Card Design2

7/21/2019 Card Design2

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Page 1

Clickable Index

Business Card Design Guide:

Business Card Design Steps:

Card Options:

Free:

Buy:

Print Your Only:

Introduction To Card Design:

Card Dimensions:

Cards With Logos:

Cards Without Logos:

2/3 Rule:

Design Basics:

Fonts:

Types Of Fonts:

Double Line Design:

Center Justified:

“L” Design: 1 2

Negative Space:

Card Gallery and Critique:

Creating Your Own Cards:

Card Template:

Cropping L’s:

Grouping the Elements:

Where to Find Card Stock:

Cutting your Cards:

Tools:

Procedure:

3.5

2

Work Area

Margins

Margins



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Business Card Design Guide:By: Larry Loc © 2003

We are told that you never get another

chance to my make a first impression. I

think that is wrong, your second firstimpression is your business card.

Good design is something that most people are going to perceive only on an

unconscience level. Any good sales

person is going to tell you that, that iswhere sales happen.

If you get stuck with a dull or clutteredor messy card. Guess what, that is going

to be the message your card sends aboutyou.

Unless you understand design there is

nothing to guarantee that you will get a

good business card, much less a greatcard.

I have seen high priced, professionally printed, business cards that are complete

garbage. I have also seen do-it-yourself,

home printed, cards that are first rateselling vehicles.

That is truly what a business card is all

about, selling! Selling you as a person,and a professional, as a feature

employee!

Okay, now we know what we are talking

about. The first question is “how do I

get the best possible business card for

the lowest possible cash outlay?”

That is what I am trying to answer with

this Business Card Design Guide. Andthis is how I plan to go about answering

this question.

Business Card Design Steps:1. Free, Buy, or Print?

2. Introduction to card design3. Card examples w/ critique

4. How to print your own card

• Pre-printed stock

• Blank card stock 5. Downloadable Card Template

Card Options:FREE:

Why pay for something when you can

get the milk for free, or words to thelike. There is a site on the Internet that

will give you business cards for the price

of shipping. http://www.vistaprint.com

Can’t beat that, right? If all cards wereequal than I would agree with you. But

they aren’t, so I won’t.

Let’s look at what the function of a

business card is. We have already talked

about it. The function of a business cardis to promote a favorable impression of

the businessperson, you, often at an

unconscience level. In short, to

advertise that person.

He first thing I have against Vistaprint is

that their cards come with their advertisement on the back. You card

should advertise you and only you.

Think about the respect you would

engender if your business stationary

came with an advertisement for someoneelse on it?

You business card is far more importantthan your stationary. It is what theyhave to remember you by after they go

home or back to the office.

You can get over this advertisement

problem by paying them for cards

without their advertisement.

http://www.vistaprint.com/

http://www.vistaprint.com/



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Another thing that is wrong with their

cards is that they are printed on pre- printed card stock, never a good idea. I

have yet to find one were the name and

contact information is printed straight inrelationship to the pre-printed

background.

Lastly, you design your card over the

Internet. And if you don’t know how to

design then you are stuck with your

design and their slipshod mass printing.You get what you pay for!

BUY:

Just paying someone else to create your business cards for you does not insure

that you will get a superior card. But itdoes mean you are going to pay a high

price.

Most printers will send out your businesscard order to a printing house that does

just business cards. This means that you

are paying both printer’s mark-ups. Youare paying for the printing twice.

The card you get will be from a setgroup of in-house card templates but you

will still be charged a board fee just like

you are having a new newspaper ad or

a flyer created from scratch.

With a house that does just cards you

stand a pretty good chance of getting agood finished product but even they are

going to have to train new people. If

you don’t know something about design,you can’t tell.

Now on the other hand if you shoparound for the best price you are

investing your time, time that could have

been used elsewhere.

What you are going to find is a small

shop that designs their cards in house.

Who knows what kind of a card youwith get then. A lot of the little shops

are run by small business people with

very little knowledge of layout anddesign. They are living on their copy

machine.

My advice, learn something about

design. Then you will be in a better

position to judge what you are getting.

Then you can pay for the service or doyour only and be sure of getting a good

product.

PRINT YOUR ONLY:Printing you own business cards is the

cheapest way to go. The problem is thata lot of them look cheap.

The rest of this guide will deal with

getting you the tools to avoid the home printed look while still having the

versatility and economy of printing your

own cards.

