card design (669kb)

Clickable IndexBusiness Card Design Guide:

Business Card Design Steps:

Card Options:

Free:Buy:Print Your Only:

Introduction To Card Design:

Card Dimensions:

Cards With Logos:

Cards Without Logos:

2/3 Rule:

Design Basics:

Fonts:

Types Of Fonts:

Double Line Design:

Center Justified:

“L” Design: 1 2

Negative Space:

Card Gallery and Critique:

Creating Your Own Cards:

Card Template:

Cropping L’s:

Grouping the Elements:

Where to Find Card Stock:

Cutting your Cards:

Tools:Procedure:

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Work Area

Margins

Margins

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Business Card Design Guide:By: Larry Loc © 2003

We are told that you never get anotherchance to my make a first impression. Ithink that is wrong, your second firstimpression is your business card.

Good design is something that mostpeople are going to perceive only on anunconscience level. Any good salesperson is going to tell you that, that iswhere sales happen.

If you get stuck with a dull or clutteredor messy card. Guess what, that is goingto be the message your card sends aboutyou.

Unless you understand design there isnothing to guarantee that you will get agood business card, much less a greatcard.

I have seen high priced, professionallyprinted, business cards that are completegarbage. I have also seen do-it-yourself,home printed, cards that are first rateselling vehicles.

That is truly what a business card is allabout, selling! Selling you as a person,and a professional, as a featureemployee!

Okay, now we know what we are talkingabout. The first question is “how do Iget the best possible business card forthe lowest possible cash outlay?”

That is what I am trying to answer withthis Business Card Design Guide. Andthis is how I plan to go about answeringthis question.

Business Card Design Steps:1. Free, Buy, or Print?2. Introduction to card design3. Card examples w/ critique4. How to print your own card

• Pre-printed stock• Blank card stock

5. Downloadable Card Template

Card Options:FREE:Why pay for something when you canget the milk for free, or words to thelike. There is a site on the Internet thatwill give you business cards for the priceof shipping. http://www.vistaprint.comCan’t beat that, right? If all cards wereequal than I would agree with you. Butthey aren’t, so I won’t.

Let’s look at what the function of abusiness card is. We have already talkedabout it. The function of a business cardis to promote a favorable impression ofthe businessperson, you, often at anunconscience level. In short, toadvertise that person.

He first thing I have against Vistaprint isthat their cards come with theiradvertisement on the back. You cardshould advertise you and only you.

Think about the respect you wouldengender if your business stationarycame with an advertisement for someoneelse on it?

You business card is far more importantthan your stationary. It is what theyhave to remember you by after they gohome or back to the office.

You can get over this advertisementproblem by paying them for cardswithout their advertisement.

http://www.vistaprint.com/

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Another thing that is wrong with theircards is that they are printed on pre-printed card stock, never a good idea. Ihave yet to find one were the name andcontact information is printed straight inrelationship to the pre-printedbackground.

Lastly, you design your card over theInternet. And if you don’t know how todesign then you are stuck with yourdesign and their slipshod mass printing.You get what you pay for!

BUY:Just paying someone else to create yourbusiness cards for you does not insurethat you will get a superior card. But itdoes mean you are going to pay a highprice.

Most printers will send out your businesscard order to a printing house that doesjust business cards. This means that youare paying both printer’s mark-ups. Youare paying for the printing twice.

The card you get will be from a setgroup of in-house card templates but youwill still be charged a board fee just likeyou are having a new newspaper ad ora flyer created from scratch.

With a house that does just cards youstand a pretty good chance of getting agood finished product but even they aregoing to have to train new people. Ifyou don’t know something about design,you can’t tell.

Now on the other hand if you shoparound for the best price you areinvesting your time, time that could havebeen used elsewhere.

What you are going to find is a smallshop that designs their cards in house.Who knows what kind of a card youwith get then. A lot of the little shopsare run by small business people withvery little knowledge of layout anddesign. They are living on their copymachine.

My advice, learn something aboutdesign. Then you will be in a betterposition to judge what you are getting.Then you can pay for the service or doyour only and be sure of getting a goodproduct.

PRINT YOUR ONLY:Printing you own business cards is thecheapest way to go. The problem is thata lot of them look cheap.

The rest of this guide will deal withgetting you the tools to avoid the homeprinted look while still having theversatility and economy of printing yourown cards.

INTRODUCTION TO CARD DESIGN:A number of people from industry havevery graciously given me the rights and permission to use their business cards asthe base for a design guide.

