A lesser-known fact about VectorWorks is its compelling advantages as a graphic design tool. Features such as surface objects and their editing options (Add Surface, Clip Surface, etc.), controlled duplication, symbols, viewports, and 3D capabilities make it possible to do things that are more difficult or downright impossible in conventional graphic applications such as Illustrator and Photoshop. Here is a primer on how VectorWorks is used for this purpose.
Create a new document.
File > New… For this purpose, don't use any of the architectural templates, but use a completely blank document.
Set your (Primary) Units to Inches
As you know from the start of the course, you'll find this in File > Document Settings > Units…
Make a rectangle of business card size.
Make a rectangle of approximately the right size, then select it and change its Obj Info settings to 3.5" wide and 2" high.
NOTE: Remember, no need to type the inches sign (") if you've set the Primary units to be Inches.
Set its Fill to solid white [4].
Duplicate and resize the rectangle.
Business cards should maintain an 1/8" margin on all sides.
To mark this, boundary duplicate the rectangle on the spot (Option-click it on the Mac, Ctrl-click it in Windows), then click its centre handle in the Obj Info palette to indicate that you wish to resize it from its centre, then type -2/8 from both the Width and Height figures of the duplicate in the Obj Info palette, and press tab or Enter [2] for it to take effect.
NOTE: I say "2/8" rather than "1/4" to underline the point that we're subtracting 1/8 on either side – but 1/4 would just as valid.
Remove fill and change to a dotted line.
Remove the fill from the new, smaller rectangle [1], and change its line type to a dotted line (Dash Style-5) [2].
Lock the rectangles in place
To prevent their accidental shifting out of place, select the two rectangles and Modify > Lock them in place.
Add the text and customize
Using the standard Text tool (not Callout) [1], create separate text blocks for the three textual components of a business card:
• the business name [2]
• the cardholder's name, qualifications & position [3], and
• contact information [4].
Use the Obj Info palette to set the Font, Size [4], Style [5], Horiz. and Vert. Alignment and (in the case of the contact information block) the Spacing [6] of each textblock.
Try to avoid using any text smaller than 9pt, or 8pt at the minimum – to aid legibility.
NOTES:
1. Your card should always include a postal address: not having one suggests an unreliable, "fly-by-night operation." If you don't want to put your actual address, rent a mailing address or post box for the purpose.
2. A fax number in the 2010s is no longer essential, however, if you choose to have one, consider a fax-to-email service such as myfax.com
3. An email address is essential – but try to avoid ones hosted at Hotmail or Yahoo, as they do not suggest a business that is either not well established, or not very professional in its electronic comminications. At the very least, use Gmail or one hosted by your local ISP.
Your qualifications, if any, should go immediately after your name, in one or two smaller point sizes, with no commas. Instead of "Director" (which is more suited to a limited company with several employees), as a self-employed individual you could state "Principal."
Snap contact info textblock to the margin
With Snap to Object on [1], drag the contact info textblock from its corner to the appropriate corner of the margin rectangle [2].
Optional: turn text into polylines
One of the useful tricks in the VectorWorks graphic design toolbox is to the ability to turn fonts of a particular kind (TrueType) into actual polyline objects. This is useful when you need a particular typeface, but just want to make a small change to one or more letters.
Simply select the text, and choose Text > TrueType to Polyline [1].
The result can then be filled with any colour, pattern or hatch [2]; Reshaped, clipped or added to other surface objects, etc. [3]
NOTE: Once converted into a polyline, you can't convert it back to a font (short of Edit > Undo).
Add, Fill, and Reshape a graphic
To maximize your options, it is best to use one of the polygon tools [1], rather than lines.
Add a Solid, Pattern, Hatch, Gradient, or Image fill, as required [2].
Double-click it to Reshape it, if you like. In this case, for example, I used the Modify Vertex mode [3] to change each straight corner to a Bezier curve [4].
Use all Basic tools at your disposal to achieve the desired effect
In this case, for example, the semi-circle of the "P" [1] was mirror-duplicated and shifted down to form the bottom part of a lowercase "d" [2].
A small semi-circle was created and added at the top [3] to complete the form of a lowercase "a", etc. A Gradient blue was applied to the entire selection [4] (see two steps ahead for more info on gradients).
