A business card is a small size paper, printed, usually a credit-card-sized paper card that holds your business details such as name, contact details, and brand logo. Your business card design should be an essential part of your branding and serve as a visual extension of your brand design.
In this guide, we will look at everything you need to know about business card design so you can tell your designer exactly what you want. Business cards should be personal above all else, so this guide explains what your options for cards are the most… you.
But before we get into the 8 steps of business card design, let’s talk a little bit about what you will need before you start.
Before you begin.
How to design a business card in 8 steps
Once you get a good idea of your logo, brand color scheme, and what your card says about you, you’re ready to get started. Follow the 8 steps below to determine which business card design will work best for you.
1. Choose your shape
If you have already decided on a traditional rectangular business card, you can move on to the second step. However, if you want to know about all your options, even out-of-the-box strategies, keep reading.
As printing techniques become more advanced and affordable, there is more room for professionals to explore alternative sizes. Dye-cutting's printing technique allows you to cut any shape you want and still print in large quantities. At the conservative end of the spectrum, you can simply round the corner for a friendly business card.
But if you want to be really funny or different, you can use virtually any shape: an animal mascot, an outline of the product you sold, or the whole original shape.
You can even create your entire business card theme around clever cutting. Searson’s business card design uses shapes to really highlight employees ’images, giving them a more personalized and therefore communicative feel.
Whether you use creative shapes depends on the image you want to convey. Special shapes make you feel more fun and help you make an impression, but can have an adverse effect on more formal art. You will also want to keep in mind the logistics, such as how the card fits in the wallet.
You may want to revisit the die-cutting option after finalizing your design in Step 6. For example, some companies like STIR above prefer to die-cut their logo.
2. Choose your size
Your next decision is the size of the card. It mostly depends on the quality of the country, so this is a good place to start. Even if you plan to stand up, you need to know what everyone else is doing to go against it.
North American Standard: 3.5 × 2 inches (88.9 × 50.8 mm)
European Standard: 3.346 × 2.165 inches (85 × 55 mm)
Oceania Standard: 3.54 × 2.165 inches (90 × 55 mm)
Regardless of the size, there are three things you should always consider when designing:
Bleeding area: The outer part of the card is likely to be removed.
Trim line: The goal line to cut the card.
Safety line: Any mistake outside of this line is subject to cut. Do not allow essential elements such as text or logos to be read outside of this line.
See the guide below to find the right size of a business card when considering bleed, trim, and safety lines.
Although these zones vary depending on the size and the printer, a safe bet is to set a 0.125 inch (3 mm) trim line from the edge. From there, set the safety line to 0.125 inches (3 mm) from the trim line. This is a total of 0.250 inches (6 mm) from the edge of the bleeding area to the inside of the safety area.
3. Add your logo and other graphics
Now we begin to create the visual elements of your business card design, first and foremost the logo.
Your logo should be at the center of your business card, although other developers and secondary graphics can sometimes be useful.
Don’t forget that you have two sides in your hand. One strategy is to dedicate one side of the business card to a particular logo, while the other side displays the person's contact information. However, it’s also good to have logos on both sides, so often you’ll see a small, exterior logo with the contact information like the Omni above.
While this is just one of many techniques, feel free to experiment with logo placement until you find the one you like.
While minimalism is a popular choice for business cards, if that blank space isn’t right for you, you can fill it with extra graphics. In an industry like children's clothing, Londres wants to take her beautiful theme as far as she wants to go: they place sheep doodles everywhere, spread them over their sheep mascots and use a faded background to avoid clutter (also note the use of soft blue, a playful and childish -Friendly color). Even if your logo is simple or just text, any related image serves the same edge.
Additional graphics work well for showing your brand identity. Needless to say, you can communicate with your or your brand’s personality through visuals with color. For example, if you want to feel casual or readily available, a clever cartoon and some bright color techniques will do.
Another growing popular trend is to arouse interest and curiosity by keeping little secrets. Typically, brands put a wordless visual with a URL on one side and then all the necessary explanations (including the brand name and employee name) on the other side.
4. Add the required text
What your business card actually says is up to you. Freelancers working from home may not need a postal address, while professions that offer face-to-face counseling are needed. Or maybe it’s a strategic choice, such as drawing attention to your impressive social media followers. The point is, that different people benefit from different texts on their business cards.
So the next step is to decide what to put on your business card. Below is a list of some common choices, so you can decide which ones to include and exclude
Name - a given. Each card requires a name.
Company Name - A given name other than a personal brand, in which case your personal name is your company name.
Job Title - For traditional cards, include your job title. It also helps the holder to remember who you are, what you do, and even how you were met.
Phone Number - While the phone may not be your preferred method of communication, it is for some people.
Email - the head of a business card; Email is the new norm for non-urgent business communication, in part because it allows sending documents as attachments.
Website URL - A non-aggressive invitation to visit your site URL.
Social Media - If social media is relevant to your field, or you just want to show off some of your personality, include social media links.
Address - Needed to draw customers to your office or store location.
