Business cards contain -on roughly 7 square inch- a summary of your organization, your product and yourself. Quite an achievement... How do you make that first, vital impression a positive experience? Ten crucial design tips.
Business card design Tip 1: What's it all about
Always keep in mind the primary aim of your business cards: to hand over your name and contact information. Give these data in such a way that the receiver:
- gets an actual impression of what your organization/business does (e.g. with a slogan / payoff);
- gets a feeling of how well your organization does its job (by means of a perfect quality design).
Keep that purpose ('Name - Telephone - Email') in mind and you prevent your design from being overly pretty and NO USE AT ALL!
Business card design tip 2: Make your name readable
The name of your organization should stand out. Especially with text logos your business name could be less readable because of a strong graphical adaptation. If this is the case then be sure to have your card contain the name also in plain text.
Business card design tip 3: Prevent an information overkill
Another open door that we definitely have to kick in: make sure that all the elements on your business cards are readable. So abstain from an overdose of information, which would make your font size too small. Too much information also makes it hard for anyone to see what your card is all about. The card is not a leaflet. If your business card is not clear, what does that say about your business? If for some reason (I can't imagine which) you do have to put a lot of information on your card, be sure to create a clear hierarchy: help your reader by making it clear what the most important elements are and what a block of information is about.
Business card design tip 4: Have your core info stand out
Watch your design(er): make sure that your core information (Name, Telephone, and E-mail) is immediately clear. Don't put design before content (meaning a prominently placed logo while your business name etc. resides somewhere (oh there) in the corner). Whatever you do, make these data stand out, make them well readable and be sure they can be found with one glance on your precious card. Well known pitfalls:
- too much accent on the logo;
- too much content;
- too many design elements (competing with each other);
- not enough contrast between text and background.
Business card design tip 5: Try this for measure
Business cards don't have to be a simple peace of heavyweight paper of 3.5 inch x 2 inch (or 8.5 x 5.5 cm). You can choose other sizes. Some designers even look for Feng Shui proportions in their cards. Also a die-cut that makes sense (relates to your product/company etc.) can make your card attract attention. You can usually design the die-cut in your illustrating program (like Illustrator or Corel Draw) and give the file to your commercial printer. You can also look for an original folding form (e.g. a mini-brochure). The printing costs will go up slightly. A word of warning though… Stay within the standard size of approximately 3.5 inch x 2 inch, otherwise your card won't fit in the organizers etc. of your business relations. Which is quite an annoyance, believe me!
Business card design tip 6: Portrait instead of landscape
Most business cards have a landscape orientation. So why not make it portrait? It's a simple trick to attract attention. However, I'm not a great supporter of this practice. And there is a practical reason for that: it's quite irritating to have these portrait business cards in your organizer. Every time you look at it, you have to crane your head in a 90 degrees angle to read that telephone number you're looking for. Unless you apply Tip number 7.
Business card design tip 7: Make it legible in a card index box
Whatever your favorite orientation, it's good practice to have at least your business name well legible when your card is in an card index box or business card organizer. That means the name is in the upper part considered from a landscape view (whatever the orientation of the card itself). The same applies for the telephone number and e-mail address.
Business card design tip 8: Choose your paper wisely
Choosing a special kind of paper for your cards can make them stand out from the crowd. But the choice is not completely free. It depends strongly on the field of business in which you're active. A too unusual paper will surely draw attention, but on the negative side. Ask yourself if the paper fits your field of business. If not, don't hesitate and throw it in the waste paper basket. You may stretch or seek the limits of credibility but do not cross them (unless your company is known for its 'innovative approach' etc.). Ask your printer for books with paper samples or suggest your designer to make the paper an important part of the overall design.
Business card design tip 9: Give something extra
In some cases it can be effective to add something extra on your business cards. E.g.:
- some information on the backside of the card;
- something useful for your business relations, like a calendar, a ruler, a conversion table of non metric measures, an overview of browser window sizes with several screen resolutions for web designers etc. What's useful depends on the kind of business relations you have.
Business card design tip 10: And now for something completely different
If you really want to do something else, look for the specialties: varnish effects, embossment, metal cards, business card sized CD-ROM's etc. Agreed, it's expensive, but just once in a while it is fitting and in that case its probably worthwhile. But always be sure that the special form or treatment of your card relates in some way to your content, meaning your company, your product of yourself. Otherwise it's wasted money.
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