In a lot of cases this sample gives me acore of what not to do. Added to thisbase sample are a number of really greatcards that I have picked up over theyears. Most of them are in the animationfield because I am.

The names, phone numbers, addresses,and e-mail addresses have been smearedto protect their privacy without hidingthe design elements. For an in depthlook at each card just CLICK yourmouse on that card.


DIMENSIONS:The size of a business card is 2 inches by3 ½ inechs.

A business card should never very fromthat size.

The basic card is going to display Name,Job Title, Phone Number, and E-MailAddress. Some cards with also showAddress but that is up to you.

In today’s business world E-Mail is themost important contact info followed byPhone Number.

Portrait, or 90º from normal, is okay touse in some of the creative fields but

should never be used in the conservativeprofessions.

What would you think of a banker or alawyer that handed you a business cardthat was in a portrait layout?

The more conservative the profession,the more ridged the design.

Which ever way you flip your card thencards come down to two basic types: cardswith logos and cards without logos.

CARDS WITH LOGOS:A logo is a symbol or brand mark thatconveys the essence of your company.In short it is a trademark and thereforeserves to distinguish the goods andservices of one company from all of theother companies.

I’m not going to go into logo designhere. It is a massive field with a long andrich history. If you already have a logofor your company, fine. If not then skipthis section.

If you have a logo then there are designrules that apply to the use of that logo.

2/3 RULE:When dealing with a logo is mustconform to the 2/3 rule. Either the textshould take up two thirds of the space orthe logo should take up two thirds of thespace.

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In most cases the only way to get thelogo to use 2/3s of the design space is touse it on a portrait design.

Since we already know that portraitdesigns can only be use in the creativebranches of the professions that meansthat the logo should use 1/3 of the designspace and the text should take up 2/3s.

The logo should go in the left-hand areaof the card.

In western countries we read from left toright, therefore we always start lookingat anything starting at the top left-handcorner.

The eye is going to travel into the cardstaring at the top left-hand corner andfollow the curve of the logo shape untilit is lead in to the contact elements of thecard.

CARDS WITHOUT LOGOS:If you don’t have a logo, don’t worry.Businesses have logos, most businesspeople don’t.

That leaves you with a number ofoptions from the standard card designs.

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"

"

""

"

"YOUR NAMEJOB TITLE

PHONEE-MAIL


DESIGN BASICS:When dealing with design we mustbegin with the eye and how it works.

The human eye works best whenunmoving objects are separated onefrom another. If everything is all pushedtogether without any space between thenit is hard for the eye to distinguish.

A card needs margins or unused spacearound the edges. Nothing should beplaced in the margin.

The margins on the top and sidesshould be ¼ inch and the margin at thebottom should be about 3/8 of an inch.

Why more margin at the bottom of thecard? It goes back to the way that theeye works. If the margin at the bottom isthe same at the side and top margins thenthe information on the card seem to floatoff into space. I think that it hassomething to do with the horizon linethat we all live with from the day we areborn.

FONTS:Overuse of fonts and a large number offonts in one project is the true mark of theamateur.

Stick with one font family with a coupleof sizes and maybe, just maybe, a boldon the name. With fonts, more is trulyless.

TYPES OF FONTS:Fonts come in two types (no punintended) Serif and San-Serif. Or letterswith or without little extra designy lines.

RAbove is a 180 point (72 point per inch)Times New Roman “R”. Times NewRoman in a Serif font that comes fromthe font designed in the late 1800’s forthe London Times. Serif fonts are easierto read in newspaper style text.

RThe example above is a 180 point Arial“R”. Arial is a Microsoft rip off ofHelvetica, the most popular San-Seriffont.

Work Area

Margins

Margins


DOUBLE LINE DESIGN:One of the formal conservative businesscard designs. It conveys a solid,established unconscience message in itsdesign.

There are two areas of information witha white space between them.

Notice how balanced this design is.When we get to the examples we willsee some variations on this design. Somethat work and some that do not.

CENTER JUSTIFIED:Another favorite of the moreconservative professions, like law andbanking.

There is a kind of stark elegance in thisdesign. It is a bit stodgy and it means tobe. Its advantages are that it conveys asolid, trustworthy, stuffiness that we liketo have in our bankers by not in aredinner gusts.

Any kind of information can be includedon this type of card, Partnership Name,Name, Title, Business License Number,and of course, contact information.

