Monument Graphics Blog

Some exceptional examples of business card designs and conceptual business cards. Here is an updated list.

These doggy, cat and other pet business cards are unbelievably “cute”. Artist Lili Chin, the founder of  doggiedrawings does an exceptional job of creating contemporary portraits of peoples pets -these playful images make great business cards too!

This business card design was created by Wes Thomas. The laser-cut business card transforms into a cute desktop toy.  Who wouldn’t want a  business  card toy for their desk?

Designer Sam Gough of RDA, created a handful of “carved” wooden business cards! Not sure how it was done but the result is amazing! (The kind of card you would only give out to your most beloved clients)

Photographer, Toby Keller of Burnblue has created some really slick business cards (that he printed with Overnight Prints.) The spot UV on black print effect has always been a favorite finish of mine. It looks really classy and sophisticated.

Hows about this for a sweet business card idea! Using sachets as business cards is the  brilliant concept of the Israeli arm of ad agency superweights, BBDO (Gitam BBDO). Each condiment represents a different department. Supercool (and practical)!

Reblis designer, Michael Silber, has engaged clients and made the mobile version of his website easily accessible with these neat little QR business cards. If you have a  QR reader app installed on your phone – take a pic and try it out for yourself!

We love bookmarks as business cards and we love this bookmark business card design from artist,  kunklebaby . She posted it on Overnight Prints Flickr group and we couldn’t resist showing it to the rest of our readers! The luxury handcrafted feel card is a perfect complement to her work.

This very green and eco friendly business card looks great! This terrific hand-made card was made by Micha Kaufman, co founder of  Fivver. They are created using a  rubber stamp , an address label, and a bit of corrugated card  he found!! Cool!

This great little idea that was posted on the  Overnight Prints flickr page by designer Kenn Wilson. It’s  a  real “lo-fi” way of making your business card really personal and one-of-a-kind. He’s used traditional print methods plus colored pencil touches to create a totally unique and custom “color-it-in” business card.

This business card in the shape of a clapper board was designed by Ralev.com for a multimedia agency called Feelme Crew. It’s a really creative way to make a more  interactive business card  (not that hard to do something like this yourself!)

These partly hand-made business cards were made by Laura Moretz. They represent a really cool and sophisticated way of using address labels as a feature of your business cards. The superthick stock, clean and classic design, and beautiful font usage, combine to make this a really memorable business card.

This vivid, retro piece of design elegance from Polytron Corporation is an example of really sharp graphical design that is both cool and precise.

This design from swap-bot.com is really cute and playful – perfectly designed  for the fun “swapping” community site that it represents. I particularly like the accompanying “hand-made” matchbox.

Stunning design from Tree in the Sky graphic design studio. The rounded corners really complement the circular design elements. It’s also a great example of Spot-UV printing.

Howard Weliver has illustrated and designed a superb business card to promote his site, welistration.com. I Particularly like the signature spot UV effect that he used.

A bad-ass skull tattoo design from Red Sky Tattoo. Love the gold UV on black.

Funny and sweet logo and business card design from wedgienet.net

Oral Fixation Mints are the coolest mints (pun intended). The design of their entire web and print brand is really excellent. The tin box card holders (that usually hold their mints) are a perfect fit for their cards and are a really nice touch!

This is such a cool design from Miguel Reyes. The black silhouette on top of the glowing pink color is so eye-catching.

This is such a great idea from Mogibo! Make your own little “Ivan Turčin” figure out of a business card!

Vertex.com have created a business card with a really sweet “3D” effect on them (yes! it’s not actually a box!)

Excellent folded business card from visual communication experts  BroHouse.

Fantastic design by Arran Peterson. I’ve always loved the black gloss on black matt effect.

