Your business card is often the first thing you exchange with potential clients and business associates. For that reason alone, it’s vital to design your business card with care. Done right, it can leave the other person with a positive and lasting impression of yourself and your company. You should therefore aim to develop a business card that’s unique and memorable.
Here are our top design tips to creating a business card to impress, inspire and remember.
- Experiment with different materials
Besides paper, consider more unconventional options such as metal, plastic, wood and more. Steve Wozniak, the pioneering inventor behind many of Apple’s sleek products, is well known for his steel business cards, for instance. If that’s a little too industrial for your taste, consider an approach like that of London-based Lux Fine Jewelry: a card printed on 100 per cent cotton, with a subtle debossed pattern for added luxury to the touch.
- Use the back of the card
Think about how often you flip over a business card just to check. The back of a business card gives you some extra real estate to supplement your branding. Take this opportunity to include your company’s logo, brand statement or other non-critical information that can help make your card more attractive and memorable.
- Try alternative printing techniques and finishes
Experimenting with different printing methods can give your business card the edge it needs to stand out. Consider options such as silk lamination for a glossy, water-resistant finish, die cuts for irregular shapes, letterpress for a 3D effect, laser cuts for precision and delicacy and more.
- Play around with orientation, size and colour
You don’t have to inject too much drama and flair into your business card in order to have an impact. Traditional business cards usually assume a standard form – a rectangular size of 3.5 x 2 inches (8.9 x 5.1 cm) with a horizontal layout – which means that even a slight deviation from this convention will be sure to set yours apart.
A vertical orientation, for example, allows you to stack information in a way that is more natural to read, and is especially useful if you have a long address. Play around with different colours to make your card more vibrant and eye-catching, or use a slightly larger size so that your card stands out just a bit.
- Relate it to your business
Don’t underestimate how powerful a statement your business card can make about the nature of your company. Even with the most sparing of details, the design of your business card can often already tell your acquaintances everything they need to know.
Take for instance this sommelier, whose wine-stained business cards are at once elegantly minimalist and yet effectively communicate her profession. Another outstanding example is this grater business card created for cheese store Bon Vivant – the card actually functions as a miniature cheese grater, which is guaranteed to be remarked upon, shown off to others, and used over and over again.
By incorporating some of these design tips, you’ll be able to develop an extraordinary and stylish business card that distinguishes your brand from others. Of course, once you do have a personalised and statement-making business card, you will definitely be sharing it with others and receiving theirs in return. To keep your contacts organised, a good contact management solution such as Sansan would be handy not just for storing but also retrieving contacts at a moment’s notice.
Get yourself a unique business card and you will be well on your way to creating interest in your brand.
