a company called CI|Solutions that did card printing for all sorts of venues. Special events, School IDs, Identification for hotels and other service companies. We used Zebra printers...I hated them.

 

To be honest, it all comes down to the kind of printer you're using. If you're using something like a Zebra printer...you might run into trouble. A nicer printer like a Quantum or even a Pebble will produce amazing results.

[CP_RULES]

N7's for the win.

 

Quoted for truth.

[n7]

Haha, alright guys - still got 10 days left and I'm sure there are some intense talents here.

 

Back on topic of printing - it's a lot like basic paper media. If you buy an EPSON, there's a better chance you're going to get phenomenal prints. Same goes with cards. If you get or are loaned a good printer, you shouldn't have an issue. Zebra is the most common brand...but it's really one of the worst brands for good card reproduction.

 

BTW - the best card printers are definitely Evolis's. They are truly the EPSON of the card world.

[Chroniq]

I'm assuming Robb would have to buy his own card printer as well, so when new members join he can print cards in real time. So outsourcing to a company with high end card printers is probably out of the question.. Again, I'm just speculating..

[n7]

I think it's more cost effective to get all of the fronts and backs printed in bulk offsite. That way when he makes the cards for however many thousand people there are here, he'd only have to order White/Black ribbon for the necessary text.

 

If he does choose to have them bulk printed, the color and fidelity of the card won't shift from print to print. As the print head on a card printer gets hot (after being used for long periods), it begins to transfer the ribbon differently. The hotter the head is, the darker the print is. In addition to all of that, the card printer uses 4 panels of color: Yellow, Magenta, Cyan and Black - whereas a single color panel for text would just use one. Those ribbons really add up.

[robbalvey]

n7's entry so far is by my favorite.

 

That being said I just want to keep too many "OMFG that's awesome" from being posted because it may deter others from posting their concepts.

 

Remember that this contest isn't quite looking for one definitive winner, but several ideas that could lead to our final product.

 

Thank you n7! I love it! It's professional, fun, very "TPR" and follows the instructions.

 

--Robb

[vuurvogel]

I agree, the cheapest way is to let all the cards be printed by a card company and print the names on yourself.

 

On my work we use a laserprinter for cards to burn the names numbers and photographs on the cards of the season-pass holders.

 

edit: but it is cheap because of bulk. we have about 25.000 to 30.000 season-pass holders, I don't know costs for lower numbers.

[robbalvey]

^ Actually, it's not, unless we were to print like 1,000 cards and they were all exactly the same. That's not what we are doing. We plan on buying our own card printer so we don't have to pay the additional costs of going with an outsourced company.

 

--Robb

[robbalvey]

^^ Actually, I think I know what you are saying now. Yeah, it depends on how many members we think we are going to get or if we decide to change the card after a year, for example, but yeah, if we were going to order pre-printed generic cards as our "card stock" and then only print the names and other info in B/W on the card that might be an option and we are looking into all options right now.

[n7]

But the design of the card would remain the same - just the information like "membership" "screenname" and "expiration date" would change. That could all be done on one roll of ribbon.

 

By having just the blank design printed on the cards, you'd save yourself a lot of time and unless you're getting your CMYK ribbons at wholesale, a lot of money. Companies that do bulk printing also offer price breaks when you reach certain levels - for a thousand cards printed with just the blank graphic, you could save somewhere around 25%.

 

EDIT - ah, you're too fast.