Whether you are a freelancer creating your own visual identity or a graphic designer struggling with the conception of a corporate visual, a business card, preferably an original and well thought one, remains an essential element to the elaboration of such visual identity. If you are looking for original business card ideas, you are in the right place!
While communication is increasingly digital, having an original and well-built name card by Kiasu Printing can help customers remember your brand or the name of your company. Here are our 4 good ideas for creating business cards, from the most useful software to use to fonts, to the use of templates… Discover our 4 useful tips for creating innovative name cards.
- Corporate image harmony
Among the business card ideas being suggested in this article, one idea stands out as quintessential: the business card graphics should be in perfect harmony with the remaining visual aspects of the brand (website, logos, brochures, letterhead, etc. if you work for a company; CV, portfolio and invoice header for freelancers). As you will see in the following business card ideas, harmony will influence the choice of colors and fonts, but also the creation of new graphics.
- Which software to use?
Creating your business cards, requires the use of a professional layout software like Abobe InDesign or one of its many free (or almost free) alternatives available online. The most experienced designers will probably prefer Adobe InDesign, which allows for the creation of various models of printing projects. Other free or inexpensive programs can also do the trick by offering you business card templates to inspire you.
- Using Templates: A good or bad idea?
Using business card templates from start to finish is probably not a good idea… the goal here being originality and innovation. There is nothing worse than anonymous, impersonal and similar business cards. This however does not mean that business card templates are completely useless. They can be an excellent source of inspiration for graphic designers who are still unexperienced.
Page layout software such as Microsoft Word, Canva or Behance, allow you to find hundreds of models, chosen from many different databases. From these models, or existing templates, you can learn more about the positioning of the elements and draw inspiration from some original name card ideas, that can eventually be reworked according to your personality or aspects already present in your corporation’s visual identity.
- Legibility
In our list of business card ideas, we couldn’t miss the fonts to use and readability. If your business cards require a particular reading effort, they will tend to be overlooked by potential users.
To be sufficiently legible, the characters must contrast with the chosen background. Their size must be adapted to the graphic format: do not choose a too small font and use matching colors.
While designing your business cards, it is best to avoid fancy fonts, unless your activity is suitable, and to choose simple and clear lines.
Sans Serif characters, or serif fonts, are often used because of their modernity, clarity and diversity. In recent years, the Gotham character police have seen its worldwide use skyrocket after being made popular thanks to Obama’s communication in the 2008 presidential elections, becoming a real case study.