Are you an entrepreneur? Got an idea in mind and want to push ahead? Then the answer is yes: commission a business card design.
Need more convincing? Hard to persuade?
Business cards are, along with the logo and the name of our company, the most basic and personal elements that will define the image we present to future clients.
Making a good impression matters a great deal, and business card design is crucial to that: it’s our mark, our signal, the trace we leave wherever we go.
What should you weigh up in business card design?
- The design
- The content
- The materials
- The production budget
The design of the business card
Obviously a very important part of business card design is the design itself, and to settle on it you need to be very clear about what your style direction is going to be.
That style direction, the company branding, has to be in keeping with our philosophy, vision and mission, and with the audience we’re addressing.
So with business cards we should feel like we’re back in the school playground when, old school style, we swapped the stickers we had — and here, our stickers are the ones everyone wants.
Even if only so they walk away with a small piece of art, we have to catch our client’s attention: on seeing it, they should want us to hand them our card, and then show it to others.
The content of the business card
You need to think hard about what goes onto our business card design.
But what we leave off, for whatever reason, matters just as much as what we put on.
A card overloaded with information tends to be a chore to keep, to look at and to read: less is more.
A business card is a reminder of us pared back to its barest expression; there’s a world of difference between a two sentence synopsis and a thousand word summary.
The materials of the business card
Once we’ve settled the design and content of the business card, what’s left is to deal with the materials we’re going to use.
Materials share certain things in common with business card design: usually, while you’re in the process of creating and settling the design, the materials you’ll use are already being taken into account.
Through the materials of the business card we get the chance to surprise our clients: we can reach them through touch as well as sight, and make their experience more engaging.
The production budget
Alongside everything else, we also have to bear in mind the budget available for producing business cards.
While we absolutely wouldn’t recommend being stingy here, it’s true that sometimes there’s no alternative and we have to go for a cheaper option.
Either way, it’s always worth remembering that good business cards are an investment that will certainly pay off.
