Main Tips For Designing Great Business Cards

The modern office is getting more paperless by the year but this does not mean that business cards are not needed. You need to have standard business cards that you can hand out or you miss out on a huge marketing opportunity based on networking, which is what is proven to offer some of the best possible results. Working with professionals like HelloPrint is always the best possible idea. Even if you do not know what business cards are best for you, their support staff will walk you through all the options that are great in your case. You learn about what paper to use, what printing options to consider and get the quality business card prints that will make everyone envious.

There can be huge differences between business cards. Some are great but most of them are shallow and easy to forget. You need to be careful with your design and you need to make it better than what everyone is using. Here are some tips to help you design the very best possible business cards.

Basic Design Principles

Always be aware of the fact that basic paper-based design principles need to be applied. Key copy should be at least five millimeters away from trim edge, you need to work at a DPI of 300 and minimum typography size needs to be considered so that legibility is maintained. CMYK design is needed.

Getting Creative

Business cards have a standard size, based on geographical location. The typical one is 55X85 mm. The canvas is tiny but you need to get as creative as you can with this space. Key information that is to be included has to be decided. Typically, this is the name, email address and phone number. You want to design the card in a way that is creative while respecting standard guidelines.

Avoid The Common Pitfalls

Different common business card design pitfalls exist. You need to be aware of them and make sure that you avoid them. For instance, you have to be sure that a bleed area is provided, as it is specified by the printer. Also, straightforward borders should be avoided around cards since when cards are not perfectly cut, this will show.

Special Finishes

You can instantly make your business card better if you utilize special finish. This includes options like metallic inks, spot-UV and foil blocking. While this is going to make printing much more expensive, the card instantly becomes more interesting. After all, what you want to do is to create a memorable image in the mind of the receiver. Various finishes are available at the printing service. Be aware of what is available so you can see what to choose.

Cut Into The Business Card

One of the simplest ways to make the business card unique is to utilize die-cut so you could remove card stock elements. This would leave a void. A die can be utilized to change card shape or shapes can be cut out right from the center.

Dies are nowadays really expensive when you print the first round of business cards but laser-cut options are now making this much more affordable. Just look online for some examples to consider.

Use Some Unusual Materials

Last but not least, you can print your business cards on card stock since this is cost-effective but you can go for many other materials. This includes metals, slate, wood, transparent plastics and acrylic such as perspex sheet cut to size. Just remember the fact that all business cards have to be as portable as possible.

Adam Hansen
 

Adam is a part time journalist, entrepreneur, investor and father.