King Pin Business Cards

The ‘make do and mend’ movement of the forties is coming back into vogue again. This has a lot to do with the financial climate but also environmentalism and the fact that we are looking back for design ideas to interpret into the now.

The self sufficient business owner can quite easily take it upon themselves to create their own stationery and business cards to save money and to put some of themselves into the brand. There is a lot to be said for this if you have the design skills to back you up. A design oriented businessperson can make quite a statement when creating their own brand. There is often a warmer feeling about it and it often feels a lot more authentic than an agency created one.

If you have a copy or Word, Photoshop, Illustrator or any of the myriad of other design packages out there you can make business cards. Whether for yourself or to sell as templates or brand designs. There are even free programs out there from which you can create half decent business cards with if you spend some time learning the program.

Doing it yourself will ensure you put a piece of you into the design. This will show up in the finished article and if you’re lucky, be noticed by your intended audience. It will also be original. Unless you are modifying someone else’s design for your own needs then chances are nobody is going to have a card the same. If you are using the same ideas with the rest of your company branding then you have the beginning of a completely original business identity.

In an increasingly global marketplace, originality counts for a lot. It makes you memorable, desirable and valuable. This is especially true if you are a creative oriented business. A good business card or stationery design can act as a mini portfolio and show prospective clients exactly what you are capable of.

For those of us with slightly less creative abilities there is still the option of using one of the programs to modify or create a template for a card or stationery. Just because we can’t draw or paint doesn’t mean we can’t make business cards. We will just have to work that little bit harder to be able to do it.

You can vary the shape, texture or material as much as the design to add that little something extra. Although chances are you won’t be able to print them yourself using a normal printer, the design itself can be quite popular as it’s another way to stand out from the crowd.

Whatever you choose to make or pay someone else to make, ensure that it is going to be original and eye catching. As Oscar Wilde said ‘The only thing worse than being talked about, is not being talked about’. If people aren’t talking about you, they aren’t thinking about you, which means they aren’t doing business with you.

To print a business card is fairly straightforward. You can either do it yourself or pay a printer to do it for you.

For most traditional designs using light weight cardboard it is entirely viable to you to create a design in word and then format them so they cover an A4 sheet and print them all off. Most desktop printers will be able to print onto the cardboard as long as it isn’t too porous. Caution should be taken with the printer settings though, to ensure that porous paper or cardboard is selected. That will stop smudging and help keep the lines and edges sharp.

Don’t forget to specify double sided printing either, says the voice of experience. Don’t waste a whole sheet of full colour 400 weight cardboard because you forgot to set it up for double sided and didn’t line it up properly for the other side to match exactly. Make sure you line the card up EXACTLY so each card is printed both sides. The tolerances between cards is very fine and even a slight miscalculation can render the whole sheet useless.

Much easier to get a printer to do it for you. A professional job will almost always show through. It’s much better to spend even a little money to get a reputable printer to do the work for you. If you have one near you at least you can see examples of their work before giving them your money. Online is slightly harder to judge and you should only deal with a reputable firm.

Most printers online or otherwise will be happy to print business cards for you either to your own design or to one of theirs. They tend to prefer you to provide your own designs electronically in a .psd, .pdf or .doc format so they can format it for printing. The turnaround is pretty quick for a print job of a few hundred cards, generally within a couple of days, some within twenty four hours. Be prepared to pay a premium when wanting them in a hurry though!

Professional printers are the only viable option when wanting to play with different textures and materials. They will be able to select the proper ink settings for each one and ensure you get a good result.

Some companies like the inimitable Moo.com has made their entire business plan around business cards. There are plenty of other companies too, who offer similar services. Just Google business cards or something, you will get plenty of results for companies who specialize in them.

I can’t attest to their quality having never used them. Personally I prefer giving the work to my local printer. Local work for local businesses and all that. He in turn gives me work if a client of his needs copywriting. I win both ways! I get a good product for a good price and can discuss any issues face to face. I also get a local recommendation from a known company in my town.

You can pretty much get everything online nowadays. Yes, even that, well you can order it delivered anyway! The point is that you can acquire anything you like online. Even obscure things like goats milk or bamboo shoots. Companies make it as easy as possible for you to spend money online with them, and if you have your own business you should be doing exactly the same thing.

There are many vendors of business cards that let you design and buy them online. They have automated as much of the design process as possible for within a few minutes a prospective buyer can upload, or design their own card, fill in the details and then order them printed. I bought my business card online and have used it ever since.

Most of the websites have a three or four step process. First you choose the design you like from a selection, or from a business type menu. They can be grouped by business or type or none of the above depending on the size of the site.

Once you have chosen the design it is normally here that you input all of the information a business card should include. Definitely a name, phone number and email address, maybe a cell number website, Twitter or Facebook address or other detail you want to carry. There is a choice to be made between overloading the card with information while keeping it readable, or keeping it as clean as possible with the minimum of information.