The important thing is that all of theinformation is lined up at the center ofthe card.

I have seen some home printed cardswhere this did not happen and the effectis very unprofessional.

NEGATIVE SPACE:Another place where the beginner reallyfails is a lack of understanding ofNegative Space. Most people have noidea that there even is such a thing.

Assuming that most of you are out of theknow, when dealing with this concept, Ithink a little definition is in order.

Negative Space is the open space in thearea that contains the design. It is part ofthe design while not seeming to be partof the design. Confused? Let’s use apicture and save a thousand words.

Here the white area is Negative Space.

Name Title

E-Mail Phone

Address

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A number of problems here.1. Printed cardstock backgrounds never

match up with the printing2. Name and title Left Justified Text,

skills and contact info Right JustifiedText

3. Text too close to right and left edgesof card area, too close to bottom, toomuch space at top and lower left

4. Negative space is awkward

Just a couple problems here:1. She is working with the pre-printed

design and it comes out of the printera little crooked. If you really needthe background then Xerox the cardonto the background print it.

2. The Right Justified Text is a bolddesign feature but it is too close tothe right edge of the card.

3. I like the name lined up on the swash ofbackground color lines.

Some small problems only1. Good basic card but a bit too plain.

Could use a design element like aline between the name and title orsomething like that

2. Needs to be centered left to right tooclose to left edge

3. Could bring the contact informationdown just a little to separate it fromthe title and trun it into a true 2 line

Only one minor problem with this one:1. This is very good design. The card

creates a diagonal eye movement byusing square elements. The cross linesbreaks the card into 4 unequal areas.The top right and the bottom leftunequal areas are balanced by thelarge “R” in the smallest top right-hand area. Notice that there is aboutthe same amount of ink in the “R” asthere is in all the contact info in thelower left area. The negative space inthe top left and lower right areas create an“L” on its side. Good design.

2. The only thing here is the address. Itis too close to the vertical of thecross but it has to be to line up withthe letter “L” of the first name that has tobe were it is to balance the “R”.

Click on the card for in depth critique

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Good basic design, nothing fancy herebut that goes with the job title verynicely.

1. 2 stripes of data here divided by anice negative space. The title belowthe line almost fits, like a puzzlepiece, into the break between thename and the address. The e-mailaddress repeats the design element atthe bottom of the card.

Lots of problems (when I was handedthe card the first thing I did was mark itup)1. Text is printed crooked to pre-

printed background2. Text is right up next to the picture of

the building with no gutter space atall

3. Big open space on right-hand sidemakes it too heavy on the left-handside. It almost wants to fall left-wiseout of your hand.

Great card showing real design sense.Fun, playful, the card tells and sells theskills of the person.

Good solid design for a business personor in this case educator. Notice that thelogo and the school name create an “L”laid on its face, the name and tile sets inthat “L” shape, and the contact info isbelow the line. A little stiff, a littlestodgy, but it is meant to be.

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50/50 design

Both sides are designed as a separateunit that balance each other.

The left hand side is a picture framedesign with name and title below

Right hand side is Left Justified Textcontact info

This one has some problems1. Logo is a little overweight2. This is a double line separated by

negative space but the name and titleintrude on the negative space

Another double line of data separated bynegative space. Nice use of the name asa logo. Notice the diagonal slant to thename (which is in red). Design forms a“Z”. You get a Zorro feel to the cardwithout knowing it.

Nice artist design with a 90 degreechange to the normal layout. Not for thetypical business person.

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CARD TEMPLATE: (Click to Download)The most important thing with businesscards is registration. How are you goingto cut your cards and have them come outeven? How are you going to avoidregistration marks at the corners of yourcards?

I have created a template in PowerPointto take care of these problems.

It is quite simple. All of the registrationmarks are worked out so that the cardscan be cut without leaving black markson any edges.

The registration marks are groupedtogether as one object and as long asthey are not ungrouped everything willcome out correctly.

The trick is to set up the first card andthen make copies of it and align theminside the other card areas created by theregistration marks.

I have put in text objects and directionsto help in the creation of your first card.

Note that the Name and Title and othercard information are at 90 degrees to thescreen. The cards will be printed ontheir sides but will be straight when cutand used.

CCCrrreeeaaatttiiinnnggg YYYooouuurrr OOOwwwnnn CCCaaarrrdddsss

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http://www.agni-animation.com/brooks/carblank.ppt


You are going to need to do a number oftest prints with your first card. Use plainpaper and the economy setting on yourprinter. It will take a number of tests toget it right.

