Tips to creating a business card yourself

A business card is a small, printed, usually credit-card-sized paper card that holds your business details, such as name, contact details, and brand logo. Your business card design is an essential part of your branding and should act as a visual extension of your brand design.

Although the world has gone digital and lots of people now work online, having a business card is still as important to any business as it was twenty years ago. Even if you work from home, having a business card can save you from embarrassment when you least expect it. Apart from the fact that having a business card makes you appear like a professional who takes his work seriously, its a cheap form of advertisement and a guaranteed way to keep customers coming back.

There are some easy ways to design your business card all by yourself. Even if you don’t know how to use Photoshop and you are really bad at graphic designing, there are some pretty easy tools available that can actually help you to come up with a stunning business card design. We take a look at some of these tools here.

Choose a design platform

While it’s easy to run a Google image search for business card ideas, implementing any of the designs you come across might require proficiency in using a standard image editing tool. For those who have no idea how graphic design works, there are several platforms that let you create a business card without any experience using advanced tools like Adobe PhotoShop.Adobe Spark is one of these online tools that let you design great-looking business cards without having to do much. This platform has over 23,000 templates to choose from and you’re bound to see thousands of designs that perfectly fit your kind of business. With Adobe Spark, all you need to do is pick up a business card template and edit to your liking. And if you have no idea where to start, you can take a look at these nice business card ideas for inspiration. Apart from Adobe Spark, there are also similar platforms like Canva, Design Hill, and so on.

Things to keep in mind when creating a Business Card

1. Remember basic design principles
It might seem obvious but it’s worth restating that a business card is a piece of printed material like any other. Because of this, the basic principles of paper-based design apply to business cards:

• Keep all your key copy at least 5mm from the trim edge
• Work at 300dpi for best image reproduction
• Ensure you maintain a minimum size for your typography to maintain legibility
• Design in CMYK unless you’re working exclusively with spot colors

Many designers use grid to lay out their cards, as this can help you to achieve the right hierarchy of information as well as ensure your alignment is sound.

2. Get creative within the constraints
There are a couple of ‘standard’ sizes for business cards, depending on where you are in the world (perhaps because wallet sizes also vary slightly from country to country). One typical business card size is 55 x 85mm, although you’ll see many other sizes quoted on the web. Even though you only have a tiny canvas, you can still get creative with the space. Start by considering the key information you want to include, which will typically be a name, phone number, and email address/social handles, then work your design around presenting this information in a creative way. However, be sure to add all relevant channels of communication to your business card.

3. Make a good impression
A beautiful and unique design can make a good first impression and get people interested in your business. As a matter of fact, people judge your business based on your business card and this is why you need to put in some real effort in the design. It’s not just about the graphics, the kind of paper used matters too. A beautiful design on a cheap paper speaks ill of your business.

4. Communication is key
The truth is, most business cards are going to misplaced and lost. This is why it is important to make communication your key focus when designing a business card. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you give someone that card? The message you try to pass across with the card can determine if it would be worth keeping or it’s going to end up in the trash can.

5. Stand out
Try not to design another boring business card that looks just like every other business card. Businesses have devised several ways of making their cards stand out. While some come up with intriguing designs, others have found a way to make their card useful.

6. Double-check your artwork
An overlooked typographical error can render hundreds of business cards useless. This is why you must endeavor to proofread as many times as possible before sending your design off to the printer. If possible, ask someone else to take a look. There are times one fails to see a glaring error. There’s nothing worse than getting back your cards and discovering a typo in the email address or name. Check twice, print once is a well-learned adage!