A business card is both an introduction and a way of being remembered long after the introduction has been made. It's a combination of a contact sheet and an advertisement that can bring you business years after its presentation, so the impression you leave through your business card is incredibly important. Creating your own business cards allows you a great deal of control over that first impression, but along with creative strength comes production and design restraints.
Business Card Software
Designing your own business card can be as simple as filling out a pre-made template or as complex as creating a unique design, complete with color scheme, font choice and illustrations. Fortunately there are a number of programs to assist you in your endeavor.
Two of the most commonly used software programs available to create business cards are Microsoft's Publisher 2010 and Avanquest Business Card Factory Deluxe. An all-purpose document designer, Microsoft Publisher allows the user to import business card templates or to design your own cards. You can import illustrations and pictures, use any font available to the MS Office suite and easily print a sheet of cards using your own printer.
For something more dedicated, Business Card Factory Deluxe has an initial setup that's a bit more complete. You can access over 4,200 templates and 41,000 art images, and it's more cost effective than Publisher if you only need to design business cards.
Microsoft Publisher retails for $169.95, whereas Avanquest's Business Card Factory Deluxe costs only $29.95 from Avanquest's website.
Creating the Design
When creating your business card design, you want to convey information that's absolutely necessary without overwhelming the card reader. A stripped down version of your business card can present only enough information to ensure ease of future contact. A name and contact information such as phone number or business address are the minimum.
To leave a more vivid impression, you can include further information or provide an illustration the reader can associate with you. A company tag line, the use of colors or anything that differentiates you from others in your business can be useful to have on the business card. Use both sides of the card if necessary to give even more information to the business card recipient. The only limitations to design are the space available, keeping the font size legible and your imagination.
Restrictions
While going the DIY route for your card frees you from typical business card design, you are restricted when it comes to the printing process. Most DIY business cards are printed on an office-quality inkjet printer. Printing on an inkjet allows you to create crisp, clear business cards with a full spectrum of available colors, but since it is a flat print, you lose the ability of imprinting or embossing your card. While it's a small loss overall, it is still a loss in the total impression you can make. Inkjet ink also runs when wet, something many professionally printed cards will not do.
To overcome these restrictions you can design your cards, but send them to a professional for the printing, thus gaining the best of both worlds.