INTRODUCTION TO CARD DESIGN:

A number of people from industry havevery graciously given me the rights and

permission to use their business cards as

the base for a design guide.

In a lot of cases this sample gives me a

core of what not to do. Added to this

base sample are a number of really greatcards that I have picked up over the

years. Most of them are in the animation

field because I am.

The names, phone numbers, addresses,

and e-mail addresses have been smearedto protect their privacy without hiding

the design elements. For an in depth

look at each card just CLICK your

mouse on that card.




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DIMENSIONS:The size of a business card is 2 inches by

3 ½ inechs.

A business card should never very from

that size.

The basic card is going to display Name,

Job Title, Phone Number, and E-Mail

Address. Some cards with also show

Address but that is up to you.

In today’s business world E-Mail is themost important contact info followed by

Phone Number.

Portrait, or 90º from normal, is okay to

use in some of the creative fields but

should never be used in the conservative

professions.

What would you think of a banker or a

lawyer that handed you a business card

that was in a portrait layout?

The more conservative the profession,

the more ridged the design.

Which ever way you flip your card then

cards come down to two basic types: cards

with logos and cards without logos.

CARDS WITH LOGOS:

A logo is a symbol or brand mark that

conveys the essence of your company.In short it is a trademark and therefore

serves to distinguish the goods andservices of one company from all of the

other companies.

I’m not going to go into logo designhere. It is a massive field with a long and

rich history. If you already have a logo

for your company, fine. If not then skipthis section.

If you have a logo then there are designrules that apply to the use of that logo.

2/3 RULE:

When dealing with a logo is mustconform to the 2/3 rule. Either the text

should take up two thirds of the space or

the logo should take up two thirds of thespace.

3.5

2

!




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In most cases the only way to get thelogo to use 2/3s of the design space is to

use it on a portrait design.

Since we already know that portraitdesigns can only be use in the creative

branches of the professions that means

that the logo should use 1/3 of the designspace and the text should take up 2/3s.

The logo should go in the left-hand area

of the card.

In western countries we read from left to

right, therefore we always start lookingat anything starting at the top left-hand

corner.

The eye is going to travel into the card

staring at the top left-hand corner andfollow the curve of the logo shape until

it is lead in to the contact elements of the

card.

CARDS WITHOUT LOGOS:If you don’t have a logo, don’t worry.

Businesses have logos, most business

people don’t.

That leaves you with a number of

options from the standard card designs.

!

YOUR NAME

JOB TITLE

PHONE

E-MAIL




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DESIGN BASICS:

When dealing with design we must

begin with the eye and how it works.

The human eye works best when

unmoving objects are separated onefrom another. If everything is all pushed

together without any space between then

it is hard for the eye to distinguish.

A card needs margins or unused spacearound the edges. Nothing should be

placed in the margin.

The margins on the top and sidesshould be ¼ inch and the margin at the

bottom should be about 3/8 of an inch.

Why more margin at the bottom of the

card? It goes back to the way that the

eye works. If the margin at the bottom isthe same at the side and top margins then

the information on the card seem to float

off into space. I think that it has

something to do with the horizon linethat we all live with from the day we are

born.

FONTS:

Overuse of fonts and a large number of

fonts in one project is the true mark of theamateur.

Stick with one font family with a coupleof sizes and maybe, just maybe, a bold

on the name. With fonts, more is truly

less.

TYPES OF FONTS:Fonts come in two types (no pun

intended) Serif and San-Serif. Or letterswith or without little extra designy lines.

R Above is a 180 point (72 point per inch)

Times New Roman “R”. Times New

Roman in a Serif font that comes fromthe font designed in the late 1800’s for

the London Times. Serif fonts are easier

to read in newspaper style text.

RThe example above is a 180 point Arial

“R”. Arial is a Microsoft rip off of

Helvetica, the most popular San-Serif

font.

Work Area

Margins

Margins




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DOUBLE LINE DESIGN:

One of the formal conservative business

card designs. It conveys a solid,established unconscience message in its

design.

There are two areas of information with

a white space between them.

Notice how balanced this design is.

When we get to the examples we willsee some variations on this design. Some

that work and some that do not.

CENTER JUSTIFIED:Another favorite of the more

conservative professions, like law and

banking.

There is a kind of stark elegance in this

design. It is a bit stodgy and it means to be. Its advantages are that it conveys a

solid, trustworthy, stuffiness that we like

to have in our bankers by not in aredinner gusts.

