Don't you want to avoid common mistakes while making your business cards? Quite sure you do! There are some common business card design mistakes that you should avoid at any cost. Such a mistake can be common, but you have to suffer a bad outcome in the long run. Therefore based on age-long experience in business cards or visiting card printing, we prepared this guide.
A printed business card is a cost-effective yet vital marketing tool that benefits you year after year. It reminds people of you even after you leave them. It provides them with a durable medium to reach out to you.
The fact is, it will work as your brand ambassador. You might not be reputable, but a well-designed business card can give you that appearance. And to make it a real ambassador, you have to be cautious at the time of designing business cards. No worries, this post will indeed be enough for you to avoid those common mistakes.
12 Business Card Design Mistakes
Whether you represent an organisation or merely a single professional designation you hold, it will be wise to avoid business card design mistakes. We have listed them with utmost care. Please go through the points below to learn them one by one.
1. Not Avoiding Floppiness
Floppiness might be a cost-effective plan for someone to get customised business cards, but practically it presents that person as cheap as the thin paper. Think, you are using your business cards to impress people, and it is in vain just because of being floppy! So it would help best to make it thick enough. We recommend using 350GSM paper stock to skip floppiness. Such an intelligent use will demonstrate how careful you are to your brand image!
2. Choosing Harsh and Poor Colour
This is another common mistake people make while printing business cards. Based on a long-run printing experience, we know business cards design matters a lot. A harsh colour will seem uncomfortable as it creates excess visual contrast.
Remember, too many saturated hues collide with each other and can hamper the card design. All the business card printers will agree to this. Instead of bright colours inputting sufficient negative space will make your business card more eye-catching. Moreover, insufficient or a poor application of colour will result in vain.
3. Missing Necessary Information
Your main goal should not be providing your prospects with a striking design. Instead, you are going to give some necessary information, aren't you? So better focus on that. First, determine what type of business card is this and what its is purpose. Many people fail to balance and make a mess which is a severe mistake. Ensure the list below before you go on print.
- Brand name
- Personal name
- Job title/Designation
- Email address
- Phone number
- Website URL
- Business address
- Social media links
4. Keeping Outdated Information
Keeping outdated information, or we can say not updating professional business cards, is a serious mistake. Your invitation will fail if you do not provide authentic, up-to-date information. Many businesses ignore this, thinking a phone number would be enough. But the reality is when you keep outdated information on your professional business card, you lose reliability.
5. Making an Oversized Card
We suggest using traditional business card sizes unless you are producing custom business cards totally in your own way. In the United Kingdom, the standard business card dimension is 85mm x 55mm or 8.5cm x 5.5cm. It will be most helpful if your business cards are wallet-friendly. Oversized business cards won’t suit usual wallets or business cardholders.
6. Employing Low-resolution Image
To be happy with your printed business cards, don’t let your image be pixelated. To have good-looking business cards, print them at least in 300 PPI. It will come up as 1050 pixels x 600 pixels that are standard. Also, you should be aware of the safe printing areas. And it is 1008 x 558 pixels.
7. Ignoring the Scope
Want to create business cards online? Using advanced tools like Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and InDesign will ease the process. You can make unique business cards online by yourself too! There are hundreds of business card templates as well as business card examples for you out there. You can easily buy and have business cards printed online. And having business cards double-sided is wise. Why will you leave this scope when you are paying for your printer?!
8. Missing Call-to-action
Why are you making a business card? What is the core purpose? Is it only about introducing your business or profession to potential customers? No, you are trying to create interest in your business with unique business cards. Therefore your business card should have a robust and unfailing call-to-action (CTA). The CTA should honor the potential customers by offering something exceptional. You can input engaging content like: “The card bearer is going to have a 15% discount on all our products!”
9. Spelling and Grammatical Mistakes
Quality business cards should be as professional as readable. A single spelling or grammatical mistake can cause a bad impact on the business card bearer's mind. Will you let it happen? As a printing and designing company, we had seen dozens of cases when our customers needed reprinting just due to spelling mistakes. If you need to reduce printing costs, you better remain careful of this.
10. Void of a Value Proposition or Brand Promise
You might be planning 2000 business cards or more, but business cards void of value proposition won’t let you stand out from your competitors. Even many potential organisations and experts make this mistake. In that case, producing even premium business cards will be in vain.
Look, it is imperative to say how you add value to your customers instead of merely mentioning the job title. And this is especially true for high-skilled service providers. Besides, a brand promise usually comes up as a slogan, tagline, or summary. Such content can instantly convince your potential customers.
11. Not Providing Transparent Backgrounds in Images
Indeed, it will be problematic for the designer if you provide an image with a non-transparent background. Let’s say you have given such an image to insert in your business cards. In that case, it will be difficult for your designer to remove the background. The designer may even charge you more for that pain! So it would help if you were very careful while designing your personalised business cards.
12. Mistakes in Business Cards Printing
Choosing the apt font and size can take your business cards to the next level. If you dare to select an unpleasant, unreadable font in card printing, then you will have to pay. You may need business cards next day delivery. Nonetheless, don’t hurry and avoid choosing a too-small font that makes the readers suffer. We recommend business cards size are not smaller than 7-8 points. A business holder’s name will look good at 9 points and the company at around 12-15 points. Don’t let your business card become a piece of faint memory. Especially-
- Consider the text, font, and size a crucial design element
- Maintain simplicity in your printed cards
- Check the trial before you print in bulk
Another common mistake is printing at home when the person is out of skills. You might need luxury business cards embossed or premium business cards to win the prospects. In that case, you will have several reliable hubs in the heart of London. They have gained a reputation in business card printing online. Providing professional business cards online is not only their means of survival; it is their passion.
Yeah, you can let your business card print online. No matter if you need a single business card or bulk business cards, you can get them in time. The MOO business cards can be a great example of that. They use the most progressive business card printer to assure you of top-notch quality.
To Wrap Up
Now you have got all the cautions like suggestions for making business cards. Now you have been familiar with the common business card design mistakes that you should avoid from a single post. No matter whether you want to make your own business cards or assign an agency, this would surely be useful for custom business card printing. Stay good, stay safe!
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