Unfortunately, many people are under the assumption
that business card design is as easy as slapping a
logo and address on a 2 x 3½-in. piece of card stock.
Smart designers know it isn’t so. Don’t let yourself
be too busy selling your clients’ work to give enough
consideration to your own. Take a moment to evaluate
your own business card design—and bring it
to the next level to show potential customers what
you’re really worth.
START WITH A GREAT IDEA
Yang Kim of People Design in Grand Rapids,
Mich., understands why these Lilliputian designs
can be frustratingly complex, but she accepts them
as a way to exercise her design chops. “Because
you have such a small amount of space in which to
impart personality, business cards can be a difficult
project,” she explains. “On the other hand, they also
can be an interesting design challenge.”
When People Design underwent a name change
in 2007 to reflect the group’s commitment to usercentered
design, they also knew it would lead to
an entirely new identity. Now that People Design
focuses on people and stories, Kim wanted her business
cards to stray from the corporate look many of
them tend to take on. “As with any project, you have
to start with a great idea,” she imparts.
“We thought it would be nice if our business
cards became an individual expression rather than the
usual corporate expression,” Kim remembers. “The
personal stories on our business cards became the
driver for our identity program.”
People Design selected Helvetica Neue to illustrate
the new focus. “Helvetica is a classic modern
font,” Kim says. “Fonts, of course, are another
dimension that convey a personality and in this case,
we wanted something that didn’t distract from the
stories. Helvetica was a logical choice for this. Also, when you look at fonts for identities, you will want
to take a look at which fonts the company name
looks best in.”
It goes without saying People Design looked
best in Helvetica Neue. “Because we want people to
read the primary text, we decided to make it bigger,
more friendly,” the designer says. “And not do that
tiny, gray Helvetica type—that would have been so
easy to do.”
After researching and testing an array of color
choices, People Design chose a refined combination
of black and tan. “Color also conveys a personality
and mood. The idea of this narrative is that it’s a bit
like an excerpt from perhaps a story. We wanted a
book or story-like feeling, which led to black, and
then to black and tan. The black-and-tan combination
feels very sophisticated and works well with all
those words.”
“I firmly believe you should be so proud of your
business cards that you’re excited to hand them out,”
Kim notes. “That was our goal with this project.”
HAVE FUN
Stefan G. Bucher, an energetic creative known for
his daring creations and illustrations, owns 344
Design, “a Los Angeles-based design firm specializing
in work for creatively ambitious clients.”
Bucher chose to share his set of cards for the
identity of Open Intelligence Agency, a brand and
communications firm in London, as a complex network
of cards telling the story of this “roving gang of
international account planners,” he says. His design
works holistically to share a focus on the creativity of
his client, as well as giving each player in the firm a
chance to shine.
To illustrate this diverse bunch, he created 12
different squid mascots played out across 48 different
business card designs. He advises the following:
“Exploit the fact that lots of cards fit on each sheet,
and the plates don’t care if each card looks different.”
“[Designing] seems like such a natural thing for
me,” Bucher muses. “Have fun is the only [advice]
that comes to mind.”
PERSONALITY FROM A BUSINESS CARD
“Business cards are, in my mind, a very unique
piece of a company or person’s corporate or brand
identity,” explains Pash, creative director of Digital
Soup, also located in Los Angeles. “Despite the
undisputed belief that face-to-face is easily the most
effective means of communicating a message, very
little actually happens that way. The vast majority
of information exchange is accomplished through
graphic design using various forms of media.
Business cards are thus unique—in the majority
of cases, the actual transfer from the author of the
message—our client’s company—to the recipient of
the message—the target audience—takes place in a
face-to-face, personal setting. This is a rare attribute
of any kind of graphic design.”
Pash says these days he often finds himself
preaching to other designers about personality—and vigorously explaining that all businesses and
products have one. Because business cards are often
shared with others in a personal setting, he sees their
creation as a unique opportunity. “Their specific
purpose is very simple: They serve as a summary or
reminder of a face-to-face meeting,” he notes. “In
other words, they are a small piece of design that prevents
someone from having to take notes when they
meet [you].”
Pash recommends imagining this scenario,
which most designers can admit they’ve encountered:
“Think of the last time you met someone and realized
that neither of you had business cards with your
information. You both jotted contact info onto a
scrap of paper—probably someone else’s business
card—and then exchanged them.
“Now, stop for a moment and think about the
things that did not make it onto that scrap of paper,
but that you nevertheless thought about that person
you just met: ‘She seemed very professional and
intelligent.’ Or ‘I liked that guy’s laid-back nature—he really comes across as confident but not arrogant.’
Or ‘Wow, she doesn’t seem very organized.’ Or ‘Dull,
but cute.’ The range of these thoughts is obviously
endless. As designers we can’t forget that this personality-trait messaging can come through from the
design of a business card,” says Pash.
Similarly, Pash enjoys the following exercise in
designing business cards: Grab 100 different business
cards from your stash (which every designer should
have) and arrange them into a 10 x 10-in. grid on a
table. He says, “Without even meeting a person or
knowing anything about the company, you can point
at any one of those cards and give me adjectives
just like those that are in your mind after a personal
exchange: ‘Clean and professional. Capable and
focused. Kind of boring.’” The impression a business
card leaves upon you should be the overall idea the business or individual wants you to have. “Business
cards are thus a delicious bridge of the gap between
experience—a personal exchange and the thoughts
that accompany it—and the visual messaging. With
this better understanding of what’s being said and
why, now a designer can approach the business card
and use his design skill to figure out how to say it,”
notes Pash.
DESIGN BOTH SIDES
Clifford Stoltze of Stoltze Design in Boston admits
that creating his own business card has many times
felt encumbering, even daunting. “I’ve always found
designing a business card for yourself is one of the
most difficult projects for a designer,” he explains.
“The challenge isn’t so much coming up with ideas,
but settling on one you can live with for at least a
few years.”
For his newest set of cards, Stoltze’s process
focused on his development of a new Stoltze Design
logotype. “The solution involved doing a treatment
of the word Design that reads backwards and upside
down—which, for me anyway, means that we look at
design from all angles.”
Stoltze says he chose letterpress printing “to
make it more tactile and, well … impressive.” He
added heft and dimension by speccing a custom
duplex stock, and ultimately surrounded the graceful
design with rounded corners. “All in all it wasn’t the
cheapest way to go,” he admits, “but I always get a
reaction from it … mostly good!”
Stoltze offers these tips for those tackling business
card design: “Whenever possible, design both
sides of the card—it usually doesn’t cost much more
and it is a shame to waste that blank real estate. Also,
try to vary the size from the standard 2 x 3½ inches,
although it’s best to stay within those dimensions.”
YOUR TURN
Remember not to become so engrossed in your customers’
projects that you forget the importance of
impressing the next big client with your own business
card. You may find yourself face-to-face with a
potential client who either can spot a good card or
doesn’t have enough time to search for one. Make
yours stand out. Take some much-needed time to
be certain your business card is truly worth holding
on to.
