Designing a color or black and white business card is easy and fun to do. Here are some simple instructions to follow that will help when making your next business card. Another thing that always helps is to look at other peoples business cards that they have had printed or our printing. That may help you with an idea of what you would like on your business card. Please keep in mind these are just pointers, any questions you have direct them to your printer and I'm sure they will be able to help you create the perfect business card.

Here are a few pointers we have for you to assist with your next business card design!  We will go over Bleed, Color, Images, Logos, Fonts and File Formats.


FIRST - Do you want your Business Card to have Bleed?

- No Bleed Business Card   - Business Card with Bleed

As you can see, bleed can be a very attractive element to add to your Full Color Business Card.

If you are going to be using bleed, the setup of your business card will be slightly different than just setting the card to size (2x3.5) In the graphic below you will see the standard size of a business card in the light blue area, which is 2x3.5. As you can see from this, the white area represents the bleed area of the card. If you are going to contain bleed, your background must extend to the edge of the now 2.75x3.75 card. This allows for 1/8 of Bleed that will be trimmed off when the cards are cut down to the 2x3.5 size.  Here is a diagram that will help to better understand this.





Second - images or logos, probably the most important part of your card.

If you are scanning your images from your own material for your printing project, tif or eps file formats work the best. Unlike some gif or jpg files, these formats will preserve the color and sharpness of your pictures the best for printing your Business Cards.

You should scan your images using a resolution of 300dpi at the final size you want to use the so they remain sharp.

If you are using pictures from your digital camera they will work just fine! Keep in mind the quality setting of your photos when you are taking them for your Business Cards or project - the higher the detail, the better the photo.

Color Mode is another thing to keep in mind.... some programs will give you these options...

There is a possibility your Business Card may appear different when it is printed if the project is created in RGB Color Mode. Most Scanners and digital cameras create images using these three bright colors: Red, Green and Blue (RGB). This is also what your Monitor uses to display images.

The Difference, Printing Presses print using a different set of colors: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (CMYK). This process of printing does not allow the brightness and flourescents your monitor has the ability to reproduce. At some stage your RGB image or design will have to be converted to print, most printers will apply this conversion for you - but you will be able to see better results if you create it like this on your own.



Third - the usage of Fonts on your business card.

If you know how to send fonts with your printing project that would be great for any printer! So they can match you Business Card or Printing Project exact to how you created it.

Not Sure How to Do This? Go through your document and make a list of your fonts. Send that list to your printer and they should match them for your Business Card or Printing Order.



FINALLY - What programs can I use to design my card?

When you are designing your card - keep in mind also that most printers accept virtually all Business Card File formats.
With any program, your best results will come if your card is created at 300dpi or above. Here are a few file types that may be accepted:

Adobe Products
Avery Business Card Software
Print Shop (Broderbund) Products
Corel Draw
Microsoft Products
QuarkXPress
.jpeg, .tif, .eps, .gif, .pdf