5 Signs of a Well-Designed Business Card by Pat Owings

Is Your Business Card a Slam Dunk?

The business card is an aspect of professionalism that dates back decades, and even serves as a rite of passage for many new employees and companies. The moment your box of business cards arrives in the mail, you feel an instant sense of importance and arrival on the scene of your industry.  Unfortunately, designing a great business card can prove to be quite the challenge, especially if you aren’t especially design-minded. Before we dive into our signs of a great business card, take a gander at this infographic on the history and makings of the business card.

If it’s time for you to brainstorm ideas for your company business card, it might help to have a few best practices in mind. Here are five signs of a well-designed business card.

Your Picture is Appropriate and Professional

It’s difficult to gauge whether or not the picture you select for the front of your business card is creepy and unsettling or professional and becoming of you. If you opt to put a picture on the front of your business card, the first step to ensuring that it is the latter and not the former is to show the potential picture to your fellow colleagues, co-workers or friends. Make sure they know the picture is for your business card so they can make a critique of it based on what’s professional and not what’s hilarious.

Your Font is Easy to Read

When you select the font for your business card, you should keep in mind that the card is tiny, and the majority of people who look at it will be disinterested in putting forth the energy to read a complicated font. Sure, it’s tempting to make your business card font fancy and original, but if your audience can’t read it, it hasn’t done you any good. When it comes to your business card’s print, try and keep the font straightforward, with clean lines and bold structure. The easier your company’s name and phone number are to read, the quicker people will start committing them both to memory.

Your Font is Tasteful

Creating a business card that uses an outdated or otherwise culturally despised font will make your company seem like it resides in the dark ages, when Comic Sans was all the rage. Choosing a tastefully unique, yet still accessible font is one of the most effective ways to improve your business card.

The Design is Simple

Of course you have a lot of intense design ideas for your company’s website, logo and content. Unfortunately, the amount of space available to you on the front or back of a business card simply doesn’t benefit from an overzealous design. Formulate a simple, effective, easy-to-digest design and a great font. Your message will stick more effectively with your audience when there is less for them to dig through.

You Include All Relevant Information

There are a few key pieces of information your business card should invariably contain. Among them is your name, your company name, a possible motto, your company email, address and phone number. It sounds like a lot, but if you space everything evenly and strategically, you can construct an attractive and informative card.

When it comes time to design a business card that is functional and effective, you need to keep a few basic rules in mind. Understand the purpose of a business card, know the audience of people who will be looking at yours and cater your design to their expectations. You want to make an impression, but not an overwhelming one. If your business card is the only thing some people know of your business, you want to ensure it’s the most flattering impression you can provide. The time you spend creating a great business card can pay dividends for your company in the long run.

Courtesy of  http://www.business2community.com

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