On the right track...

First off, sorry for the example's quality. My scanner at work is MIA, so my iPhone had to make due.

I was walking out of my local music store the other day, and stopped at the bulletin board where people can post fliers, ads, business cards etc. when I found this.

I really like it, I like the concept and idea that the designer/photographer went for, what I don't care for is how it was executed.

First off, I LOVE the idea of the of making it look like a Polaroid. It's pretty cool, and I haven't seen this format used for a promotional handout before.

Now for I don't care for. First off, photography -- or lack there of.

This is for a promotional piece designed to show off and advertise for someone's freelance photography business. So, naturally you would think of putting your best/ favorite photo or a collage of your work on it. This does neither. Here they have the PERFECT opportunity to show off their photography in a creative way. I would have loved to see a photo put in place of the black void, and make it look like a real Polaroid.

Onto type now... Okay, so you need something that reflects you, and reflects your type of work and it's image. But please lay off on the arches and the mixed bevel and embossing. ("Kiss" is flat, "Ass Photography" are embossed). While they may look "cool", and "trendy" Photoshop layer effects and styles should be used lightly, and only when appropriate. Overusing them, or using them often tends to make things look a little cheap and tacky, and that is something we don't want out business to come across as.

I would stick with one or two fonts, keep things uniform and mix them well with your logo. I would make the web address stand out, as well as any other contact details. You shouldn't really make them dark, and lay off on the pattern fill overlay.

The back of the card is pretty simple and made to look like the back of a Polaroid. The main concern here is the misspelling. "There" is spelled wrong. It should be "Their". The Oatmeal has a nice comic on 10 words to stop misspelling. "Kiss" is okay in red, however I would suggest that it be solid and the underline taken out.

Over all, I think it's pretty good. Just a few changes to make. I now wish I had thought of using a Polaroid-like design for a photography promotional item.

I know that photographers are not graphic designers, nor the other way around, so we all have to do the best we can.