Business card printing is not as easy as it looks. Business cards project your company’s image and as such, it is the material that is capable of making or breaking a favorable first impression to a potential client or business partner.
This is why you need to put very serious thought on the design and layout of your business card printing materials. To help you in your business card printing endeavor, here are some design elements that you have to keep in mind:
Business card size
The first design element that you need to decide about is the size of your business card. The standard size of a business card is 2 x 3.5 inches. However, you can print in different custom sizes if you want to. Some business cards are even as big as 4 x 4 inches.
Just keep in mind that your company image will dictate whether or not you will print in standard or custom size. The sizes that you choose will reflect what image your company will give off to its audience. Generally, printing in standard sizes mean that you are conservative, classy and established. Printing in custom sizes on the other hand gives off an image of spunk, freshness and style.
Business card design
After deciding on the size of your business card, you have plenty of options available to you in terms of business card design. However, there are two elements that you need to consider first before going all out in your layout.
The first one is the orientation of your business card design. You need to decide whether or not you want your business cards to be portrait or landscape orientation. Once that is decided, you then have to decide if you want your design standard or custom.
Custom options for your business card design range from die cutting (shaping your prints in different forms), folding, perforations and the use of custom inks are things that will make customization of your business cards easy to do.
Business card substrate
Another thing to consider is choosing the best substrate to use in your particular design. Certain designs work well with different substrates. The paper stocks available are 80 lb text, 100 lb text, 80 lb cover, 100 lb cover, 14pt text and 14 pt cover. It is important to note that text paper stocks are thinner that cover stocks. This makes cover stock ideal for designs that needs a sturdy materials as base.
Also, you need to remember that your substrate options are not limited to paper. Other substrates that you can use when designing your business cards are magnetic back, vinyl, metal cards, rubber and plastic cards as well as textiles.
The printing method
After finishing up on your design, the most important thing to consider knows where to print your materials. You can print your business cards through digital printing methods and through offset printing methods depending on the amount of prints that you want. If you are ordering in bulk, the only option that you can have is print them in offset. On the other hand, if you want your materials in short run or if you want them on demand, then go to a digital printer – it will be more cost effective.
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