Often, your business cards are the only reference a person will have to remember you by so it's in your interest to make it as good as it can be. SHOTZ does offer a professional design service but sometimes your budgets doesn't allow for that and you find yourself facing a computer ready to design your own. In this scenario I offer the following simple tips;

1. Do make your card double-sided. I find it a bit of a let down to turn over a card to see it blank. Add your services or even an image of your premises/products to occupy that space.
2. Keep it simple. Don't put too much text on your card. Just keep the essentials.
3. Keep your text at least a 3mm margin from the trim. If it's too close, the guillotine could trim your text.
4. Give your card 3mm bleed. Bleed is excess colour/image that extends beyond the page edge to allow for cropping at colour. It's only needed where colour/image meets the trim.
   
5. Keep your text bigger than 6pt. Anything smaller gets difficult to read. At the same time don't go too big. I like to keep business card text between 7 and 9pt for general text. Your title for example, could be slightly bigger.
6. Don't use too many fonts. The result can be tacky. Try not to use novelty fonts, unless you're a clown. Sans serif fonts tend to work best in the business card format due to clarity at small sizes but Serif typefaces can be effective if used correctly.
7. Don't use too many colours: If you have a logo with say, 2 colours, stick to using those colours throughout to maintain consistency of your brand. Straying away from these colours dilutes your brand.
8. Use White space effectively. Not every piece of the card has to be filled. Used correctly, white space can be effective in letting information ‘breath'.
9. Look at other cards for inspiration. Have a look at other people business cards for inspiration but don't copy.
10. Stick to standard sizes (55mm x 90mm). This is not a must but it helps for people filing your card in filo faxes etc.
11. Don't use Microsoft Word if you can help it. Word can display differently in different versions and its layout and editing capabilities are limited. Use inDesign, Quark Xpress or Publisher etc., if at your disposal. These applications are made for the job. If you end up using Word, export the file as a pdf before sending it to SHOTZ along with the Word file. At SHOTZ we use the industry standard Adobe applications for most of our work.
12. Keep all images and graphics at 300dpi. Pixels should be unseen.
13. Avoid using templates. Imagine swapping cards with someone who has the same card design as yourself? No thanks! And yes, it has happened.
14. Print it out. Always print out your design for final approval even if it's just a black and white print. Approving a design at 300% magnification on your computer screen is obviously not reliable.
15. One card per person. Try not put two peoples or more information on the one card. It looks cheap. People do this to save money sometimes but for the sake of a few dollars it's not worth it.

That's the basics for designing a clear and functioning business card. We always advise clients to avail of the services of a qualified designer or the SHOTZ design service that has the experience and expertise to design your business card.