10th Grade — Creating Business Cards with Photoshop

⏰ Do Now — Start Here

What is the ONE piece of information a business card can never be missing?

🎯 Today's Big Question

How do we design a professional business card that represents a personal or invented brand?

📈 By the End of Today, You Will Be Able To

Identify the Rulers and Guides options in Photoshop and list the steps to create them.
Design a simple, easy-to-read business card with the right amount of information.
Use Photoshop's built-in shape and type tools to build a finished, print-ready card.

🧰 What You'll Need

Computer with Photoshop
Business card size reference (3.5" x 2")
Printer (optional, for proofs)

📋 Your Plan for Today

Day 1: Plan

Do Now (5 min): what's the ONE piece of information a business card can never be missing? Mini-lesson (10 min): what makes a business card design "good" -- simple, readable, the right amount of information.
Independent planning (25 min): decide on a personal or invented business identity (name, role, contact info, simple logo) and sketch a layout on paper.
Share (5 min).

Day 2: Build

Do Now (5 min): review your paper sketch.
Mini-lesson/demo (10 min): demo setting up rulers and guides in Photoshop.
Independent build (25 min): build your card using shape and type tools, using rulers/guides for alignment.
Save progress (5 min).

Day 3: Finalize & Critique

Do Now (5 min): is your card simple and readable? Check with a partner.
Peer critique (10 min): feedback on readability and design.
Final revisions (20 min): revise based on feedback.
Export (10 min).

🖥️ Today's Slide Deck

Short, on-the-board pacing slides — project these to follow along. (The full details are in the handout above, not here.)

📚 Key Words

Rulers & Guides: Non-printing lines in Photoshop used to align elements precisely.
Business Card: A small printed card sharing a person or business's name, contact info, and brand.
Brand Identity: The visual system (logo, colors, fonts) a person or business uses to present itself consistently.

✅ What Your Finished Work Should Include

Business card scored with a rubric: simple and readable, correct information included, rulers/guides used for alignment.

Exit Ticket: What makes a business card design "good" versus "cluttered"?

📊 Before You Leave

Quick, anonymous class check-in -- takes less than a minute.

Class Check-In

📤 How You Submit This — For Credit

How you submit today's work depends on what kind of work it was. Physical/paper work (most of this semester so far): photograph it with a classroom camera, upload the photo from its SD card onto a computer, and save it into your portfolio -- that upload is your submission, and the physical piece itself is yours to keep, the same as in Grade 9 (your notebook is the one thing with a home base in the room, and even that's your call to bring home when you want it). Digital work (once you're producing files in Photoshop, second semester on): no camera needed -- instead, EXPORT the file. Export your finished project as a JPG, as a PNG, AND save a copy as a PSD (all three), then upload all three into your portfolio. Either way: the portfolio upload, with a description, is what actually counts as turning the assignment in for credit.

📁 Portfolio Update — Once a Week

Once a week, add your best finished or in-progress piece to your portfolio (the Google Drive folder you started in Grade 9, becoming your Google Sites portfolio in Lesson 10) with a 1-2 sentence caption: what it is, what tool/skill it used, and one thing you learned. Keep it current -- don't save it all for the portfolio-website lesson.

✍️ Example description for your Google Sites portfolio (fill in YOUR blanks -- don't just copy this):

For this piece, I made ______________ (name what you made) for “Creating Business Cards with Photoshop.” This project asked: “How do we design a professional business card that represents a personal or invented brand?” I used Rulers & Guides by ______________ (explain how you used it in THIS piece). The hardest part was ______________, and I solved it by ______________. I'm proud of ______________ because ______________.

🎓 ACP Exam Prep

This lesson connects to the Photoshop Adobe Certified Professional exam: Domain 2: Project Setup and Interface · Domain 4: Creating and Modifying Visual Elements

🔗 Want to Learn More?

🚀 The Extra Mile

Cross-Class Connection: The same "personal brand" thinking a Business class covers when discussing professional identity.

Career Connection: A business card system is the literal first deliverable in most Advertising & Marketing branding jobs.

Go further -- turn this into a portfolio piece:

Design a full mini-brand (business card plus one matching social icon) for a real or invented small business you'd actually want to run. Start here: set up a new Illustrator document at actual business card size (3.5 x 2 inches) with bleed guides before designing anything, so the card is print-ready from your first mark.
Design a "club officer" card set for a real school club's leadership team — genuine, usable material. Start here: get the real officer names and titles from the club first — don't design with placeholder "Jane Doe" text you'll only have to redo later.