- The beauty of a double-sided card is you get
that flip effect.
- The flip effect, did you?
- Yeah. - Did you just make that up?
- Yeah. You know what I mean?
(lighthearted bass guitar music)
- Okay. I'm just gonna put it out there.
In the digital world that we live in today.
Are business cards still important?
- It's a good question and I really think they are.
You're right.
A lot of communication is done digitally and you could argue
that email signatures might be more important.
But when you meet someone in person handing over
that beautifully designed business card,
makes an instant impact.
And shows that your professional, established
and ready and willing to work together.
- Absolutely. Hi, I'm Rachael.
- I'm Matt.
- And we're part of Canva Design School.
- And in this video we're gonna be taking you
through all things business cards from
what goes on to them, all the way to printing
and sharing them with the world.
(upbeat music)
Well designed business cards are kept maybe
because they're rarer these days
but then you take the time to craft a beautiful card.
People respond by hanging onto it
and remember you when they need your services.
- Yeah, and I find it can be used as a really
great icebreaker too, like at the beginning of a meeting
or when you are meeting someone new, it makes it really easy
for people to understand who you are and what you do
and provides some information about,
the business you represent.
- And it gives them a way to contact you
and follow up in the future.
- Yeah, exactly.
And, that's a great segue into
what we actually need to put on a business card.
- So business cards are often the first exposure,
a new client or business will have to you and your business.
So you need to give them all the information quickly
and concisely, answer these three important questions.
Who are you, what do you do?
And how can you be contacted?
Let me show you in Canva.
So you'll need to begin with your name,
that needs the hierarchy.
- Okay. So before you go any further, what is hierarchy?
- So, hierarchy basically shows the audience
what's most important.
As a designer you can indicate this
by having specific items larger, bolder,
brighter in color, so they really grab the attention.
- Right. So, in the case of a business card,
you probably want your name to be bigger.
- Yeah, exactly.
The person you're meeting needs to know quickly
who they're talking to.
So it's essential name is legible.
Position your name somewhere prominently on the card.
- So I guess the next thing they might need
to know about is you know
what your position is,
so they can start to form assumptions
about how the meeting is gonna go and how important it is.
- Yeah, that's right.
This is why you get really complex job titles.
Let's make me really important.
So the title still needs to be clear
but it can be a bit smaller.
And I place this next to the name
so it forms a natural flow for the reader.
So that, they see my name
and they follow quickly into my position.
- Right. So in their mind the two become combined.
Like related.
- Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
Finally, you have the contact details.
Now this is where you decide how you want to be contacted.
If you hate talking on the phone
then don't put your phone on there.
Put an office number or lead with your email.
I love talking on the phone, so I'm gonna put that up front.
- Yeah, so I guess, I guess if you have a physical space
or office that you want people to turn up to
or send mail to, then we should put an address on the card.
- Yeah, that's right.
Choose how you want to be contacted.
And use the order and the hierarchy to communicate that.
A common method to achieve hierarchies is
to adjust the weight of your type.
Perhaps your name is in bold
and the title is underneath in the same size
but it's a lighter version of the same typeface.
And then we can go a bit smaller for the contact details.
- Right. So I have a few questions - [Matt] Yeah.
- About the text.
So first of all, how small can we go?
- Yeah, it's good question
because business cards are pretty small in size already
so sometimes they need to fit a lot of text on them.
So, you're working in a font size around about
eight to 10 points, never smaller than six points.
And don't go too small.
It's not a great look if someone needs to squint
or get their glasses out when you hand it to them.
- No, no.
So, what about fonts then?
I imagine typeface choice, is quite key as well.
- Yeah, overly decorative
or display fonts are hard to read on business cards,
depending on the size of the type.
You might even find the Serif is too hard to read.
Script is definitely a no-no.
This size the characters tend
to bleed together a little bit too much.
That's why most people go for San-Serif.
Or choose the brand's body copy font.
- Right. And what colors do we wanna make the font?
- It depends on your background, but choose a readable color
because, because of the small font size,
you're often gonna see business cards
with like dark text on a sort
of white or pale background or opposite.
Go for contrast and then it should be legible.
- Right? So you want the recipient of your card to
really associate your name with the business you own
or work for.
Yeah, like a logo is a great visual replacement
for the company's name on a card.
It adds a sleek visual element
to the business card and breaks up the text elements.
If you don't have a logo you just type the name
of the business.
But I would try and separate it from your name and position,
like give it its own space.
And finally, you might want
to include some relevant social media handles,
if that's important to you.
A website is a great CTA as well.
- Mm. So for the people at home, what is a CTA?
- Yeah, it's a, it's a call-to-action.
It gives the receiver of the card something to do next.
If you want them to find out more about your business,
they can look at your website
or they can follow you on social media.
- Right. So is that all of the text?
- Yeah. So now we can add in additional signifiers
that create a theme
or send subliminal messages to the receiver.
This could be something simple,
like a background color or graphic elements and shapes.
It could be a photograph,
most basic being a picture of you,
which is great for people who are better
with faces than names.
Or it could be something that sends more
of an abstract message.
- When you say an abstract message,
like what do you mean by that?
- This is where visuals are so strong right?