Given the general laziness of people, I tend to include as many ways to contact me as possible. I think this can only be for the good by spreading your bets across all social networks, chat clients and such. Most online savvy people know who MSN, Gmail, Twitter and Facebook are. Some if not all will be users of one or the other of them. It’s much more convenient to contact someone on the same network than join a new one just to meet them.

Most online business card vendors offer the option to print a single or double sided card. Here you can choose an option based in the design you are using. If it’s a stock design then chances are a plain reverse side will be fine. If you have a bespoke design then maybe a double sided card would be best.

That’s pretty much it as far as designing the card goes. Preview you choices and once you are happy you can get down to the details. The paper type, rounded edges, and whatever other options the website offers. Bearing in mind of course that each extra option will cost that little bit more in the end.

It is worth spending the money if you can when buying your business card online, as like everything else in life, you get what you pay for. First impressions last, so your card had better say what you want it to about you.

The term online business cards can mean one of two things. Electronic versions of the business card, like the ones you can include in mails or SMS messages, and business cards that you can buy online.

The online versions can take the form of Facebook invite cards, to LinkedIn and other business oriented networking sites. It is simply an electronic version of the trusty piece of cardboard with your work details on it. These are becoming increasingly popular with the increase in reliance on email. Microsoft Outlook allows you to create a business card and enclose it with emails. There are even Office templates for them. I know there are other third party applications that will help you create an online business card.

Depending on your cell provider and phone, you can create and send electronic business cards via your phone. They are encoded so that they can nestle nicely in your contacts folder in them. This can be a quick and discreet way of swapping details. There isn’t much to designing these kind of cards though. The technology is still in its infancy to the options are limited. I think there will be some useful applications coming soon that will breathe some life into this, especially as the phones themselves are getting increasingly sophisticated.

Buying a business card online is the other option. A quick Google of business card or any derivative of it will present you with an array of vendors who let you create an online business card for them to print for you. I have found that uploading your own design is by far the most effective way of creating a quality and original design for you card. Using a stock design or template is definitely not the way to go as far as I’m concerned. You don’t want to look cheap, tacky or have a design that someone else already has. Originality counts for a lot when discussing business branding. You may be a small business now, but it doesn’t mean it will still be small in ten years time.

A company can of course be rebranded but it costs time and money, and a surprising amount of effort to get your existing clientele used to your new identity. It isn’t something any company does lightly.

So if you are setting up a new company or nurturing a fledgling one, it is worth surfing the net for the companies that offer the facility to make an online business card, but be careful of actually making one. Ensure they will be of sufficient weight and quality to make you look good. Don’t use a stock photograph, design or template for your card, try and personalize it as much as possible before you print it.

Lastly but most importantly, get your spelling right. It can be an expensive spelling mistake to get a couple of hundred cards printed only to find you have spelled something wrong or missed out a digit on your phone number…

A business card template is an easy to use format in order for you to use someone else’s design for your own purposes. Templates are one of the most prolific was a budding designer, or even an established one can break into the business or earn a bit of money while in it. There are websites out there that specialize in providing places where designers can sell their business card templates, and any other designs they want to sell.

There are templates for almost everything nowadays in fact most of my own business branding is from templates. It is a cost effective and convenient way to use designers while retaining convenience to modify or update it as you see fit. They cost relatively little compared to hiring a designer directly, but it will be rare that you get an exclusive use of the design unless you pay an exclusive price for it.

An hour or two with photo editing software can modify an existing template to your needs and a few more hours could have you making your own! This will be much better than using a stock template from a printers website or something as these are often monochrome or two colours, with basic fonts and little if any design qualities.

I would suggest not using a stock template if you are starting out in business as it could give completely the wrong impression of you and your company. You need a good quality, professional looking brand and persona from the off when starting off in business, otherwise you may be associated with it for a long time. Even if a brand changed relatively quickly, those who have seen it may remember it for longer than you would like. Rebranding is an expensive exercise even if you are a smaller company and the ramifications are much more than just financial.

A business brand, from a template or otherwise will be the face of your company. Think of some of the biggest brands out there, and wonder if there brand would slip if they used cheap stock templates. Saying that, the money that these companies spend on branding and corporate identity could keep a small country fed for a long time I imagine! We can’t all hire Sachs and Sachs to take care of our advertising and branding so we are fortunate that there is a cheaper, middle ground.

If you are a designer, then creating templates is a lucrative way to create a residual income while polishing your skills at the same time. If you have some decent Photoshop skills and flair for colour and design then making business card templates could be a good source of income while helping out fledgling businesses like mine. This kind of symbiotic relationship creates good contacts within business. It can also lead on to repeat orders if your stuff is good enough. I go back to the designer of my first template each time I need something new because I know the quality of the design.

