ExecutiveChronicles | 5 Key Tips for Designing a Business Card | Despite the world leaning towards paperless ways of doing business, a business card remains the quickest and easiest way of handing over your details. To prevent your cards from becoming garbage bin fodder, you’ll need to make sure your business card is useful or intriguing. If you’re looking for ways to make your business cards memorable, read on for some tips for professionally designed business cards.
1. Stick to Design Principles for Professional Business Cards
To make the most of your printed cards, make sure that your design fits within the basic design guidelines:
- All text should be at least 5mm away from the edge to be trimmed
- All artwork should be at least 300dpi for clear reproduction
- Keep text at a legible size
- Use CMYK colors in your design, if you’re not working in spot colors
Sticking to those basic printer requirements will ensure you pass all the prepress requirements and will reduce the turnaround printing time on your cards.
2. Aim for Unique Business Cards
Consider your business card as a tiny canvas for your creativity. Start with the basic information you want on your cards, which may include things such as:
- Business name
- Contact number
- Email address
- Website and/or social media
Once you have the info you’d like to include, work around the info to present it in a creative way. Browse the internet for different ideas and allow what you see to inspire your own unique design. Creative design can be simple to be effective, it doesn’t have to be busy or over the top.
3. Avoid Common Business Card Design Errors
If you’ve worked with a printer before you may have had to go back and rethink some elements of your design to make sure that your business cards print nicely and can be read easily without any information being trimmed away. Here are some common design faults:
- Use a border that requires a perfect trim, these easily show up as imperfect trimming
- Add a bleed as specified by your printer
- Check if they require text to be converted to curves
Your printer will check your design before printing and will commonly print a proof for you to sign off before starting the full print run.
4. More Than Just a Business Card
A business card that doubles up as something useful is more likely to be kept. A common example of this is a book store with bookmarks as business cards or a steak house that has a cardboard toothpick holder. Brainstorm for ideas that tie in with your product or branding and you’ll have a winner.
5. Check Your Artwork
Take time to carefully check every aspect of your business card when you get the proof. Check each word for spelling errors. Go over contact details and make sure that your email address and phone number are all correct. Get in a few fresh sets of eyes to check with you. It’s easy to become blind to mistakes especially when you’ve been working with the information regularly during the design process.
Professional business cards, when done right, remain a great tool for marketing and advertising.
If you found this article useful, check out more professional tips under our business tab.
