Business Card Design Tips

The most important element on business cards are text sizes. If your text is too small, clients might struggle to read information on the cards. There should be a visual balance between the size and position of the address and the name and title. Out business card printing is very high quality and thus finer smaller text is still very crisp when we print you card for you.

Text Size Guidelines

For determining the sizes of your typography keep the following tips in mind. Font sizes are indicated in points.

  • Address and Phone contact elements should be 7 to 8 point
  • Name should be 1 point bigger or set in a bold typeface
  • The title could be the size point size as your address details or 1 point smaller
  • If needed the Company Name should have a minimum of 12 point

Like any other design you might make a business card will look messy and untidy if you would go with a different text sizes for everything. Try to go for a typographic consistent design.
Business card text size

Text Size Minimums

The address information should not be smaller than 6 point or 5 point if you are setting in capitals. Anything below this will be hard to read. Add 1 point if you are setting your typography inverted (light typography on a dark background).

Typography

While it's logical to look at the typeface suggested in the corporate identity (if available) those can be header-only fonts. Be sure to work with a font on the business card that's designed for print.
Some fonts tend to print smaller in the same point then others. Keep this in mind while testing your card (see the next chapter).

Testing

Be sure to print your business card a couple of times while designing it. Even take some effort to cut away the rest of the paper to see if the layout balances well.
A business card surrounded by a lot of white space (e.a. your printing paper) may seem different to the eye then the design cut out off actual size cards.

Business Card Design 2 Sided

More and more businesses look to double sided business cards as a way to incorporate their corporate  branding and advertising into what has traditionally been a simple contact information tool.

Content

The following is a list of information commonly found on business cards:

  • Company name or logo
  • Name
  • Title
  • Email address
  • Web Address (URL)
  • Telephone number
  • Mobile telephone number

Telephone numbers are usually broken up with spaces to increase readability. In international phone numbers you can replace the 00 for a +. If your client is working overseas it's a good idea to use an international phone number.