Any design is subjective. The beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that. Business branding, identity and design is no different. The design of your company brand is how people will relate to your and the company. It has to say everything about you, and you have to control exactly what it says.

Website and business card design are two of the most important elements of any corporate brand. They are normally the first two pieces of literature or material that anyone sees about you. It should shout reliability, quality and trust me, without shouting into people’s faces. Unless you are lucky enough to be the CEO of a huge multinational or an established company, these are all things you need to consider when creating your own brand. It is much easier to get a professional in to do it for you, but not everyone has that kind of money laying around.

Let us concentrate on the humble business card for a moment. Its size and stature belies its usefulness and importance in the business world. They are the corporate equivalent of the hastily scribbled phone number from that hottie you met last night. The possibility of making a new connection and seeing what you can both do for each other.

An innocuous piece of card it may be, but a very influential marketing tool if used correctly. If the business card design is good enough, original enough and interesting enough, people are going to remember it, and think of you every time they see it. To be on the mind of a decision maker is the holy grail of anyone in business. That little piece of card could be the doorway to much more business and should be given the thought that it deserves.

The design should complement, not copy your overall brand, either taking an element of it or modifying it slightly to fit a card. You have to get as much information as you can while still retaining a design and not overcrowding it. If you have a logo or a design element that makes you stand out from the crowd then use it on your card.

If you want to experiment with different materials instead of card then there are many options. There are companies that make them from steel, plastic and even wool. Depending on your line of business, it may be worthwhile exploring this avenue of expression. Be aware that it will incur a cost of some kind as it will take extra effort for the printer to produce them.

Ensure that whatever you use will remain useful and useable. There is no point spending a lot of time and money on a shape or texture that renders the card impractical. If it doesn’t fit in a card holder or inside a wallet, chances are it will be thrown away when you aren’t looking.

Creativity is great as long as you don’t compromise the purpose of the card achieving it.

Business card templates are the quickest and most convenient way of creating a decent business card yourself. If you aren’t a designer or don’t have one as a colleague then these can be your best friend.

They are normally in a .psd Paintshop format or sometimes a .doc for Word. You can set it up yourself and print them on your own printer or most online printers will allow you to upload the images to their website for them to print off for you. Your local printer will probably want them in a .psd format too as it is the easiest to open, manipulate and print from.

Like general card designs there are free ones on the internet for you to download, or ones to purchase. These can cost as little as $10 or as much as $1000! Be careful and make sure you shop around to avoid paying above the odds for your design.

There is no disputing that a good design is well worth the investment, in any aspect of your business. You need to have a distinctive brand and look to your company for people to be able to identify with it. Being the same as everyone else is a sure fire way of being forgettable, and if nobody knows you are there, you aren’t going to last long in business.

It’s all about making a noise, but the right kind of noise. Not too loud, not too obnoxious and certainly not to silly. These rules can be used in any of your corporate branding exercises. Choose a design that is original, says the right thing about you and your company is essential if you want to make the most of this marketing tool.

Choosing something different and original is all about making the right noise. You want it to be attractive and memorable without becoming annoying. Some of the coolest designs out there just aren’t practical when it comes to putting the card in your wallet, filofax or organizer. Funny shapes and bits of card that fold out look very good from a design perspective but aren’t too useful when trying to extract it from your wallet or read the sometimes obscure print.

Having a business card template allows you to modify it when your details change too. That way you don’t have to pay for someone to come in and modify the design to contain your new details. Five minutes with a graphics package and your card will be entirely up to date again.

It doesn’t take a creative genius to use one of these templates so it’s ideal for people like me who have no real eye for design let alone the ability to create a good one. I know what I like as a consumer and use that as a barometer as to what is cool and what isn’t.

This method of getting a good design is ideal for the design challenged amongst us, myself included. They are a very quick and easy way of having an identity created for your business while retaining the freedom to update it and keep it current.

It seemed that until a few years ago business card design stayed fairly constant since before the war. A plain white rectangle 2×2.5” with a name and contact details printed in black, and if the company was extravagant enough, a little logo in the corner.

I know this was my father’s staple design for over thirty years. No real change in the paper, font, ink or anything. It seemed like the business card was the accessory that design forgot. Then it seems that designers saw them for the first time a few years ago. Now the realm of the humble business card is as lively and as imaginative as any other.

A variety of shapes, materials, colors, fonts, textures and anything else that can be dreamt up have slowly crept into the market bringing it new life. Once more they are something to look at and evoke interest, rather than being just part of the meeting process of swapping cards. Now business card design is in the 21st century and interesting once more.

