When you meet a potential customer or client, you obviously want to make a good first impression.
But how do you make a lasting one so they remember you when they need your services?
Let's learn why business cards are important
and how to design a card that best showcases you and what you do.
A business card is a small piece of marketing you can give to any existing or potential customer.
It shows you are established ready and willing to work together.
A business card makes you look professional, makes it easy for people to understand what you do,
and provides information people need to contact you.
They're also a great icebreaker and a useful
prompt for those times when your clients need you most.
They can be handed out in person or accompanied by a note sent in the mail.
Well-designed business cards are kept.
When you take the time to craft a beautiful card,
people respond by hanging on to it and remember you when they need your services.
So, what should a business card look like?
Business cards are often the first exposure a new client
or business will have to you and your business.
Base it alongside other designed material like stationery, email signatures, a website,
and social media presence.
A consistent approach to this material will help create a consistent brand experience.
Business cards are small in size and sometimes need to fit a lot of text.
You will often be working with a font size of around 8 to 10pt or smaller. Don't go too small.
At all times, the priority should be making the text easy to read.
What is the most readable color?
Because of the small font size, you will often see business cards that have
dark text on a white or pale background.
Does your brand have a font that works well for body copy?
This will suit most of the text on your business card.
Overly, decorative and display fonts will be too hard to read on a business card.
Save these for other items in your brand collateral.
A business card answers three important questions:
Who are you? What do you do? And how can you be contacted?
First things first, your name is important. It's essential your name is legible.
Position your name somewhere prominently on the card.
Using visual hierarchy, your name might stand out
by being a bit larger or a bit bolder than the rest of the text.
Always remember less is more.
Consider what can be achieved by using only one or two clean, simple typefaces.
Secondly, what do you do? Your business name or service is as important as your name.
You want the recipient of your card to associate your name with the business you own or work for.
Do you have a company logo? Many people add this to their business
card as a visual replacement for the company's name on the card.
This adds a sleek visual element to the business card and breaks up the text elements.
No logo? No probs. Just spell it out.
Use hierarchy to achieve the right balance for the elements in your design.
Just like the card itself, a little bit of design goes a long way.
A common method to achieve simple hierarchy is to adjust the weight of your type.
Perhaps your name is in bold and your title is underneath in the same size,
in a lighter version of the same typeface.
Simple hierarchy is elegant and effective.
Finally, how can you be reached?
Your email and phone number are important, but less important than your name and business.
Hierarchically, your contact information can be lighter or smaller than the main copy.
A good rule of thumb is to never go smaller than 6 points.
Depending on the typeface, you don't want people
needing a magnifying glass every time they want to contact you.
You may also choose to include relevant social media handles.
It's easy to forget how small a business card actually is.
So when you are designing your card, try and do some test prints.
All the details should be easily read.
Of course, designing your own business card goes beyond just your name, title, and contact details.
Your business card is a reflection of you.
Consider what you would like to convey to customers.
What makes you the right person for the job?
What do you offer that no one else can?
If your service is quite common, how can you make it compelling in a visual way?
How much content do you have to include on your card?
Do you need a card that is one-sided or two?
An elegant and simple single-sided card might be sufficient.
If things are getting squeezed, consider putting some information on the back.
Double-sided cards are very common and often have a side that is informative and a side
that communicates something about your brand or service.
Popping some content on the back like social media handles might also free up some space.
Thinking about colors or designs that represent your
industry will help people understand what you do.
The most important thing, if there's text on top of a color or image,
make sure it can be read easily and effectively.
Never underestimate how a business card feels to touch.
Avoid your card feeling thin and flimsy, by keeping the paper,
often referred to as stock, 250 GSM or more.
The thickness of the card will send a subliminal message about your brand.
A very heavy card stock, say 350 GSM, will feel very rigid and strong, hard to bend.
That could send a message that your business is trustworthy
or depending on what you do, it might send a message you are strong-minded.
So consider the purpose of every design decision.
Consider the finish. This sends a subliminal message as well.
High gloss has a shiny look and feel.
A matte finish has a slight sheen and is softer.
An uncoated finish uses the paper's natural texture.
Recycled stock is also a consideration. It has a grainy, tactile feel.
What suits you and your business the most?
Ultimately, the goal is for the feel or the texture of your business card to convey an idea
about your business as much as the words themselves.
When it comes to shape, horizontal cards are the most common.
But if you're looking to stand out from your competitors, you could choose portrait format.
Beyond the rectangle, your card could be a square, a circle, or an even more interesting shape.
It might have rounded edges or have cutouts.
Just think about where the recipient is going to put it after you give it to them.
You want it to fit in their pocket or their wallet.
An embellishment might help your card really stand out and help your card feel unique or decadent.
The options are endless. Some popular choices include raised or embossed text, metallic inks,
and colorful painted edges.
Anything is possible, but custom shapes and embellishments can be costly.
For a business card, it is often enough to choose an appealing paper stock.
Refine your typography and concentrate on elegant hierarchy and color use.
Before you send your business card to the printer, check everything carefully.
Do a test print. Ensure all words are large enough to read and there are no mistakes.
Get a second or third pair of eyes to check the card for errors and ask for feedback.
The last thing you want is a lot of printed cards with a silly spelling mistake on them.
Your business card is now ready to be supplied to a printer.
Multiple versions of your design will be laid out on a single sheet of card
which is cut or trimmed down into individual cards.
While printers make every effort to ensure cards are trimmed in the right place,
the trim line can alter slightly.
For safe measure, ensure all text is 5mm from the edge of the card
so it doesn't get chopped off when the cards are trimmed at the printer.
In this lesson, we've learned about how to design business cards,
what to include and how to use hierarchy
to convey the most important information.
There's nothing quite like the excitement of your printed business cards arriving,
stacked with so much promise and possibility.
Make sure you always have some on you, particularly when attending conferences or events.
Insert them into thank you notes and packages and present one
next time someone asks you what you do.
Get into the habit of giving them out to see how they feel,
noting any feedback or comments you can apply to your next print run.
If your business card is inspiring
and pleasant to look at, it will be kept and eventually be utilized.
And that's the goal.