You can either cut out the sample card oruse what we paste-up and design peoplecall “Cropping L’s”.

Cropping L’s are a tool to help youvisualize the finished, trimmed, project.You can make your own set by cutting 2right angle “L” shapes out of blackcardboard.

`Make sure that they are square. If theyare not you will get a strange cockeyedview of the way your card is going tolook.

Select all the elements of the card,making sure not to select the registrationmarks with them, and group them.

Once you have your first card laid outthe way you want it. And you havegrouped it into one object. Then yousimply make copies of the first cardand add them to your card layout.

Paste these copies of the card into eachone of the card areas on the template.

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Use the Croppong "L's" to bracket the registration marks and show where the cut is going to be.

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The finished sheet of cards is now readyto print. Because the cards and theregistration marks are on the same sheetwe do not have to worry about whither ornot the page comes out of the printerstraight.

The registration marks and the cards willalways be aligned to each other no materhow they relate to the edge of the page.

Now you need to print your cards ontocover or card stock. You can print up to80 pound stock through a Deskjet styleprinter. You should print your cardson at least 60 pound stock to get theright weight and feel to the finishedcards.

You can pick up card stock at a an officesupply store. Or you can find it at apaper dealer. Here in Laguna Hills wehave a great paper suppler: Kelly Paper,23641 Ridge Route Dr., Laguna Hills,CA –(949)-454-2225.

I like a good linen stock with a bit of atooth to it (tooth – roughness of thesurface) and a bit of a grain (grain –surface texture and/or pattern that thefibers make).

I want the finished card to feel expensivein the hand. That is part of theunconscience message that I want tosend.

CUTTING THE CARDS:

Once you have printed 4 or 5 sheets ofcards you will need to cut the sheets intoindividual cards.. The best way to dothis is with an X-acto Knife. You canalso use a singe-edge safety razor blade. Don’t try to use a cutting board becausewill never be able to line up the cutsproperly.

You are going to need something to cuton. I use a plastic cutting mat. You canalso use the cardboard backing from anart pad or even an old piece of masonite.You want something that will not cutthrough. Stay away from corrugatedcardboard. And don’t cut on a tabletop.


Take the printed sheets of cardstock andalign them. Once they are straight, staplethem at each corner. Make sure that youstaple outside the registration marks.

Line up a metal ruler or T-Square on theregistration marks. Do not cut from edgeto edge of the sheets. Start your cut at thetop registration mark and stop it at thebottom mark.

Make sure that you hold the blade 90degrees to the paper. Drag the X-Actoblade along the edge of the ruler. Don’tput a lot of pressure on the X-Acto. Dragthe blade over the page numerous timesuntil you have cut completely through allof the sheets.

Re-align the ruler on the next set ofregistration marks and repeat theprocess.

Re-align the ruler going in the otherdirection once you have cut all threecard edges in the first direction.

Cut slowly without much pressure. Thecards will start to fall away from theblade as you cut through the layers. Donot release you hold on the ruler until thelast card in that line is cut.

Move your ruler to the next set of marks andrepeat. At the end you will have a set ofcards and the stapled frame you cut themfrom. Check each card to see that it isokay.


Beyond This PointInteract Library for

Card DetailsClick on the cards in the gallery to be linked to the detailed critique

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This is a card that is used as an Artist’sSample. The card has been flipped 90degrees. The Name, Services Offered,and Phone Number form a base orground line for the 2 figures.

This is made stronger by putting theServices in a bordered box in reverse orwhite knockout type.

The Name, Services, and Phone from thecap of a Greek Column. You can almostsee the column in your eye. Which isgood because that is all that balances theheavy gray form of the devil with theflower.

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This is a well designed card. It has thesimple elegance of a Double Lineprofessions card. Note the underlinebeneath the company name.

We are given 2 lines of information,1. Company Name and Services Offered

2. Contact Information

The Signature becomes a logo. Byprinting it is red the Double Line designremains intact.

Taken as a whole, the Double Line andLogo form a “Z” shape. This gives usthe image of Zorro, champion of thepeople. Not a bad image to sneak intothe unconscience mind.

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This one is a mess. The Logo andAddress are too far to the left-hand edgeof the card. Even if they weren’t, thestacked up canon ball element of theLogo weighs the corner of the card sothat it almost flips right out of yourhands.

