Many business professionals in various industries understand (hopefully) that their business card is a small version of their "business passport". It's not going to make or break the deal but it will make a statement and it will be looked at and possibly analyzed by your prospective clients/associates. Information below will help you guide your intuition and professional experience when making important decisions designing your
Does Size Matter? There are probably few different opinions about business card size or its shape. I recommend keeping the standard format 3 ½ x 2, here is why:
People are very much used to this format and they used to handling business cards that fit in their wallet, their organizer, etc. This is a positive thing. Even after entering your email address and phone number in to their Blackberry or Outlook people don't usually throw away business cards. Size and shape of a business card can potentially work against you - if it's smaller than the standard it gets lost, if it's bigger - it doesn't fit and becomes a nuisance.
Color. Remember that color can have subliminal effect. Choosing your colors should be done with caution and research. Make sure to take in consideration your industry colors and general effect of color. I would advice to perform in depth research before making final decision. Keep in mind that you also looking for contrast of the important information that you want to stand out vs. background. Here are some editions from "Color Survey: what respondents said colors mean to them", you will find it interesting and contradictory at the same time.
Happy = Yellow
Inexpensive = Brown
Pure = White
Powerful = Red (tomato)
Good Luck = Green
Dependable = Blue
Good tasting = Red (tomato)
High Quality = Black
Dignity = Purple
Nausea = Green
Technology = Silver
Deity = White
Sexiness = Red (tomato)
Bad Luck = Black
Mourning = Black
Favorite color = Blue
Expensive = Gold
Least favorite color = Orange
Before hiring graphic designer try to come up with your own design and colors. If you not computer (Adobe Photoshop) friendly buy some color markers and have fun.
You can only find the right combination by eliminating lots of wrong combinations.
The back (flip) side of the business cards. Let me ask you this: How often (or when was the last time) you have flipped business card hoping to find something exiting there.
And if you did, what did you find there? Not much. Once again, it's a personal preference and a matter of a budget since printing both sides is more expensive. If someone is determined to use the flip side I would advice keeping it very simple - just business name or website address.
It's a different story if you are masseuse, mechanic, hair stylist, chiropractor or professional where keeping appointments is essential.
You should produce cheaper version of your regular business cards (just one color, less expensive paper) with flip side being used to write down client appointments.
Using your photo in your business cards. Once again it all depends. If you are real-estate agent you should have a photo of yourself, because 99% of real-estate agents do. However, if you own plumbing company image of a faucet or a pipe will be a lot more effective than your own photo, which actually be somewhat out of place.
We can have another long discussion on the personal photo itself (clothing, hair, facial expressions, background, etc). However, we are not going to get in to that now. I believe generally having your own photo on your business card is a good thing, I will only suggest to do a test run with your friends, business associates and absolute strangers to get different reactions from completely different people. At the end of the day it's a matter of personal preference and if it generates business you doing the right thing.
Composition. It's important not to have clutter. Your business card should be divided in 3 separate sections:
1. Company name and tagline.
2. Your name and title.
3. Contact info.
You should think very carefully and creatively about you tagline. It doesn't have to be the same as your company's slogan if you already have one.
The tagline will tell your potential clients in 2 seconds what your company is all about, how you can help and(or) what you specialize in. You are not going to come up with a perfect tagline the minute you read this, so don't rush, take your time and don't be discouraged.
Lamination, Clear coating, Embossing, Paper thickness. You can spend from $50 to a $1000 dollars on 500 business cards, it all depends on your budget, your business and your revenue. Don't think that spending $1000 on business cards will miraculously double your business. You have to carefully determine what is important NOW and where you can compromise. I would advice to spend extra on good quality thick paper because thin flimsy cards just come across as thin and...flimsy. Lamination can extend the life of your card and make it more appealing (shiny). You should use clear coat if you going full color - lots of ink coverage on the card surface. Save on the embossing. You can always add it later on if you decide that you need to upgrade.
"It's just a business card!" That's right, but it is YOUR business card.
It's important to treat business card creation as a synergy of different components that will compliment each other in the final result.
Experiment with different materials, it doesn't have to be paper. However make sure your card can be scanned if you want geeks to get a hold of you at some point in the future.
Be creative, keep trying and keep experimenting. You can only be wrong if you do nothing.
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