A guide to effective busines card design

For hundreds of years, business cards have been a vital means of disseminating basic information. Processes and capabilities have evolved, but some basic guidelines remain true in creating an effective business card.

An effective business card should:

• Identify the person and/or business
• Provide essential contact information
• Remind the recipient of what you do
• Contain some compelling feature(s) to make it stand out

Identify the person and/or business:
The card should identify the represented company by name, along with its distinguishing logo, if available. In addition the name of the individual handing out the card should be listed, including a title if pertinent. Adding a photo will also aid in identification as well as create a personal touch.

Provide essential contact information:
How much contact information depends on the type of service to some degree. An address (physical, mailing or both), phone and fax numbers are the norm, but consider including a cellular number, e-mail address, and website address. Be sure to include as much information as is prudent to be readily accessible to your customer without overwhelming them with numbers.

Remind the recipient of what you do:
Often times a company’s name has nothing to do with the product or service they offer. A simple tag line or brief explanation of services offered will go along way. Just enough to jog the memory – too much information on a business card will only get overlooked.

Contain some compelling feature(s) to make it stand out:
Odds are, you are not the only individual trying to get a customer’s attention. Some small compelling feature may be just what it takes to keep your business card on the top of the pile (both physically and figuratively). Maybe it’s a memorable quote, or an eye catching graphic. It could be the type of material on which the card is printed or the addition of rounded corners. The bottom line is this – you want the client to remember YOUR card, and not that of the competition.

A few other quick tips… be cautious of making the design too busy. This can include graphic elements or excessive wording. Too much “stuff” will make the card very difficult to read thereby lessening its effectiveness. Background images can add visual appeal as long as they don’t detract from the main purpose, which is to disseminate information. The small type common on a business card is easily lost when set over some background images. Utilize the back side of the card – back side printing is often very inexpensive and will give twice the space. On a final note, remember your card is a reflection of you and your product or service. Avoid flimsy papers, unprofessional printing (do it yourself kits) and cheap looking “cookie cutter” designs. A poorly made card could actually do more harm than good.

I use business cards to get me "leads' for the product or program I'm selling at the time.

For 10bux a month I can get a Voice Mail Box that allows me to place a 2 minute outgoing message, about whatever program I'm selling that month. And, I can capture the names & phone #'s of people who call in.

The message on the BACK of my cards is along the lines of;
"Recorded Message Reveals.......(benefit) Call 555-1234 x 123"

Thus...when I'm out on the "battlefield" and my potential customer is not in...I leave my card. And I DO get calls from prospects who have seen my Card.

However...After I give a presentation and my prospect doesn't buy and he says, "I'll think about it! Give Me Your Card!"

I respond with, "Whatcha gonna do wit my card...pick yer teeth wit it?"

I "Take NO Prisoners" when I'm out on the "field of battle".

Don Alm
http://www.midasreports.com
50Ways to Make $50k

A good card begins with a good logo. Ideally a logo should be simple in design, related to the company or product and easily identified so it is not confused with other companies and products.

One thing to watch for in logo design is to make it so it can easily be enlarged or reduced in size. This will save you big bucks re-doing it various ways for use on everything from cards or small ads to banners. One or two colors are best. One of those 'colors' should be black because it's presence tends to sharpen the entire logo for easy identification and focusing...besides it'll save on color washups when printed since black is considered a basic standard.

As for card design, be inventive but not confusing. Be careful what you put in the middle of the card because that is where people look first. Arrangement need not be symetrical but it should be logical. No partial address at the top and the rest at the bottom, for instance.

Beware of having numbers too small to be easily read...especially the telephone or cell phone numbers. Stick to clear, clean, easy to read fonts without excess hooks and curves. On a card, clarity is essential!

Consider using a colored background card because they tend to stand out in a card file and are often viewed first.

Avoid rounded corners. Why? Because when people are thumbing through Rollodex listings, they often do it by the corner of the cards and rounded corners make it easy for it to be overlooked or stuck between two square cornered cards.

Hope this is helpful.

Sandi Bowman

Originally Posted by remipub

For hundreds of years, business cards have been a vital means of disseminating basic information. Processes and capabilities have evolved, but some basic guidelines remain true in creating an effective business card.

An effective business card should:

• Identify the person and/or business
• Provide essential contact information
• Remind the recipient of what you do
• Contain some compelling feature(s) to make it stand out

Identify the person and/or business:
The card should identify the represented company by name, along with its distinguishing logo, if available. In addition the name of the individual handing out the card should be listed, including a title if pertinent. Adding a photo will also aid in identification as well as create a personal touch.

Provide essential contact information:
How much contact information depends on the type of service to some degree. An address (physical, mailing or both), phone and fax numbers are the norm, but consider including a cellular number, e-mail address, and website address. Be sure to include as much information as is prudent to be readily accessible to your customer without overwhelming them with numbers.

Remind the recipient of what you do:
Often times a company’s name has nothing to do with the product or service they offer. A simple tag line or brief explanation of services offered will go along way. Just enough to jog the memory – too much information on a business card will only get overlooked.

Contain some compelling feature(s) to make it stand out:
Odds are, you are not the only individual trying to get a customer’s attention. Some small compelling feature may be just what it takes to keep your business card on the top of the pile (both physically and figuratively). Maybe it’s a memorable quote, or an eye catching graphic. It could be the type of material on which the card is printed or the addition of rounded corners. The bottom line is this – you want the client to remember YOUR card, and not that of the competition.

A few other quick tips… be cautious of making the design too busy. This can include graphic elements or excessive wording. Too much “stuff” will make the card very difficult to read thereby lessening its effectiveness. Background images can add visual appeal as long as they don’t detract from the main purpose, which is to disseminate information. The small type common on a business card is easily lost when set over some background images. Utilize the back side of the card – back side printing is often very inexpensive and will give twice the space. On a final note, remember your card is a reflection of you and your product or service. Avoid flimsy papers, unprofessional printing (do it yourself kits) and cheap looking “cookie cutter” designs. A poorly made card could actually do more harm than good.

i like your idea remipub but lets also look at the future cause thats were we are going.
i see business cards also having the quality of proving visual effects that projects the visual deliniation of the cooperations in parameter as a short meaningful advert thats quite captivating (like a plastic micro equiped card with a mini screen thats very eccentric )
thanks workaholicvictor

workaholicvictor,

Thanks for your posts.

Would you do us all a favor and use proper punctuation in your writing please. Otherwise, it's a strain to read.

Proper punctuation includes using Capitals as the first letter when a new sentence is started. Using apostrophes when writing shortcut words like "that's" instead of "that is" - and not how you write them "thats".

Michael Ross