Thursday, September 24, 2009

Business Card Layouts that Customers Love

The standing and the stability of the wallet of graphic designers depends on their skill to create stunning designs which ultimately amaze their customers. Business cards are the easiest form of advertising but they are the most difficult medium to design. Some text, a photograph and a emblem is what you are usually limited to on business cards due to their small size, 3.5-inch by 2-inch; they must also contain the identical type of information. The key to standing out - and therefore impressing your customers - is to test several business card layouts.

Here are some useful tips...

Contrast backgrounds or shapes

To easily make a business card layout standout, you should have different backgrounds between two parts of the card. For example, the top half of a horizontal layout could be where you place your emblem and business name on a white background, then use a shade of the corporation's color to fill the bottom half and use a curved line to divide between the two halves. This bottom half is where you could place the contact information and tag line.

Shaded boxes, circles, triangles or other could be where you put important information, but make sure to stop yourself to three colors; note that striking designs can often be creating with only two colors.


Use small fonts

Amateur designers often use large fonts that lower the overall look of the business card. Clients want to look like renowned experts in their given field, whether they're professional clowns or business executives. Fun and elegant small text are the key to making a business card stick out. You may want to keep your font in the 10 to 14-point range to make it clear. Giving these sizes to your customers will make their business cards look great, and therefore earn the respect of their customers.


Write Vertically

Placing the company name, card-issuer name, or tag line on a design element perpendicular to the rest of the card's text usually makes the business card more appealing. You can put a photo on the far left with the corporation's name positioned vertically to its right side; this work best with a horizontal layout. You could use two quadrants, where you would put the card-issuer's name and position on the top quadrant on a white background, then place the tag line and contact information on the bottom quadrant, which could be shaded with one of the business's colors.


Offset Elements

You could place text in the center of the business card like designers typically do, or right justify everything and center the business name. This is a pretty basic and bland approach. You can mix things up in your business card layout by offsetting various elements. If using a vertical layout, place the individual's name in the top left corner, center the emblem below it, then right justify the company name and contact information at the bottom of the card. Experiment with your business card layout elements, re-size them, reposition them, and soon you'll find a whole new world of business card designs.


Think outside the box

Adding a photograph of the individual on a business card is standard in many industries. Traditionally, these photographs are located in small boxes in the upper right quadrant of the business card. However, if you want to emulate today's creative designers, you can place larger photographs that lend to the overall aesthetic appeal of business cards. If you decide to use a large photograph, place it on one-third of the card's total space and use a transparent gradient to fade it into the remainder of the business card layout. Another way to emphasize a specific person and his skills is to include a full-body photo interacting with the card's text elements; for example a person smiling and pointing to the tag line.

All business cards don't have to look similar, even though they serve the same function. By using stylish design, like shapes, styles, colors, you will assure yourself a business card layout that clients will love.