Any kind of information can be included

on this type of card, Partnership Name,

Name, Title, Business License Number,

and of course, contact information.

The important thing is that all of the

information is lined up at the center of

the card.

I have seen some home printed cardswhere this did not happen and the effect

is very unprofessional.

NEGATIVE SPACE:Another place where the beginner really

fails is a lack of understanding of

Negative Space. Most people have noidea that there even is such a thing.

Assuming that most of you are out of theknow, when dealing with this concept, I

think a little definition is in order.

Negative Space is the open space in thearea that contains the design. It is part of

the design while not seeming to be part

of the design. Confused? Let’s use a picture and save a thousand words.

Here the white area is Negative Space.

Name

Title

E-Mail

Phone

Address

#



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A number of problems here.1. Printed cardstock backgrounds never

match up with the printing2. Name and title Left Justified Text,

skills and contact info Right JustifiedText

3. Text too close to right and left edges

of card area, too close to bottom, toomuch space at top and lower left

4. Negative space is awkward

Just a couple problems here:1. She is working with the pre-printed

design and it comes out of the printer a little crooked. If you really needthe background then Xerox the cardonto the background print it.

2. The Right Justified Text is a bolddesign feature but it is too close tothe right edge of the card.

3. I like the name lined up on the swash of background color lines.

Some small problems only1. Good basic card but a bit too plain.

Could use a design element like aline between the name and title or something like that

2. Needs to be centered left to right tooclose to left edge

3. Could bring the contact informationdown just a little to separate it fromthe title and trun it into a true 2 line

Only one minor problem with this one:1. This is very good design. The card

creates a diagonal eye movement byusing square elements. The cross lines breaks the card into 4 unequal areas.The top right and the bottom leftunequal areas are balanced by thelarge “R” in the smallest top right-hand area. Notice that there is about

the same amount of ink in the “R” asthere is in all the contact info in thelower left area. The negative space inthe top left and lower right areas create an“L” on its side. Good design.

2. The only thing here is the address. Itis too close to the vertical of thecross but it has to be to line up withthe letter “L” of the first name that has to be were it is to balance the “R”.

Click on the card for in depth critique



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Good basic design, nothing fancy here but that goes with the job title verynicely.

1. 2 stripes of data here divided by anice negative space. The title below

the line almost fits, like a puzzle piece, into the break between thename and the address. The e-mailaddress repeats the design element atthe bottom of the card.

Lots of problems (when I was handedthe card the first thing I did was mark itup)1. Text is printed crooked to pre-

printed background2. Text is right up next to the picture of

the building with no gutter space atall

3. Big open space on right-hand sidemakes it too heavy on the left-handside. It almost wants to fall left-wiseout of your hand.

Great card showing real design sense.Fun, playful, the card tells and sells theskills of the person.

Good solid design for a business person

or in this case educator. Notice that thelogo and the school name create an “L”laid on its face, the name and tile sets inthat “L” shape, and the contact info is below the line. A little stiff, a littlestodgy, but it is meant to be.



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50/50 design

Both sides are designed as a separateunit that balance each other.

The left hand side is a picture framedesign with name and title below

Right hand side is Left Justified Textcontact info

This one has some problems1. Logo is a little overweight2. This is a double line separated by

negative space but the name and titleintrude on the negative space

Another double line of data separated bynegative space. Nice use of the name asa logo. Notice the diagonal slant to thename (which is in red). Design forms a“Z”. You get a Zorro feel to the cardwithout knowing it.

Nice artist design with a 90 degreechange to the normal layout. Not for thetypical business person.



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CARD TEMPLATE: (Click to Download)The most important thing with businesscards is registration. How are you goingto cut your cards and have them come outeven? How are you going to avoidregistration marks at the corners of your cards?

I have created a template in PowerPointto take care of these problems.

It is quite simple. All of the registrationmarks are worked out so that the cardscan be cut without leaving black markson any edges.

The registration marks are groupedtogether as one object and as long asthey are not ungrouped everything willcome out correctly.

The trick is to set up the first card andthen make copies of it and align theminside the other card areas created by theregistration marks.

I have put in text objects and directionsto help in the creation of your first card.

Note that the Name and Title and other card information are at 90 degrees to thescreen. The cards will be printed ontheir sides but will be straight when cutand used.

CCCrrreeeaaatttiiinnnggg YYYooouuurrr OOOwwwnnn CCCaaarrrdddsss

http://www.agni-animation.com/brooks/carblank.ppt






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You are going to need to do a number of test prints with your first card. Use plain paper and the economy setting on your printer. It will take a number of tests toget it right.

