On November 1, 2007 I left U-Save Tire and went to work for Shamrock Tire as Store Manager. Part of my new responsibilities include increasing sales, and since I needed business cards anyway, I designed a card for Shamrock Tire. I also created a logotype along with the card. Since the business name is Shamrock Tire, I elected to use a green and yellow color scheme for the cards, but chose not to use the obvious to create a logo. Instead, I elected to create a logotype which hearkens back to the days of full service filling stations and personal responsibility. Shamrock Tire has been in business more than 75 years, since the 1930s, and the General Manager and I firmly believe that one primary element that differentiates businesses today is commitment to customer service. An integral part of customer service is a personal relationship with customers. For this reason, a handwritten text treatment is used for the name and address information on the card. While Shamrock has a long history, it nevertheless offers the latest tires and modern mounting and balancing equipment. To reflect this commitment to modern tire technologies, I also elected to boldy display the most popular tires sold at the store, one per card, and cardholders could choose which tire they wished to feature on their cards. The result is a business card that reflects a long history and commitment to service and personal attention to customers, as well as knowledge of today's modern tire industry. These business cards have been popular with recipients and customers alike.

They have been so popular in fact that Tire Dealers Warehouse, owned by the same company that owns Shamrock Tire, requested their own similar business cards. For this related project, I kept the same general layout and text treatments, but changed the colors and used the existing TDW logo which is in use on all the company's invoices and trucks. The new TDW business cards have been as popular as the Shamrock business cards.

My friend Craig Sooter founded Harvey County News in the summer of 2007. My role in this new venture was to create a newspaper template and business cards. We needed a professional printed appearance, but wanted to clearly reflect the Kansas flavor of the publication and staff. Of course, no other item says "Kansas" like the sunflower! So I selected a stock photo of a sunflower that I could use on the full color cards in such a way to be unique. I also elected to make the newspaper's logo a personal logo, since the weekly tabloid's focus was to be on the positive people news available in multiple communities in Harvey County. Unlike other papers, the HCN quickly set a personal tone with readers, writing about the people, businesses and issues that mattered to the people in these communities. The business cards received comments everywhere they were presented. I think you'll agree that the cards are nothing like those at other newspapers.

The Tire Industry Association offers training, certificates and certifications for all things related to tires, including tire basics, tire installation, wheel torquing, and tire pressure monitoring systems. There are only several dozen TIA certified advanced instructors in the nation. Stan Swope is one of them. His certification allows him to provide all the courses offered by TIA and to certify instructors. Though most people do not know what kind of detail and knowledge is required to properly and safely install and repair tires, Stan believes training to be one of the most valuable assets to any business selling and installing tires, as he has seen this first hand in his own business, U-Save Tire. With the proper training, tire stores take preventative, proactive steps to maximize safety for installers and drivers alike, and greatly reduce or eliminate costly mistakes and returns, all of which affect a business' bottom line. For Stan's needs, we were able to use the TIA logo and borrowed the red from its color palette. But that wasn't enough. We wanted to make it clear at a glance what the training involved, so we added a tire in motion as a graphic to demonstrate that the training he provides matters most when wheels are in motion on our city streets and nation's highways. We also employed a standard Helvetica typeface used in many logos and corporate identities and in markings on the sidewalls of tires. The result is an attractive card that demands attention.

Shakey's Family Motorsports Restaurant in Halstead, Kansas, serves a standard American menu. What sets them apart is the restaurant's exciting motorsports theme. Shakey's seeks to be a destination as well as a restaurant. A bright, bold, full color 2-sided business card is part of Shakey's identity. This business card employs the Shakey's logo and borrows design elements from Shakey's menu, specifically lots of yellow, bold sans serif type, checkered flag and NASCAR background. These elements are carried over onto the back, where the bulk of Shakey's menu is printed in a friendly script typeface so customers can call orders in for carry-out. Shakey's business card is designed to be memorable enough that customers keep them and use them, especially when they are hungry. Shakey's business cards have proven to be very popular with patrons, and have also been made into magnets (without the menu, of course). Shakey's business cards were designed under contract for Imagineer Productions.

My service to U-Save Tire, LLC dates back to 2004, when I left Koch Creative Services to purchase the business. Though the owner got cold feet and backed out of the sale, he hired me to help him grow and manage the business (that's what brothers are for, after all). One of the first things that I did for U-Save Tire was create an identity equal to the business we wanted to be. This identity included business cards. These business cards incorporate yellow and black, the company's chosen colors, and answers questions that we were being asked at the time by customers coming into the store. Do you sell used tires? Do you sell new tires? Passenger car tires? Light truck tires? Low profile tires? The answers are set as bullet points in two columns. We also answer the question every customer should ask of every business: What makes your business better than others like it? In our case, we stock more used tires than any other retail used tire store we know about. We also inspect our tires as we place them into storage and restock our shelves, and pressure test every tire by completely submerging it under water before it leaves our store. Due to our inspection and pressure testing practices, we also offer a 30-day limited warranty on all our used tires, too, which further sets us apart in the industry. On the card we also include our simple logotype, a quality photograph of our product and our contact information, including FAX number and web site address. We have since made this card into a magnet, too, which has been very popular with our customers.