The elements of an effective business card

Much of business has gone electronic, but the paper business card survives. Those little cards convey more than just a name and phone number. They create an impression of the individual and the business, often called a brand.

There is no one business card design that works for everyone, and not every element of the standard business card applies to every business. The best business card both reflects the business and speaks to its target audience. A Fortune 500 company will want to offer a different impression than a freelance Web designer. A Web-only business will want to highlight different contact information than a neighborhood store or a restaurant. However, there are certain elements common to most effective business cards.

Simplicity

Cramming too much information into a 2.5” x 3” space looks cluttered and is difficult to read. Decide what you are trying to accomplish with your card and include information relevant to that purpose. Goals might include:

• Presenting contact information
• Directing people to an online portfolio
• Serving as a reminder to satisfied customers of your service or product

There are many ways to simplify a card. For example:

• A business that never gets faxes doesn’t need to include a fax number
• Someone who relies only on a cell phone for calls can drop the landline number
• If you don’t have a physical location where you receive clients or customers (you work from home or meet clients at their office), leave off the address. If someone needs to mail you something, you can supply a mailing address as needed.

Readability

This idea is related to simplicity. The following design elements can interfere with the ability to see the information easily:

• Similar background and text colors, like black on blue or red on orange
• Text that blends into parts of a background image
• Fancy fonts

Make sure all text is easy to see and read.

White space

Continuing the simplicity theme, leaving plenty of white space around text makes it easy for the eye to pick out important information.

Also, although many designers refer to the back of the card as “underutilized real estate," remember that recipients often like to write brief reminders about you on the back. When designing the back of a card, leave enough extra space for them to do that.

Company name and logo

Freelancers working only under their own names don’t need a business name, but most other entrepreneurs, even one-person shops, will want people to know the business name. This is often the most prominent part of a card, although you may want to emphasize your own name over the business name, depending on your goals for the design.

Name and title

Instead of a generic company card, each employee should have a personal business card. Customers like to have a contact name, and this is especially important for entrepreneurs and salespeople, whose income is often based on sales performance.

A title below the name isn’t strictly necessary, but it can be useful in a large company with multiple departments or if the company name doesn’t make it immediately obvious what products or services are offered.

Accurate contact information

Without accurate information, prospective clients can’t reach you. If the information changes, get new cards printed immediately. Crossing out and hand-writing in changed information not only looks unprofessional but can be hard to read, which does not make a good impression.

Also, avoid mistakes in new cards by proofreading everything carefully before sending it to the printer. If possible, have someone else proofread it, too.

Website and social media information

Online identities are becoming more important for businesses of all types and sizes. Include the URLs of any relevant websites, such as:

• Business website
• Online portfolio
• Blog
• Column you write for an industry publication
• Online CV
• Social media profiles, if you use them to connect with clients and prospects, including:
  • Twitter®
  • LinkedIn®
  • Facebook® business page, or personal profile if you use it for business purposes

Depending on how many of these you include, you may want to list only the main one or two on the front of the card and put the rest on the back.

Use these guidelines to design an effective business card, adjusting them as necessary to fit your business and target audience.

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