The Company name is not well thoughtout either. It is Tri-Media but could beread Trim-Edia. And what is with thattacked on INC handing off the edge ofthe Logo?

When we look at the Negative Space wesee what a mess we have. The cardseems to start out as a Double Linedesign but it looks like the top line isbroken.

I’m not sure what kind of message issent with the Name and Title lookinglike they are the broken off end of theCompany Name? But I’m sure that it isnot a good message.

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We get a Domino effect with this card.The card is split into 2 equal areas. Thisis like a square “Ying Yang” sign. Thewhite Negative Space in the logobalancing the white Negative Space inthe contact information side of the card.

This is a strong logo. The 3 whiteswishes coming off of the “O” in Romanmoving the eye to the right and the 2white swishes balancing on the edge ofthe center swish moving the eye back tothe left.

The center swish breaking the edge andleading the eye to the “L” in Film.

Everything about this is a real pro job

The contact info is set out in astraightforward left-justified block oftext. The card works and someone waspaid a lot of money to make sure that itworks.

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This is a very powerful design bysomeone that is not a trained designer.

The two cross lines and the “R”are thekey to the whole design.

They form an “L” shape.

The “R” and the contact informationbalance each other.

These elements also create a diagonalpath for the eye.

The trouble is that the contact info partof the card has some basic problems.The Address is just too close to the left-hand edge of the card. It has to be thereto align with the Name but it still createsa problem area.

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This card is the product of system widetemplate. It is designed to look goodwith interchangeable information.

Since that is hard to do, this card hasbeen split into two areas.

The top section is the place where thedesign speaks. Here the “L” shape isused.

The “L” is a very strong design shape. Itbrackets objects. In this case the nameand title of the person. Notice that theName, Title, and Department make an“Arrow” shape that leads the eye back tothe “L” and around and around.

The bottom 1/4 of the card is not asexciting. But then it doesn’t have to be,because it is below the line.

The Negative Space is a bit of a mess.But it has been marginalized below theline. The shapes will change with thecontact information of each professorplugged into the template.

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This is a great card by a graphic designerthat knows what she is doing. There aresubtleties here dealing with shades ofcolor and complex shapes that would behard to explain to the layman.

First thing she does is break the borderby putting in this cloud like shape. Weare no longer looking at a business card,we are looking through a business card.

WARNING: This works for an artist butwould not work for a programmer orbanker.

All of the contact information except thename of the company and the person’sname fall right into the background. Thatis not what she is selling here. You willlook for the info after she wows youwith her art.

Hiding the contact information is adaring thing to do. It only works if theimage you are selling is strong enough tosuck in the viewers.

Here is what she is selling. But shedoesn’t beat you over the head with it.The background color is close enough tothe color of the figure that it stands outwithout jumping out.

The most important thing on the card isthe bone with the word clay on it. That iswhat she is selling. That is what jumpson this card.

I can look at this card and know whatkind of a person created the card. I knowher design aesthetic, I know how shethinks, and I have a pretty good ideaabout her personality.

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Page 1

This card is a mess. The text elementsare right up against the pre-printedpicture of buildings. This does a numberof bad things.

1. It locks the text elements and thepicture into one messy block andmakes the text hard to read.

2. It showcases the fact that the text andpicture are not square to each other.

3. The card is broken into two parts, darkand light. This makes it very hard toget at the text info

4. The Negative Space is a nightmare.The things that it is saying on anunconscience level are not thingsthat you want to come across to a,hopefully, new boss.

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Not a bad little card. An example of theDouble Line style of card.

The text elements are very strong. Theypop right out of the Negative Space

The text elements of this card form thesepuzzle piece shapes that almost seemlike they would fit together. Veryexciting for the eye. Makes the viewerexcited about the person without reallyknowing why. This is a good thing whenyou are looking for a job.

The contact info is too close to the bottomedge of the card and needs to be moved up.

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We have a strong, arrowhead like shapecreated by the text. It doesn’t quite cometo a point but close enough.

The Negative Space is a good solidshape but the card is not centered. Andthis kills the whole design.

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Basic problem of pre-printed stock – printing is crocked

The “@” sign and side design are part of the card design

First level of Negative Space is awkward

The eye is lead by the swish right to the name. The “@” sign is tied to the name.

Text too close to right-hand edge

The white line coming off the “@” separates the Title from the Contact info

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The NegativeSpace is just planeweird

The cardinformation is allover the placewithout any sign oforder

The color barserves no purpose,It just takes upspace

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