Dissecting the Successful Business Card

DISSECTING THE SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS CARD HAND OUT YOUR CARD DON'T SKIMP ON COLOR TAKE YOUR TIME – DESIGN Your sales will increase People will keep a color card 10 times longer than a standard card Sales will increase by 2.5% for every 2,000 cards you hand out much more for a well- designed business card Sources: Printer National, Businesscard Designs, Wikipedia ASPECT RATIOS OF BUSINESS CARDS around the word 1.423 2.913 x 2.047 inches 1.545 3.346 x 2.165 inches 1.586 337x2.125 inches 1.636 3.54 x 2.165 inches 1.655 3.582 x 2.165 inches 1.667 3.543 X 2.125 inches 1.75 3.5 X 2 inches 1.8 3.543 X 1.968 inches BEFORE 1850 Personal and business cards came in a wide assortment of shapes and sizes | Ladies carried a slightly larger sized card than gentlemen | It was considered inappropriate to print the address of the card owner since such information could possibly attract beggars and other undesirables BUSINESS CARD ETIQUETTE around the world O JAPAN O SOUTH KOREA INDIA COLOMBIA When presenting your card, hold it out with both hands, then drop your left hand while the right presents the card. After the card is taken, take your left hand & grab your right arm above the wrist. Present your business card by holding it at one corner with your thumb and index finger Hold out your business card with both hands, and accept others' cards with both hands, by taking the corners of the side facing you Use your right hand to present and accept business cards Make sure not to cover up any of the important information on the card when handing it over 5 BUSINESS CARD DESIGN IDEAS The human mind fills in gaps and will see the bigger picture if you THINK OUTSIDE aim for it. Using the border of your paper as a decorative element can be great fun and another tool to work with. LET IT BLEED THE PAPER The bleed is the area outside your card that gives your printer that small amount of space to move around paper and design inconsistencies. Design your card so that the color extends beyond the border of your card to allow printing right to the edge of your card. TYPOGRAPHY IS KING It takes a while to get to know a font. A good way to get good with a particular font is to pick a list of 5 to 8 fonts you think could work for you and concentrate on those. That's also a good way to find out which fonts mix and which won't. INVERT IT EDGE OF BUSINESS CARD Need to give a bigger impact to a logo or an area of text or image? Invert it! A light color on a dark background (it doesn't necessarily need to be black) will always give your design or typography more strength. CROP MARKS Is your budget limiting you to only 2 Pantone(PMS) colors? No problem. Overprinting is intentionally printing one color on top of another in order to OVERPRINT obtain a third color. In the above case, cyan (blue) mixes with yellow to make green. Experiment with overprint options to get a look with more depth. A8 | ISO 216 ISO/IEC 7810 ID-1, Credit Card Sized