How to Design a Business Card

Business cards have a long history. They date to the beginning of the 17th Century in England where they were known as trade cards. For many businesses, the cards were the primary form of advertising, featuring a name, an illustration that identified the business, and a map, since no formal street numbering system existed at that time. Color cards first emerged in the 1830’s with the advent of lithography. Today there is a huge range of business cards available.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. On your card, list the essentials. In addition to your name, company name, title, mailing address, phone and fax numbers, be sure to list your website and email address. I use email as my primary form of business communication. As a small business owner, I like to follow up a meeting with a line or two. Why make emails difficult on somebody you’ve met? Put your business, not your personal email, on the card.

2. Should you put a cell phone number on it? Most sales people I know do. I don’t; reserving my cell phone for those in my inner circle. If I’m on a shoot, my cell number is listed on the schedule. All my professional colleagues and family have that number, but I don’t pass it out to everybody, simply because my work requires concentration and I don’t want to be interrupted constantly.

3. 

   Get a professionally designed logo. I was hired once as the Vice President of Marketing for an Internet start up. As soon as I got on board, I turned to my boss, the founder, and president and pointed out that the logo had to go. It didn’t evoke any emotion or memory and I found it unreadable, yet he dug in. Although he appreciated my input on the website, streaming videos, copy writing and more, I couldn’t get him to change the logo. Months later I found out why. He had designed it himself.
   
   Hire an artist, unless you are one yourself. Come up with a logo that works to reinforce your brand. Once you’re satisfied with the results, put it on every card you print, on your website and every piece of promotional material you generate. Some logos work better than others. One of the most effective is the one next to these words. Even without a name, you’ll probably recognize that its for the United Way. The organization’s entire story is told in one picture, a helping hand uplifts a person toward a rainbow, the symbol of hope after a storm. Makes you want to give right now, doesn’t it?

4. Use a desktop publishing program. At the very least, you can take a look at the wizards and use them a point of departure for your own designs. Loaded editions of Microsoft Office come with M.S Publisher which is a good starting point. If you design in Publisher, be aware that some printers have trouble outputting those files directly. Professional printers prefer files in Quark Express or Adobe In Design.

5. Send your cards out to be professionally printed. Nothing says second rate more than sloppily designed cards, with perforated edges, printed in smearing monochrome on your $50 ink jet printer. In contrast, consider thermography, a process offered by professionals. Thermography uses a plastic powder which adheres to the wet ink of a card. The cards are heated after printing which melts the plastic, presenting a raised surface that simulates engraving

6. Should you get a color card or not? The price of four color printing is dropping and is comparable to what black and white reproduction was just a few years ago. Color can separate you from the pack. If you are a color photographer or graphic designer, color would be essential, but for most businesses it’s still acceptable to go with a monochrome card or use color as an accent.

7. Should you print on the back? Most people won’t ever see the back of a card. I tried it once with a run of cards. The cost shot up, and I didn’t see much of a benefit.

8. Go beyond print. One of my friends, Jack Comeau, has a unique business card. It has the essential basics, his name, profession, phone number and email address. This information is superimposed over a picture of him holding his Emmy Award as a director of photography, but he’s gone further. Although his card is in the shape of a standard business card, it is a CD-ROM which can be slipped into any computer, showing a demo reel of Jack’s award winning work.
   
   The first shot is of an empty sky with Jack’s name, under which is the phrase “Outstanding in his field.” The camera tilts down to show us Jack Comeau, standing out in his field. He draws his Emmy into the frame, telling us that he won one and was nominated for three. He comes across as a fun guy with a sense of humor, before he even shows us a frame of what he has shot.
   
   CD-ROM business cards hold between 35 and 100 MB of data. They will nestle within the 80mm center portion of a computer’s CD drive, but will not play back in a slot loading drive. They are also hard to play in a rack mounted computer, because the drives are positioned sideways.

9. No matter what design you ultimately settle upon, create a couple of mock ups at the actual size, 3.5 x 2 inches, and run it past some friends to see if your card is legible, and presents yourself effectively. Don’t be married to any aspect of what you’ve designed. Tinker with it first, before you print a thousand copies. Remember, you only have one chance to make a first impression.

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[ElleZsen]

on 10/30/2007 Step Five...so true.