Lillie McDonagh Graphic Designer Business Card

Lillie McDonagh designed these business cards for her self-branding as a freelance visual communication designer based in Sydney, Australia.

Lillie is the creative mind and maker behind Lil’ Designs, which specialises in hand-lettered and illustrated greeting cards and paper goodies for celebrating loved ones and happy moments.

Motivated by a love for snail mail and a constant search for the perfect set of versatile cards, Lil’ Designs focuses on creating fun and playful cards that don’t take themselves too seriously, designed around sharing sweet and loving messages suitable for any occasion, or even for no occasion at all!

“All designs are drawn by hand, printed, cut and folded by me, Lillie, and sent off to you to spread a little bit of joy,” Lillie said.

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Brand Image & Typography

The business card design has a positive and fun vibe to it, although it’s simple yet very welcoming!

Lillie shared, “My business card design centres around me as a designer and creator of Lil’ Designs. It seeks to capture the fun and playful nature of my work, particularly through the use of illustration. At the same time, it also maintains a sense of elegance and professionalism through the typeface choices and layout,” Lillie explained.

“The combination of typefaces speaks to the simple yet playful nature of my designs. I chose P22 Mackinac Pro as the display font, which sits well with the small sparkle-like illustrations, paired with a simpler, sans-serif font called Degular.”

“The mix of serif and sans-serif typefaces creates a nice contrast and hierarchy in the business card design, which translates well into additional stationery pieces to create distinction between titles and body text.”

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Colours & Illustration

Lillie’s brand colours were built on one of her favourite colour combinations of mustard and white, occasionally paired with a light pink hue.

At the same time, she also incorporated sparkle illustrations on both sides of her business card, and it’s been added to Lil’ Designs’ logo as well to connect her identity as a freelance designer with her small business.

“The sparkle itself symbolises creative spirit and the sense of joy I pursue through creating and designing, as well as that I aim to share through my work.”

Business Card Printing

Currently, Lillie prints and cuts the business cards herself to get a more textured and hand-made finish. It gives a more personal touch and can be sent along with the packaging along with any of her design work or greeting card orders, or even for handing out to possible work partners.

But if the business cards ever get to printing, “Eventually, I would love to have these cards professionally printed on a letterpress, as I really love the character it creates while maintaining that same hand-made feel,” Lillie suggested.

“The business cards would be printed on a thick, off-white textured paper, potentially with the addition of painted edges in a rich mustard colour to pick up on the text and illustrations.”