Business cards are multifaceted marketing tools that hold their place firmly despite the attraction of various digital marketing tools. Business cards might not reveal their multi-dimensional characteristics. On a closer look, it should not be hard to understand the underlying professionalism of the ubiquitous wholesale business cards of the size of credit cards. Everything depends on how you design the business card, as it can play a critical role in brand recognition, advertising, call to action, and above all, contact information. In all fairness, you can look upon business cards as billboards that fit into your pocket and have the unique ability to convert passing strangers into lifelong customers while leaving a lasting impression about the brand and business.
The design of business cards contributes to its capabilities, and the design must act as a visual extension of the brand design. Within the small space of the business cards, you must incorporate the salient features of the brand that helps to recognize the brand and create an urge to interact with the business.
This article should help you know how to go ahead in designing business cards.
The crucial design components – logo and color scheme
Amid various visual choices in business card design, the most crucial ones are the finished logo and the brand color scheme. Besides playing a big part in creating your business card, these two elements are like pivots of the design around which you build the identity and card layout. Therefore, before you start designing your business card, get a good grasp of logo design and learn about creating your brand’s color scheme so that you can incorporate these aspects correctly in the card design.
Now that you are ready to get into the design process, here we go.
Decide the card shape
Although business cards are usually rectangular, there is enough scope to choose some other shape if you want to implement some out-of-the-box strategies to gain more mileage from the cards. The good thing is that technology has helped printing technology make big advancements that can support your ambition of creating uniquely shaped business cards. Using the die-cutting technique of printing, it is possible to cut out any shape of the card and go for bulk printing. For friendlier business cards, rounding the corners of rectangular business cards can make the card look different and increase attraction. However, to stand out from the crowd, you can think of more innovative shapes for your card, as the outlines of your products, animal mascots, or some other original shape.
Select the size
Refer to the standard of the country when deciding about the size of business cards. Although you can deviate from the standard, you still need to know the standard as a reference to become your starting point. Moreover, you would then understand what others are doing and how you could be different from them.
The European standard of business cards is size 3.346 inches x 2.165 inches (85 mm x 55mm). The North American standard is 3.5inches x 2 inches (88.9mm x 50.8mm). The Oceania standard is 3.54inches x2.165 inches (90mmx55mm).
Regardless of the card size, you must consider the factors like Bleed area, Trim line, and Safety line to ensure that the printable area remains intact after cutting the cord to the desired size.
The Bleed area is the outermost part of the card that would likely be removed. The target line for cutting cards is the trim line, and anything outside this line is the safety line which can tolerate cutting mistakes. No essential elements of design like the logo or text should go beyond this line.
Add your graphics and logo
Now you are ready to plot the visual elements of your business card that begin with the logo. The logo holds the center stage of your business card design, duly supported by other graphics which play a secondary role. How you make, use of both sides of the business card gives more options in design. You can place the logo on one side and the contact information on the other side. The other option is to have the logo on both sides. However, you can experiment with the logo placement until you find the right place to meet your design goals.
Add text
The amount of information to provide in the business card depends on you. Give the full postal address of your business together with the email address, website, telephone numbers, and social media accounts. Above all, the company name, name of the representative, job title, and any slogan of your choice (optional) are also part of the text.
Choose the typography and colors in line with your branding goals so that it helps in quick brand recognition. If needed, think about some special finishes like embossing, foil stamping, letter pressing, and spot UV coating.
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