What to Avoid in Designing Business Cards

By | September 24, 2011

When was the last time you handed someone your business card? Did your card capture the recipient’s interest? Or did he just take it and stuff it quickly in his pocket?

When was the last time you handed someone your business card? Did your card capture the recipient’s interest? Or did he just take it and stuff it quickly in his pocket? If the recipient did not even glance at your card, chances are your card is not catchy and interesting enough.

A lot of individuals and business owners fail to give enough attention to their business cards. Most of them just print their own cards because they have to. As a result, their cards are dull and don’t give them the result that they want. The only result they get is waste time and money.

Fortunately, it is practically easy to create stand out business card printing today. With minimal investment, you can already come up with an impressive business card design that will get you results. Just the same, you need to avoid the common errors in business card design. Here are some of them:

1) Creating unreadable cards. Some people try to sacrifice the readability of their cards in favor of an incredible design. Never do this. If you do, people would toss away your card without even reading it. Keep in mind that aside from capturing people’s attention the job of your cards is to deliver your contact info clearly and effectively. So, from the moment people receive your cards, they should be able to read your message and contact details at once.

2) Printing your cards on your own. Although you can save a lot of money in printing your cards on your own, this would likely result in amateurish cards. People can easily determine if a card is printed professionally or home-printed. If you want to convey a professional and polished appeal, it’s best to go for a professional printer.

3) Using flimsy paper. A poor quality paper won’t give you a good image. This will only show people that you are an unreliable and unprofessional business. Choose a high quality paper that will reflect well on your business.

4) Unclear business details. If people don’t easily understand who you are and what you do, people won’t patronize you. It would be best if you present your unique attribute so people will immediately know what you can offer to them. Just make sure that you keep your unique selling proposition short and simple to achieve maximum marketing.

5) Making use of basic business card templates. There are plenty of templates you can use these days, some of them are unique and others look generic. If you want to use templates, make sure that you choose a unique template that will help make your business look distinct and incredible. Keep in mind that competition is tough out there, so you need to come up with unique ways to make your business stand out.

6) Putting too many details. You don’t actually have a lot of room to put too many details in your cards. Just include what is necessary and put the other details in your other marketing materials.

7) Overdoing the design. Don’t try too hard in making your cards look unique and interesting. This might result in an uninteresting design. A simple design will do as long as you are able to deliver your message and business image effectively. Going overboard will not help your business, so be very careful in designing your cards.