King Pin Business Cards

You can spend thousands of dollars on graphic design software to make anything from letterheads to movies. Then you can spend hundreds of hours learning how to use it to make anything remotely decent. There are much simpler business card creator packages out there that are either much cheaper or free to use or download. They don’t always offer the same features or flexibility of proprietary software, but are much more cost effective for the small business.

As well as a much smaller investment of money, they are much easier to use and configure as their scope is fairly narrow. You don’t need too many features to design a business card, unless you are a graphic designer of course! The rules are fairly standard. The card has to be a certain size, around 2×2.5” and fairly thin material. The design has to be clean and easy to determine on the small space. It has to contain the standard information, like first name, last name, job title, company name, office phone number, and sometimes a cell if appropriate. All of this has to go on a little piece of card or plastic the size of a credit card.

It makes sense to include an element of your existing business brand if you have one, so it presents a coherent image to the client. Be that a specific font or a logo or design feature that links the card to the company. This will increase the impact of the card monumentally as it will show itself a part of a larger whole, and thus a much more professional image.

Of course there are many printers either local or online that offer business card creators to help you in your task. It is generally offered as a value add service to make the process of ordering something printed as easy as possible. If you are looking at a niche card like plastic or metal instead of cardboard then there are printer online who will even design the card for you for free. The cards themselves are far more expensive, but the effect far more enhanced.

The online versions of the creators are generally very similar to the software versions. The rules and processes are the same. Keep the size as default so it can fit in wallets, purses and card holders. Unless you are making a statement card, keep the shape the default too. That will save time and production costs. You can design your card there and then on the website, or upload an image or design you have already. Proof your design checking for problems and errors. Check all of your wording, spelling and phone numbers to ensure they are all correct. Rushing or missing this bit could be an expensive mistake!

If you don’t design things for a living there is no need to spend a lot of time and money of business card creators or graphic software. There are plenty of cheap or free resources to achieve a similar outcome.

Microsoft Publisher comes as part of the Office suite of products but is little used except for a select few people. It is something of a niche product but is surprisingly useful in creating marketing material for the small business.

Business cards are an ideal way of introducing yourself and your business, then maintain the relationship after the transaction. It is a good way of staying relevant and contactable even when you’re not there. It introduces your company, but also reinforces it once an initial relationship has been struck. A card shaped reminder of who you are and what you do.

To make your own business card in Publisher, follow the guide below.

Open Publisher and in the New Publication pane select the Publications for Print option, then Business Cards. Browse the ready-made designs and select one that you like, or that you could modify into something you like.

In the Business Cards Options window, make the choices about using a logo or design element, whether you want it printed landscape or portrait. Some designs will look great one way and not so great the other. Try them out and see what they look like. It always helps to look at your business card from all angles, because that’s exactly what your customers might do.

Where it says Copies Per Sheet, select the number you want. The default is 10 per sheet to minimize waste. It may be an idea to change this to 1 until you have your design finalized to save ink, especially if it’s a full color design you’ve chosen.

Once on to the Publication Designs window, select Color Schemes and Font Schemes that you want to use. This may take a while as there are plenty to choose from. Adequate time should be taken here to ensure you get the end result you are after.

Once ready, click the dummy test in the card template to replace it with your own. Publisher automatically resizes it to fit into the space available but you can override it if you want. Some designs or effects will require oversize text so don’t be scared to tell Publisher what to do. To force text size, click on the Format menu, select AutoFit Text and click Do Not AutoFit. This will turn off the option and leave you to make your own decisions about how your text appears on the card.

That’s it for a single sided card. Save and print a single one and see how it comes out. If you like what you see, change the Copies Per Sheet option back to 10, add your Avery stock or whatever you use and print a batch. Once the ink is fully dried, use a pair of sharp scissor or a craft knife to separate them. Avery stock has the scoring already on the card, but it sometimes needs a little encouragement to come apart.

That is all there is to it. A few simple steps on how to make your own business card.