Colours: CMYK
In graphics printing, colours are specified in terms of their CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key [=Black]) composition. You'll find this popdown in the Slider mode of the Colors dialog [1] when you click on the colour field in the Attributes palette.
Gradient fills
If you choose Gradient as your fill type, make use of one of the many preset gradients available [1], and then choose how you wish to apply it to the surface object(s) that you have selected. You can apply the gradient to Each Object individually, or spread across the whole Selection of objects (if you have more than one). You can have the Gradient Linear, or Radial, Rectangular, or Angular, vary its Length and Angle [4] and optionally Repeat the pattern at the end of each Length, and/or Reverse it [5].
For transparency effects, use the opacity setting within the Attributes palette
By default, all fills are 100% opaque – but you can vary this by clicking on the Transparency popup in the Attributes palette, and moving the Slider to something less than 100%.
NOTE: You can also set opacity to a whole Class – in which case, you would assign the object to that Class, and then ask it to Use Class Opacity in this dialog [3].
(To set transparency of a Class…)
In the Edit Class(es) dialog, simply set the Opacity to the degree of opacity that you want (e.g., 30% Opacity = 70% Transparency).
Applying a Semi-Transparent class
To apply the semi-transparency to an object, simply assign it to that Class.
Image fills
Another option for fills is Image – choose Image from the Fill popdown, then click and hold on the fill rectangle to from any of the default selection available.
Combining fonts, images, styles
Don't limit yourself only to variations of a given font: play on the business name, if possible, to introduce images and incorporate them into the name as opposed to having them as a separate graphic [1]. You can also use more than one font in logo, to set one part off another – usually combined with a different colour or style [2].
Symbolize the logo
Once the design is complete, select all its components – text and graphics/imagery – and create a symbol out of it. This way, any changes you make to the design will appear automatically in all its appearances (business card, letterhead, titleblock, etc.)
Unlock the rectangles
In preparation for preparing the business card for print, select the two bounding rectangles, and Unlock them.
Make the internal rectangle invisible; make the external one the crop for a viewport
Make the internal rectangle invisible by giving its line a zero thickness [1, 2] (or making it a No-Fill kind of line)
Make the external rectangle the cropping polygon of a viewport.
NOTE: This latter step is not essential, but very useful, as it ensures that it crops any backdrop fill that you might have that spills out beyond the 3.5" x 2" boundary.
Name and place the business card viewport
Confirm the dialog that asks if you wish to use the external rectangle as the cropping polygon of the viewport [1], then in the following dialogs, name it, name the Drawing Title that we'll place next to it [2], and put it on a New Sheet Layer called, say, Business Card, Comp. slip [3] (since we may make a second sheet, just for the letterhead at full letter size).
Change the crop line to invisible
Since business cards do not, as a rule, have a thin black line around its edge, we must eliminate the line by going into the Crop part of the viewport [1], and similarly changing it to zero-thickness lineweight [2].
Dimension the card
We do this not because we need to verify its dimensions, or display them, but in order to create the eight lines that the card printer uses to line up their guillotine blade for cutting the card stock to the right size. These are known as crop lines (see circled – not to be confused with the crop polygon used in the viewport.)
For the actual dimensioning, click on the card to select it [1], use the standard Constrained Line Dimension tool [2], but – for the sake of simplicity, instead of using it in the Constrained Linear or Chain dimension mode, use the fifth mode – the Selected Objects Dimension mode [3], which in one click-and-drag provides a dimension of all the object(s) currently selected [4].
Repeat this on all four sides of the card.
Then Ungroup the dimensions
This is not something you normally do, but in this case, yes, because all we need are the witness lines of the dimensions. Shift-select all four dimensions, then Modify > Ungroup (⌘U ; Windows: Ctrl+U), and confirm the dialog which asks if you wish to ungroup high-level objects.
Once they are Ungrouped, select and delete all the components of the dimensions, except the witness lines.
Resulting business card, ready for printing
Arrange duplicates on a sheet and prepare for print
Shift-Opt-drag (Windows: Shift-Ctrl-drag) a duplicate to the left, then select both and do the same downwards to create an aligned array of business cards, which you can make a PDF from to send to the card printers.