You can either cut out the sample card or use what we paste-up and design peoplecall “Cropping L’s”.

Cropping L’s are a tool to help youvisualize the finished, trimmed, project.You can make your own set by cutting 2

right angle “L” shapes out of black cardboard.

`Make sure that they are square. If theyare not you will get a strange cockeyedview of the way your card is going tolook.

Select all the elements of the card,making sure not to select the registrationmarks with them, and group them.

Once you have your first card laid out

the way you want it. And you havegrouped it into one object. Then yousimply make copies of the first cardand add them to your card layout.

Paste these copies of the card into eachone of the card areas on the template.




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The finished sheet of cards is now readyto print. Because the cards and theregistration marks are on the same sheetwe do not have to worry about whither or not the page comes out of the printer straight.

The registration marks and the cards willalways be aligned to each other no mater how they relate to the edge of the page.

Now you need to print your cards ontocover or card stock. You can print up to80 pound stock through a Deskjet style printer. You should print your cardson at least 60 pound stock to get theright weight and feel to the finishedcards.

You can pick up card stock at a an officesupply store. Or you can find it at a paper dealer. Here in Laguna Hills wehave a great paper suppler: Kelly Paper,23641 Ridge Route Dr ., Laguna Hil ls,CA –(949)-454-2225.

I like a good linen stock with a bit of atooth to it (tooth – roughness of thesurface) and a bit of a grain (grain – surface texture and/or pattern that thefibers make).

I want the finished card to feel expensivein the hand. That is part of theunconscience message that I want tosend.

CUTTING THE CARDS:

Once you have printed 4 or 5 sheets of cards you will need to cut the sheets intoindividual cards.. The best way to dothis is with an X-acto Knife. You canalso use a singe-edge safety razor blade.Don’t try to use a cutting board becausewill never be able to line up the cuts properly.

You are going to need something to cuton. I use a plastic cutting mat. You canalso use the cardboard backing from anart pad or even an old piece of masonite.You want something that will not cutthrough. Stay away from corrugatedcardboard. And don’t cut on a tabletop.




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Take the printed sheets of cardstock andalign them. Once they are straight, staplethem at each corner. Make sure that youstaple outside the registration marks.

Line up a metal ruler or T-Square on theregistration marks. Do not cut from edgeto edge of the sheets. Start your cut at thetop registration mark and stop it at the bottom mark.

Make sure that you hold the blade 90degrees to the paper. Drag the X-Acto blade along the edge of the ruler. Don’t put a lot of pressure on the X-Acto. Dragthe blade over the page numerous timesuntil you have cut completely through allof the sheets.

R e-align the ruler on the next set of registration marks and repeat the process.

Re-align the ruler going in the other direction once you have cut all threecard edges in the first direction.

Cut slowly without much pressure. Thecards will start to fall away from the blade as you cut through the layers. Donot release you hold on the ruler until thelast card in that line is cut.

Move your ruler to the next set of marks andrepeat. At the end you will have a set of cards and the stapled frame you cut themfrom. Check each card to see that it isokay.




Page 15

Beyond This Point

Interact Library for

Card Details

Click on the cards in the gallery to be linked to the detailed critique




Page 16

This is a card that is used as an Artist’sSample. The card has been flipped 90degrees. The Name, Services Offered,and Phone Number form a base or ground line for the 2 figures.

This is made stronger by putting theServices in a bordered box in reverse or white knockout type.

The Name, Services, and Phone from thecap of a Greek Column. You can almostsee the column in your eye. Which isgood because that is all that balances theheavy gray form of the devil with theflower.




Page 17

This is a well designed card. It has thesimple elegance of a Double Line professions card. Note the underline beneath the company name.

We are given 2 lines of information,1. Company Name and Services Offered

2. Contact Information

The Signature becomes a logo. By printing it is red the Double Line designremains intact.

Taken as a whole, the Double Line andLogo form a “Z” shape. This gives usthe image of Zorro, champion of the people. Not a bad image to sneak intothe unconscience mind.




Page 18

This one is a mess. The Logo andAddress are too far to the left-hand edgeof the card. Even if they weren’t, thestacked up canon ball element of theLogo weighs the corner of the card sothat it almost flips right out of your

hands.

