Business card design, Things to think about when putting a business card design together.
Your business card design should reflect your company brand. You should use your business logo, tag line, typeface, and colors consistently on all of your marketing materials, and your business card is no exception. Your card design should reflect your company and product or service.
For example, a very whimsical business card depicting stick figures using basic crayon colors will work just fine for a day-care center, but this layout not so well for a law firm.
And while a very conservative black-on-white card will suffice for the law firm, it won’t do much to generate business for an artist or graphic designer. You get the business card design picture.
Your company logo is one of the mainstays of your brand. Mention a particular athletic shoe and apparel company, and few people fail to conjure the image of that infamous “swoosh.”
In fact, the word “swoosh” was attributed to the logo shape because no other word seemed to quite do the trick. To appreciate the power of a business logo, keep in mind that this company rarely uses its name any longer on its clothing and in much of its advertising. The logo says it all. Ditto for “the golden arches.”
There are three approaches to business card logo design: your company name in an unusual or specific typeface, an image that depicts what your company does, or a completely abstract image like the “swoosh.” It takes a very long time to create brand recognition with the third type, so that’s not usually the best design choice for start-up businesses and small companies.
You want prospects to be able to connect the dots between your logo and your offering. Don’t leave them guessing.
When deciding on a logo, remember that it needs to look good on either a business card or a billboard. It should be scaleable and reasonably cost-effective to produce.
Selecting multiple colors (or full color) leads to more expensive production costs, and keep in mind that the colors you can create on your monitor may be difficult to replicate on paper. Avoid selecting a piece of clip art for your logo. It’s easy, but it can also be used by anyone.
If your artistic ability doesn’t go much beyond stick figures, it’s worth the investment to hire an illustrator or designer to design your logo. Remember, it represents your image, and it’s something you’ll want to use consistently and for a very long time.
Besides your logo, you want to have a particular look and feel to your typeface as well. Once you select one, use it consistently. If you use an unusual or script typeface for your company name or main line on your card, select a simple typeface for your other information.
Elaborate fonts can be very difficult to read in the smaller sizes required for your address, phone and email information. Also, avoid the urge to mix and match several typefaces, or your business card design will end up looking very cluttered! Limit yourself to using only two different typefaces although you can choose to use the bold or italic attributes of your typeface for various elements on your business card.
The next decision for your business card design is whether you want it to run horizontally or vertically. Sometimes your logo or even company name might dictate that. For example, if you have a rather long name, it probably won’t fit very well on a vertical business card.
On the other hand, a very “tall” graphic lends itself to vertical orientation. While the bulk of business cards are horizontal, there’s no hard and fast rule about orientation. Do keep in mind how else you might use your card.
Depending on the application (like program ads or insertion into pocket folder flaps), a vertical card may need to be turned sideways to fit.
Unusual shapes, like a landscaping company creating business cards in the shape of a leaf or a pastry chef using a card that looks like a bite has been taken out of it, are an awesome design, memorable and certainly add to the brand.
These types of design require diecutting and are costly. In order to make your order cost-effective, longer print runs are required.
Instead of getting 250 or 500 cards, you’ll probably need to order thousands. Ask yourself how long it will take you to hand out thousands of business cards, and if your contact information is liable to change. Both are important considerations to avoid obsolescence.
The goal is to create a business card that represents your brand without breaking the bank!
