How to Design a Business Card

I teach you how to design a professional looking business card!
The necklace I'm wearing is available for sale at http://dftba.com/karen

Learn How to Design a Resume: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKl-aGY6TrI
Let's Talk Color Names: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhNXwUG23T8

Check out all of my graphic design videos:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL99CB3991F6281872&feature=view_all

Get business cards from moo.com (it's the only company I use!):
http://www.moo.com/share/m79c7c

Check out a blog post about my own business card designs:
http://karenkavett.com/blog/971/new-business-cards-2.php

The comparison of different printing companies:
http://creativebits.org/guy_ordered_exact_same_business_card_5_top_online_printers_google_heres_what_theyve_sent

Most of the gimmicky business card photos came from this BuzzFeed article:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ivanr4/the-most-creative-business-cards-you-will-ever-see-1uq3

Take a Look at My Card song/video by Gunnarolla:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0zpUfkUda8

Check out my website: http://karenkavett.com
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Thanks for watching, and DFTBA!

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Closed Caption:

- Hey guys, so a little
while ago, I made a video
about how to design a resume,
and I got some requests
asking if I could make a video
about how to design business cards.
So, that's what I'm doing right now.
So, let's switch it up a
little and start at the end.
The final step is going to be
to make a sweet music video
about how awesome your new cards are.
♫ Take a look at my card
♫ My business card
♫ I work so hard baby
♫ 'Cause I'm a YouTube partner crazy ♫
But how do we get to that point?
So, the standard size
for business cards is
three and a half by two inches.
It's really not very much space,
so you need to figure out
what purpose you'll be
using the cards for and what information
you need to put on the card.
Will you being giving your
cards to potential customers,
to potential YouTube viewers,
to someone who you want
to hire you for a job?
Think about what you want the recipient to
get out of the card before you
even sit down to design it.
No matter what your use case,
though, your business card
should always match your other branding.
Your website, resume, cover
letter don't have to be
identical, but they should
look like they all belong
to the same design family,
whether that's consistent
logos, photography,
color scheme, typefaces.
If someone picks up your
card, they should be able to
associate it with all the other material
you put out there to represent yourself.
You can keep it simple.
That's totally fine.
Or keep it more playful,
whatever you think
best represents you.
So what information do you
really need on the business card?
It'll vary for everyone,
but pretty much always,
your name or company name.
Maybe a slogan.
And then just contact information.
Email, website, twitter
handle, YouTube channel.
Depending on the size of
your card, I recommend
cutting it off at about
four or five lines of text.
But if you do include more,
just make sure it doesn't
get too cluttered.
If you're a YouTuber, you
might want to consider
including a photo of
your face on the back,
since your face is kind
of what you're selling.
Just make sure it's a
high quality photo and not
a screenshot from like a 360p video.
And you know, there are so
many different possibilities
for how to design a business card,
that it can get really overwhelming.
But just try to stay focused
on what it is you want
to communicate, and hopefully
that'll help you come up
with some good design ideas.
Just make sure that your layout
and typography are impeccable.
Business cards are so
small and so minimalist
that you really need
to put a lot of thought
into every single element.
Make sure every word is
spelled and positioned
and kerned perfectly,
because any mistake will be
the only thing you're able
to see when you're holding
500 cards in your hand.
Also, don't be afraid
to use small typography,
just like I mentioned
in the resumes video,
no high school teacher is making you use
12 point Times New Roman anymore.
Try a nice San Serif, maybe at six points,
and just print it out to
make sure it's still legible.
Big text on a little card can
just look horsey and amateur.
So, bring your type down,
and leave enough white space
that still looks balanced
and professional.
Also, you could consider
personalizing your cards somehow.
I've seen some companies who
just order blank, generic cards
and then get each employee a rubber stamp
so that they can just
make as many as they need.
Or you could sign them, or
you could write something.
In one of my previous card
designs, I actually wrote
what I was to the person
I was giving it to,
whether it's a graphic
designer or a YouTuber.
And everyone appreciates getting something
unique and personalized.
So now that you have your
card design, you need to think
about how many cards you actually need.
If you're going to
networking events every week,
maybe you do need to buy
1,000 cards at a time.
But don't get sucked into
those "Five million cards for
"five dollars" deals if
you're not actually going to
use that many cards.
Instead, put that money
towards a quality print shop
where you may get less
cards, but the quality
will be so much better.
And you won't be representing
yourself with cheap materials.
If you don't put in the
effort to make high quality
business cards, what will make
anyone else think that you
do quality work anywhere
else in your life?
Just like you might buy a nice suit jacket
or get a nice haircut to present
yourself well to the world,
your business card reflects
on you the exact same way.
There's actually this great
blog post from awhile ago
where this guy got the
same card printed by
five different companies
and compared the quality
and cost of each.
Moo.com came in on top
for quality, of course.
They're all I ever use for
my business cards these days.
They are pretty pricy, but they do these
really cute mini cards, as well as these
really nice, thick cardstock cards.
And they do this thing
where you can print the same
front on all of your cards
but have all different backs.
So, for my current cards, I
got some with my face on them
and then some with my
design and crafting work,
so that I can give them
to different people,
depending on how I want
them to remember me.
And finally, no business
card how-to would be complete
without mentioning those
gimmicky business cards
that always show up in those
"50 Best Business Cards" blog posts.
There's a thing inherently
wrong with these types of cards,
but if you decide to make yours like that,
just make sure that your
concept is strong enough
that it's worth putting in
the extra money and effort.
Be aware that if your card is a weird size
or an uncommon material or
has lots of die-cuts or folds,
that they can get lost or
ruined when people drop them
in their bags and desk drawers,
so just make sure they're durable, too.
And don't let your concept
overwhelm your design.
Don't get so obsessed with the
gimmick that you lose sight
of the core purpose of a
business card, which is usually
to communicate contact information.
So, I hope this was useful for you guys.
Let me know in the comments
if you have any questions,
or if there is anything else
you want to see me make a
video about how to design.
If you're new here, you
might want to check out
the video I made about
how to design a resume
or the last video I
posted, which was all about
funny color swatch names.
And if you want to see all
of my graphic design videos,
I'll have a playlist linked down below.
Don't forget to subscribe for new videos
every Tuesday and Thursday.
And thank you all so much for watching.
I'll see you all next time.
♫ Take a look at my card
♫ My business card
♫ If you want my number
♫ You'll have to ask because
I didn't put it on the card ♫
Bonus craft project: I was
cleaning the other day,
and I was really sick of
the color of my tissue box,
so I covered it in silver
foil tape, and now it looks
like a spaceship, and it's
all shiny and adorable,
and I love it.
I might do more videos
about how to personalize
your tissue boxes, so let me
know if you want to see that.