They say more than just a word.
- Yeah, absolutely.
I mean a picture tells a thousand words, right?
- Yeah, yeah, exactly.
The imagery I choose will give clues about
who I am and the business I work for.
And I want to try not be too obvious.
So like no shaking hands
or obvious like kind of stock imagery.
People can see that and they, it just doesn't gel with them.
It doesn't feel authentic.
- I guess that could be a bit
of a conversation starter, as well.
- Yeah. If it raises a question with the audience's mind,
it's like the perfect way to start a discussion.
Your business card is a reflection of you,
so you need to consider
what you would like to convey to the customers?
What makes you the right person for the job?
What can you do that no one else can?
If your service is quite a common one like
how can you make it compelling in a visual way?
- Yeah.
So how much content do you want to include on your card?
Because they are small.
So do you want it one-sided or two-sided?
- It's a great question.
An elegant and simple single-sided card might be sufficient.
It's also cheaper.
If things get squeezed
then you might consider putting some
of the information on the back.
Double-sided cards are very common
and often that side is, is informative.
And then another side
that communicates something about the brand on the surface.
Popping some content on the back.
Like social media handles might also free up some space.
So I'm gonna make a duplicate of this page
and so then I can work on the copy.
- Oh, right.
So you can always, you know,
come back to it later if needed.
- Yeah. Nothing worse than working away,
realizing it's not working
and then finding out you've gone over the original design.
- I mean there's Command + Z.
- Yeah, but I think it's a bit more like,
putting a line in the sand
and so you can always return to this point.
I personally use lots and lots of duplicates
and then get rid of them at the end.
- Hmm.
- So I've got a duplicate of this one-sided business card.
I'm gonna make another duplicate and delete everything off.
And this is gonna be my second side.
I'll copy and paste some of the elements
from the first side to the back,
and then you can see
how we're starting a space the elements out more.
- Mm. Yeah.
The beauty of a double-sided card is you get
that flip effect.
- The flip effect, did you? - [Rachael] Yeah.
- Did you just make that up?
- Yeah. You know what I mean?
Like the audience receives it one way
and then they can turn it over and
- Yeah. - Another way.
- Yeah. Yeah. You're exactly right.
It's like this extra step in the journey.
So you might think about how you can add to that?
Like do you add in a tagline? Or a CTA on the front?
Something that connects the front to the back.
- Mm. Yeah. I mean the front could be really visual
with your logo
and then the back could have more of your information on it.
- Yeah.
- Okay.
So that's all starting to look really good.
When do you know if it's finished or not?
- Yeah. The creative process could go on forever,
as we know.
Eventually we need to step away from it
and get some feedback from your teammates
or your boss or your client.
- Yeah. This is actually one of my favorite features.
The ability to collaborate in real-time.
- It's amazing.
All you have to do is just hit the Share button
and you can directly enter their email or share a link.
- Yeah. It's always great to involve others in the process
whether it be like a client
or your teammates, even to just check
that the spelling is correct.
- A second pair of eyes is always a good thing to get on,
any design.
- Absolutely. So once it's approved,
I guess we're ready to print?
- Yeah. Before we get there, we need to talk about bleed.
- Mm. Ah. Yes.
I remember being so confused about these.
- I know it's, it's actually surprisingly hard to explain
but it shouldn't be.
Basically when cards are printed,
they need to be printed on large sheets
and, or contain like multiple cards.
And printers aim to ensure like cards are trimmed correctly
but things may move slightly.
So creating bleed means you're creating an extra color
or extending the image around the edges of the artwork
so it can be safely trimmed.
It's super easy to add in Canva,
just do it like this.
You just hit the Show print bleed
and expand the background image so it fits to the edge.
For safe measure ensure that,
about five millimeters from the edge of the card
so it doesn't get chopped off,
when the cards are trimmed in the printer.
- Yeah. Right.
And Canva really helps check that, you know,
danger-zone, ensuring that all of your text
and elements are a safe distance from the card edge.
- Yeah. So once that's done, now we are ready to print.
- Awesome. So I'm not sure if the audience knows this
but Canva can actually print them for you.
- Yeah, it's just under the Share button.
You just go to Print your design.
- Oh. Yeah. Where the little delivery truck is.
- Yeah, that's it. - Yep.
Select your paper
what sort of finish you want, and the quantity.
- Mm. And it comes with,
a 100% happiness guarantee.
- I know, I love that. - Nice.
- Actually, can I show you something cool?
Is that? - Yeah.
- So if you have other people in your team
that need a business card too,
you can actually save this design as a template
or share it as a Template link
and it will create a whole, another copy for them.
- Oh wow. That's awesome.
I mean, that's gonna save them so much time.
- Oh, absolutely. And it also, you know,
creates consistency across the whole business.
- So that's the basics of, how to create your business card.
- Yeah.
And I always suggest people to jump into Canva,
play around with the editor.
- Oh, you know, we haven't even mentioned the thousands
of business card templates
that already exist ready to be used.
- No. And they're a really great way
to start, like everything is there, ready for you
and all you have to do is just pop in your own details.
- So I hope this inspires you to give business cards a go
as part of your print strategy.
(upbeat music)
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