FRONT - top card old business card design, bottom new business card design

BACK - top card old business card design, bottom new business card design

1. Be consistent, you moron!
The old cards didn’t really match the overall look and feel of my branding…I know better than this so how could I be so dumb?

2. Less is more because the old more was unreadable!
It was a few years ago and I thought every detail of my business had to be on one card…all that stuff basically confused the heck outta people or made the card unreadable and useless. Not good.

3. White space is your friend!
Font vomit and logo diarrhea is not your friend yet the old card had both of them and none of the white space. Ya gotta give people’s eyes room to read and even relax a bit with a card, they’ll probably retain more info that way. Still not sure if the main logo and the secondary logo will throw people off or if it won’t matter much to anyone.

4. Oh, you do voice overs too?
Somewhere in the old card, you might be able to tell that the president of the company may have, at one time in his career, actually performed voice overs himself. In the new card, especially on the front, that should be clearer now. Titles are for suckers and it appears at one time I was a sucker for titles.

5. If you are creative, show it!
It took me some time, but on the back I created a design to show the company, everything the company offered and tied in the logo all without making people’s eyes bleed.

Extra points: In a year or so I’ll do another blog post on how I have come to hate my new card design too.

It also seems like all the cool people are redesigning their business cards this time of year 😉

Now these are my takeaways, but your opinions on the old versus new business card may be vastly different…and that’s OK, I want to know what they are in either case.

Please share.

Tags: branding, commentary, logo design, marketing, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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My friend John Florian who runs the on-line voice over news center Voice-Over Xtra! sent an email to me (and probably 1,000 of my closest friends) asking for some insight in to our workload for political voiceover projects during the 2010 mid-term elections that just blew through the U.S. like a cyclone.

The purpose of the survey, which I took, is to gauge (among other things) what types of political advertisements most voice talents voiced this season. Positive or negative? Issue or attack ads? Funded by PAC’s or other groups etc.

Nobody is asked to share their personal political beliefs or anything like that.

The most interesting result I want to find out from this survey is whether voice talents on average will or will not voice spots for issues or politicians they do not believe in. Some people will say no and some will say…it’s just a job and as a voice actor, I need to act like I believe in this or that; it’s not an endorsement.

I know for me, I have only one issue that I look at with possible political spots and if the spot or the candidate runs contrary to that belief, then I decline the business. Others might see things differently so I look forward to the survey results.

So if you did a political spot this year, go take the survey here.

Tags: advertising, commercials, political advertising, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Evidently Elley Ray Hennessy and Deb Munro either became fast friends at Voices of Vision in September or cemented their friendship there because they’ve scheduled voiceover seminar featuring them both on December 4 & 5, 2010 in Toronto.

According to their promo information for the event: “Deb and Elley Ray will engage participants on the vast spectrum of voice overs covering everything from characters to broadcasting, skills to business, with tips on the local and online markets. This unique workshop will push participants beyond their limits, expanding their knowledge about auditioning, acting techniques and much more.”

Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend because I will be in New York at the Voice Talent Productions Holiday party but that’s just as well because there aren’t that many spots left for Deb and Elley Ray’s special voice over event! To learn more or to register for the event email workshops@micnme.com

Tags: commentary, voice actors, voice over training, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voices of vision by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
1 Comment »

Announcer Charlie O'Donnell

For about 28 years, Charlie O’Donnell has been the voice (along with Jack Clark and M.G. Kelly) of the enormously popular game show Wheel of Fortune. This goes back to when the show was on NBC daytime and Chuck Woolery was the host (you mean their was a host before Pat Sajak?). He was still on the show at the time of his death.

He began his television career with Dick Clark on American Bandstand, and then served as announcer for shows like the Oscars, the Emmys and The Newlywed Game. I remember when I worked in radio, Charlie was the intro announcer (and I think fill in host sometimes) on Dick Clark’s Rock, Roll and Remember shows.

His voice for me was unmistakable and always welcome. God’s speed pal.

Tags: announcers, commentary, requiescat in pace, tv, voice talent, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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READ ALL THE DETAILS HERE!

See you there!

Tags: commentary, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
1 Comment »

Here’s is the NEW Faffcon 2 promo video featuring the voice talents of Bruce Miles, Philip Banks, Peter K. O’Connell, Anthony Mendez, Bob Souer and Diane Maggipinto.

Look, this is geeky of me I’ll grant you, but I think it’s cool that I edited most of this video and then uploaded it on to You Tube from my airline seat flying at 36,000 feet. Oh by the way, this blog post is coming to you from that very same altitude and seat.

Fair warning, I will be at this Faffcon…I guess I can register from my seat too. I hope you will come…it’s gonna be big.

Please promote the heck outta this video. Thanks.

Tags: faffcon, video, voice over training, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
3 Comments »