I wonder if Jessica Acosta read my article about creating fancy bookmarks?  I’m a big fan of bookmark business cards. By creating a business card out of a bookmark, you are making a print product that no one wants to get rid of! (why would they! They can use them as a bookmark!) These are twice as effective, because they look terrific -  I also love Jessica’s doll designs at www.dollproject.com

Okay…this is far less of a “traditional” business card (unlike the rest of the business cards in this list.) But I couldn’t write a blog about my favorite business cards without mentioning our friends over at meatcards.com! No, your eyes don’t deceive you! That is actually a business card that is also a piece of jerky meat? Crazy, huh!? You can actually print your details on a piece of meat!

Source : Overnight Prints Design & Print Blog: http://overnightprints.com/blog/

Friday, September 10, 2010

A few weeks back when I heard that a fire was in progress at the St. Regis Hotel, I felt a tightness in my stomach, concerned that one of the few historically significant structures left in the downtown area was going to be lost forever. But thanks to the fast work of the Grand Junction Fire Department the building was saved, suffering damage to a small portion of the restaurant, Naggy McGee’s.

The hotel was started in 1893 by William H. and Allie Neff and Anna Scott. It was completed and opened in 1895 as the Grand Hotel and Restaurant.

Harry Earl Barnett Sr. purchased the hotel in 1904 and in 1906 added the west wing, increasing guest rooms to 28, some with connecting baths and some with just lavatories. This addition also enlarged the size of the dining room. It was renamed The New Grand Hotel.

For years, it was a leading hotel in western Colorado. It had a massive bar and a ballroom for nightly dances. The lobby was Mission-style architecture and was the gathering place for guests. Also on the main floor off the lobby was a ladies parlor and sample rooms used by traveling salesmen.

In 1908 with the completion of the third floor, Burnett thought that the hotel needed a new name and held a contest offering a $25 prize to the traveling salesman who came up with best name. St. Regis was it.

Burnett Sr. was a member of many of the service and social organizations in town, and the hotel became the place for these groups to meet.

In 1920, Burnett Sr. sold half-interest in the St. Regis to his son, Harry Earl Burnett Jr., retaining the other half interest for himself. Burnett Sr. died in August 1924.

Over the years, the St. Regis had several well-known visitors, one of which was Jack Dempsey. In an oral history interview done through the Mesa County Oral History Project, Harry Lloyd Burnett said that his father, Harry Jr., and heavyweight boxing champion Dempsey were best friends. Harry L. also said that his father was Dempsey’s first manager. Through the years, Dempsey was a frequent visitor at the hotel to visit Burnett Jr.

In 1924 Rex Howell, owner of the new radio station KREX, broadcast live music from the hotel featuring the Armand de Beque dance band.

Prohibition ended in 1933 and by 1936 the St. Regis opened the first cocktail lounge in town, the Oriental Room and Cocktail Lounge, according to a story in the Journal of the Western Slope.

During the 1940s, St. Regis was a bustling place. Military pilots shuttling from one coast to another stayed there, as did military personnel from Pando and the 10th Mountain Division from Camp Hale near Leadville.

A resident of the St. Regis was William Moyer, best known for giving the city of Grand Junction the first public swimming pool. When Burnett Jr. ran into Moyer walking down the street with suitcase in hand and asked him where he was off to, Moyer replied that he had no place to live because he had no money.

Burnett took him to the St. Regis where he lived until a short time before his death when he was moved to a nursing home. Moyer died in 1943.

The hotel remained popular for train travelers until the automobile became a more popular means of transportation and motels with all the modern conveniences sprang up in more convenient locations.

The St. Regis got a new lease on life during the uranium boom of the 1950s when the bar business became the main money maker. The St. Regis was so popular that the sample rooms on the first floor were remodeled to make room for the crowds.

Burnett Jr. died in 1960, and the hotel was sold to A.W. O’Brien and Amos and Roland Raso in 1961.  By the 1980s, the bar business overshadowed the hotel business, and the hotel was closed in 1985.

In 1986, the St. Regis dodged the wrecking ball, and today this historic building has multiple uses, including condos, offices and the restaurant.

Kathy Jordan is retired from The Daily Sentinel and involved in many preservation efforts, including the railroad depot and the North Seventh Street Historic Residential District.