QR Code - Although not as popular as last year, a QR code is still an effective shortcut for transferring data at will. Read about all the benefits of using a QR code here.
Slogan - Completely optional, a slogan helps brand identity and adds a little personality.
Remember that business cards are not only for providing information but also for holding it. People may already know your number, address or URL, but keep your card in hand if they forget.
5. Choose your typography
Once you know what you want to say, you can choose what it looks like. Although typography is always important, it is especially relevant for business cards because you need to make the text fully readable and only have a small space to work.
Let us divide the typography into three main parts:
To maintain size readability, you want all your text to be at least 8 points. However, you want to separate your most important elements (such as your name), so feel free to resize the text. Also, consider the spaces-you don’t want to clutter up your cards, so keep your text small enough so that there is plenty of breathing space around each element.
Fonts. We've already talked extensively about fonts and how they affect your brand identity, so feel free to check out the 5 types of fonts and how to use them for a more in-depth treatment. Remember to choose a font that represents the personality you are going for. A clean and modern Sun-Serif, a distinctive and elegant script, or a classic and timeless serif font? Below are some examples of what different font styles bring to the table.
Color. Here comes a pre-existing brand color scheme. To stay on-brand, choose a text color that goes well with the background color of your card, which should also be the color of a brand. Similar colors can look beautiful together but can be difficult to read, so check with contrast for clarity.
The golden rule of typography is to prioritize clarity over everything else. It doesn't matter how artistic your font is if someone can't read what it says.
6. Consider special finishes
Now that you've reached the final expansion, it's time to start considering printers - especially in terms of what they can offer. Some printers offer special finishes that can make a lasting impression. See if these "special effects" can benefit your business card design strategy.
Embossing. This technique creates three-dimensional relief, making certain areas “pop-out”. Like the spot UV coating, you can use it to draw attention to certain aspects of your card, even sound.
Letterpress. Instead of extending the paper, the letterpress pushes the paper down while printing ink. The result is something like an engraver, usually with special ink to draw more attention. Especially useful for letters, the higher your words.
Foil stamping. If you want something as shiny and reflective as tin foil, you can apply foil stamping to images or even parts of images. It also works for text pronunciation if you choose a bold enough typeface.
Spot UV coating. Many cards have a smooth varnish to create a glossy and smooth texture. Spot UV coating is the same thing, except only applied to certain areas. That means you can only apply a gloss over your logo, specific graphics, or even a word or phrase. Use it when you want to accentuate certain areas over others, but keep in mind how it affects the overall composition if only one part is shiny.
7. Choose a designer
If you really want a Starler business card, it’s a good idea to find a professional designer who can create the perfect card for you. You can look for a local freelance designer or search on a platform like 99 Designs for a designer with the right style and experience. Check out their portfolio to see if they're right for your brand.
Once you find the right person, try to communicate clearly what your business is and what style and vibe you are looking for, so that your designer can make your vision a reality.
8. Finalize your design
You can re-evaluate your design to make sure everything works, with all the elements in place and an accurate prediction of your final color choice and special finish.
First, check the visual flow: how your eyes move while looking at the card. What did you notice first? Last? A good visual flow should start with the logo, then the name and then the secondary information, ending with the secondary images if they are there. You can always change and optimize the visual flow by changing the size and position of an element.
You want to clean up the mess as much as possible. Is all the information necessary? The less the rest of the ingredients, the more impact each has.
Double-check to make sure you don't run into any common problems. Is the text readable? What colors collide? Which material is too close to the edge?
Be sure to send your designer a finished product as a vector file and a vector-based PDF. If you need to resize you want to use vector images and PDFs are readable by virtually every printer.
Advanced strategy
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Here are eight steps you need to take to create a fully functional business card, but if you want to go the extra mile, consider these advanced tips:
Stand with a clever idea. If your art allows for some whimsy, you can employ more experimental techniques to differentiate yourself.
It could be something thematic, like a cellular iPhone card or something more complex. For example:
Fragrant ink
Duplexing and triplexing (to double or triple the width of the card)
Using alternative materials (metal, plastic, rubber, etc.)
Folded card
Transparent card
That's the last trend we've been seeing lately, and for good reason. You can do a lot with a C-through card like Remote Pilot's Mock Pilot Scope.
Avoid borders. Borders may seem like a smart aesthetic choice for framing your card content, and that is, in theory, but the tendency to err means that borders do more harm than good. Cutting each single card perfectly in bulk order is a fantasy, and that’s why it’s best to design with bloodshed and safety spots. With borders, small mistakes in the cut are exaggerated and break the whole design.
Save money on colors. If you work on a budget, don’t skip the materials or the quantity. You can cut a fraction of the cost by using only one or two colors. The more colors you add, the higher the price and a smart designer will know how to make one or two colors look just as beautiful.
Takeaway: A modern coat of arms
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Your card is more than just your contact information - it's a representation of you and your brand. Some people are handed cards every day, so you need both to stand apart and to paint you in a favorable light. Don’t cut corners with designing your business card. Spend enough time to come up with the perfect design and then find a skilled designer to make your vision a reality.