It is amazing what a creative mind and a little cardboard rectangle can do when left in a room together for a while. Of course it doesn’t even have to be cardboard any more. In my collection I have a steel one in the shape of a dog tag, various types of plastic ones from clear or shiny, and even one made from wool. They don’t even have to be rectangle! In fact I think the only rule that seems to have stuck is the size. Still small enough to be concealable or portable, but large enough to hold the information and carry the design.

So there really is no excuse for having a boring business card nowadays. If you can’t create your own there are plenty of places you can get someone to do it for you for a lot less that you would think. A good and imaginative design will make you memorable, which is the whole point of having a card in the first place. If your business card design stands out from the crowd, then so will you. Every time a client or prospective client sees an imaginative or eye catching card they are going to think of the person who gave it to them. After a while they aren’t even going to need to see the card to think of you.

That effect is what every business wants to achieve with its audience. The instant correlation between company and product. If someone thinks of you when they think of a certain product or service then chances are they are going to come to you eventually.

So as you can see, having a memorable business card design is one of the cheapest and most effective targeted marketing methods around. Even in our electronic age, that little slip of whatever, in whatever shape with your details on it, can be your gateway to the world.

A color business card is pretty much a no brainer nowadays. When people are putting string, hair, wool, steel and a million other things onto their cards, not even having a color on one is unforgivable unless it fits the design. There are some really cool black and white or sepia designs out there that look amazing, but color is king.

There are supposedly several million colors available to print. I’m sure the human eye isn’t even capable of telling the difference between most of them. Color attracts the eye and makes a statement. As many discussions over art is about the use of color, rather than the technique or subject matter it stands to reason that color is important to us. We are all attracted to one color or other depending on our personalities and moods. It can reflect our feelings, desires and innermost thoughts, while expressing our sorrow or anger better than words ever could.

When all this is taken into account it stands to reason that we should harness all these emotions and try and use them to influence people. Clever use of color can alter the mood or decisions of people.

Now I’m not sure how much more mood changing or decision influence a color business card can do over a plain white one, but I’m certain when it comes to attracting attention, color wins every time. A little glimpse of a rich red or purple when a decision maker opens his contact book is going to make much more of an impact than the usual slip of white. It makes sense to utilize every advantage you can when trying to attract someone’s attention.

A color business card may cost a little more than a standard print or design but the return on investment will be much greater as a result. Even a single extra contact or client due to an eye catching card can more than pay for the whole batch of them in no time at all.

You or your card designer should choose a design that not only you like, but what says what you want it to say about your company. Certain colors are synonymous with companies since they used them in branding. Ford black, Coca Cola red, Pepsi blue, McDonalds red and yellow. They evoke immediate recognition through clever use of color and the companies don’t miss a trick to get them in front of you in a positive light.

Setting your brand up with a specific palette from the off can help you to build a coherent brand, and as long as you don’t go changing it, one that people will associate with you and your company for a long time. This is an essential step in building a recognisable brand and even though starting with a color business card is a small step, as long as each step leads to success its worth taking. Anything that keeps you in the mind of your audience is a good thing in any kind of business.

There are many ways to create your own business card if you choose to. If you have the creativity to make a truly personal card or brand then it can be quite satisfying to make your own.

If you are good with Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator then you already have the skills and the tools to make good card designs. If you have neither of these there are plenty of other options available. There are lots of third party business card maker programs at the moment either freeware or shareware. There are also plenty of online resources that allow you to design and specify a card design through your browser.

Many of these programs offer built in templates which give you a head start in making your own card. It’s easy to take an existing style and change it into something completely yours. Changing icons, logos, fonts or the color can make a bland or dreary design into something special.

It is well worth spending time getting to know these tool as taking a stock template and merely adding your own details to it is uninspired to say the least. It also opens you up to duplication.

Duplication is an uncomfortable thing to come across in business. Imagine living in a small town and seeing another shop, van or brand that was identical to yours. This would lead to a whole heap of trouble. Would you keep yours and try and get the other company to change theirs? Would they do the same? Or would you have to completely rebrand to disassociate yourself? Whatever you would do takes time, money and effort, all wasted.

It is much better by far to spend that little extra time and effort to ensure that your brand is original and as unlike as possible to any other competitors or nearby business brands. There are simply too many companies in the world to be utterly original unless you are a design genius or extremely lucky! Something that you create yourself will have elements of your influences but will be all your own work. It should come across as authentic, and unless you copied someone else’s work will be completely original, and unlikely to be duplicated elsewhere. That isn’t to say of course that someone won’t come along and use your ideas in their brand, but by then you should have a decent head start on them!

If you don’t have the creativity to design your own card then there are plenty of people out there who have. I used a designer to create mine and he did a far better job, in far less time than I could have done. Paying someone else to do work you could figure out yourself may go against the grain for some. My theory is I could earn way more doing what I do best in the time it would have taken me to create a good card, than it cost for me to pay someone to do it for me. Plus I now have a design contact who I can rely on if I need one in the future.