Useful hints and tips to get you started designing a business card
Designing the perfect business card is not rocket science. However, there are a few key points you need to hit to ensure your card is printed correctly.
Size
Business cards have different sizes all around the world. In the US, the size of their business cards is 88.9 x 50.9mm. In some Asian countries, their standard size is 90 x 54mm. Here in the UK, you typically find two standard sizes. 88 x 55mm and 85 x 55mm.
At Tradeprint, our standard business card size is 85 x 55mm. These are the dimensions that you need to create your artwork too in your design software.
Bleed
Every product that we print requires a bleed area around the outer edge of the design. When your business card is printed, it is tiled up alongside other designs on a large sheet, and then cut down to the size required. There is sometimes slight movement at the guillotine stage, and if the blade is off slightly, then you may end up with a white line running down the edge of your final print if your design does not have the correct bleed.
Applying bleed is simple, any background graphics on your design (solid colour background, images, patterns) need to extend over the cut line by at least 3mm.
Therefore, your business card size is 85mm x 55mm, and then the additional 3mm on each side results in your final design being 91mm x 61mm. Always remember that the 3mm bleed will be cut off, so do not have any important elements in this area.
How to add bleed to your artwork
Safe Zone
Something to consider when you are building your design is the safe zone area around the edge. Think back to the bleed process, when the card is cut down there can be movement in the blade. You do not want to have any important text or graphics near the very edge as there is a risk of them being cut into.
We recommend a 3mm (ideally 5mm) gap around the perimeter of the design. This will ensure that all the essential elements in your design do not get damaged.
What is a safe zone in printing?
High-quality images
If you choose to use images within your design, you need to ensure that they are the highest quality possible for printing. We recommend that all images are 300 dpi (dots per inch). At this resolution, your images will look sharp and crisp on your final printed business card. If the image you use is low quality and pixelated, then this will show on your card and will not look professional. Always try to use the best quality possible.
What Image Resolution Should I Use For Print?
Fonts
Choosing a font can take some time, and you need to make sure that the font you have used within your design is embedded correctly into the print file. You can do this a few different ways, it all depends on what software you use to create your design. We wouldn’t recommend using a font smaller than 12pt on a business card, due to the smaller canvas size.
Embedding Fonts and Text Sizes
If you stick to these fundamental guides when creating your business card, then you reduce the risk of encountering issues with your final print.