What impression does your business card design make? Is it working for your business? Does it create a professional image? Is your branding having an impact? Is it useful? Does it do all it can do?
One of the thrills when you first start a business is having a business card to hand to people and tell them about what you do. Not only do business cards make us feel like professionals with a real business, but it conveys this message to the people we meet. In the past, we’ve discussed how to use business cards and why they are still important to your business.
Now, let’s look at business card design ideas that will add weight to the impact of your card and strengthen the connection you make with every person you hand it to.
1. Minimize Clutter
The most common mistake is to see the small space of these cards and to react by cramming as many small things as you can on its surface. Simplicity is key. You still need to use white space to draw attention to what’s important and add relief to the design. If your card is too busy, no one will look at it twice.
2. Branding Adds Value
Keep your branding consistent in everything you do, including your card. You want people to look at this card and then your storefront, website, or advertisements and immediately remember your business. Consistent branding with a memorable design makes this possible.
3.Consider Using QR Codes
Are you pushing a specific product at a trade show and you want to link people to the product page? Do you hand your business card to people with the expectation they will go to a specific page on your website? You can use a QR code to make that easy for people and even better track the effectiveness of your cards.
4. Consider Your Paper Quality
An important business card design tip is to think not just about the graphics but about the paper quality. Your graphics will be crisper on a better card stock. A heavier card of obvious quality will draw more attention to your professional business than a flimsy one.
5. Experiment With the Cut
If you can, consult a professional designer on this. It’s a complicated thing to do well because you want it to still fit with your branding, not compromise the quality of your paper, and to leave a professional impression. When done well, this can add a serious wow factor to your design.
6. Choose Fonts Wisely
Your fonts need to fit with your branding and be easily readable. If you don’t feel confident enough to select a font, you can try online design tools that have business card templates made by professionals with the perfect fonts added according to the template you select.
7. Think About Color
Here, you need to consider branding, readability, and what resonates with your audience. Too many colors can overwhelm the eye.
8. Contact a Professional
If you can, hiring a professional logo designer can go a long way in creating an impressive business card. While you can watch YouTube videos and learn a lot about graphic design and tips and tricks for design through tutorials, don’t underestimate the years of experience a professional can offer your business.
9. Make It Useful
Whatever you do, keep in mind what will be most useful for your customers. When you meet people, do you expect they will find value in knowing your social media handles? Do you think they might your website? Phone number? Store address? A useful card is something they’re more likely to keep and refer back to because it adds value for them.
10. Ask What Impression Your Business Card Design Makes
Does your card tell people your business is fun? Serious? Does it prove you understand how to be helpful? Does it show you invest in quality for your business? Does it represent a professional business and leave people curious to know more and want to work with you?
A business card’s job is to provide useful information, hopefully lead to more contact in the future, and to leave a memorable impression your business can build a future relationship on. That’s a lot to ask from such a small space, but smart business design ideas can make it happen. If that has got you thinking about improving your business card, then we have an additional 20 great business card ideas for you to think about. And, of course, when you’re ready to print your business cards, contact us. We will take your business card idea and turn it into something you’ll be proud to hand out!