The Company name is not well thoughtout either. It is Tri-Media but could beread Trim-Edia. And what is with thattacked on INC handing off the edge of the Logo?

When we look at the Negative Space wesee what a mess we have. The cardseems to start out as a Double Linedesign but it looks like the top line is broken.

I’m not sure what kind of message issent with the Name and Title lookinglike they are the broken off end of theCompany Name? But I’m sure that it isnot a good message.




Page 19

We get a Domino effect with this card.The card is split into 2 equal areas. Thisis like a square “Ying Yang” sign. Thewhite Negative Space in the logo balancing the white Negative Space inthe contact information side of the card.

This is a strong logo. The 3 whiteswishes coming off of the “O” in Roman

moving the eye to the right and the 2white swishes balancing on the edge of the center swish moving the eye back tothe left.

The center swish breaking the edge andleading the eye to the “L” in Film.

Everything about this is a real pro job

The contact info is set out in astraightforward left-justified block of text. The card works and someone was paid a lot of money to make sure that itworks.




Page 20

This is a very powerful design bysomeone that is not a trained designer.

The two cross lines and the “R”are thekey to the whole design.

They form an “L” shape.

The “R” and the contact information balance each other.

These elements also create a diagonal path for the eye.

The trouble is that the contact info partof the card has some basic problems.The Address is just too close to the left-hand edge of the card. It has to be thereto align with the Name but it still createsa problem area.




Page 21

This card is the product of system widetemplate. It is designed to look goodwith interchangeable information.

Since that is hard to do, this card has been split into two areas.

The top section is the place where thedesign speaks. Here the “L” shape isused.

The “L” is a very strong design shape. It brackets objects. In this case the name

and title of the person. Notice that the Name, Title, and Department make an“Arrow” shape that leads the eye back tothe “L” and around and around.

The bottom 1/4 of the card is not as

exciting. But then it doesn’t have to be, because it is below the line.

The Negative Space is a bit of a mess.But it has been marginalized below theline. The shapes will change with thecontact information of each professor plugged into the template.




Page 22

This is a great card by a graphic designer that knows what she is doing. There aresubtleties here dealing with shades of color and complex shapes that would behard to explain to the layman.

First thing she does is break the border by putting in this cloud like shape. Weare no longer looking at a business card,we are looking through a business card.

WARNING: This works for an artist butwould not work for a programmer or banker.

All of the contact information except thename of the company and the person’sname fall right into the background. Thatis not what she is selling here. You will

look for the info after she wows youwith her art.

Hiding the contact information is adaring thing to do. It only works if theimage you are selling is strong enough tosuck in the viewers.

Here is what she is selling. But shedoesn’t beat you over the head with it.The background color is close enough tothe color of the figure that it stands outwithout jumping out.

The most important thing on the card isthe bone with the word clay on it. That iswhat she is selling. That is what jumpson this card.

I can look at this card and know whatkind of a person created the card. I knowher design aesthetic, I know how shethinks, and I have a pretty good idea

about her personality.



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Page 1

This card is a mess. The text elementsare right up against the pre-printed picture of buildings. This does a number of bad things.

1. It locks the text elements and the picture into one messy block andmakes the text hard to read.

2. It showcases the fact that the text and picture are not square to each other.

3. The card is broken into two parts, dark and light. This makes it very hard toget at the text info

4. The Negative Space is a nightmare.The things that it is saying on anunconscience level are not thingsthat you want to come across to a,hopefully, new boss.




Page 24

Not a bad little card. An example of theDouble Line style of card.

The text elements are very strong. They pop right out of the Negative Space

The text elements of this card form these puzzle piece shapes that almost seemlike they would fit together. Veryexciting for the eye. Makes the viewer excited about the person without reallyknowing why. This is a good thing whenyou are looking for a job.

The contact info is too close to the bottom

edge of the card and needs to be moved up.




Page 25

We have a strong, arrowhead like shapecreated by the text. It doesn’t quite cometo a point but close enough.

The Negative Space is a good solidshape but the card is not centered. Andthis kills the whole design.




Page 26

Basic problem of pre-printed stock – printing is crocked

The “@” sign and side design are part of the card design

First level of Negative Space is awkward

The eye is lead by the swish right to the name. The “@” sign is tied to the name.

Text too close to right-hand edge

The white line coming off the “@” separates the Title from the Contact info




The Negative

Space is just plane

weird

The card

information is all

over the place

without any sign of

order

The color bar

serves no purpose,It just takes up

space

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Card Design2