Back in the day, business cards were simple: Black letters, white background, one-sided. You went to the printer (or sent them off) and the guy made a point to print clean, simple, beautiful cards in some of the sharpest fonts known to man.
When marks and logos started getting popular (yes, that whole “branding” thing) they of course started landing on business cards as well. Coca Cola. Nike. Microsoft. Target. Joe The Plumber. (Oh wait… never mind.) This was kind of nice, but then again… not really. (Big difference between having, say, an IBM business card and a Brooks Brothers business card.)
And then colors started showing up.
And then photographs.
And glossy coatings.
And then pretty much all hell broke loose.
On the one hand, many insurance and real estate agents started going crazy with really awful designs, making everything glossy, plastering their “glamour shots” portraits all over the place, and essentially turning business cards into a pocket version of the coupon spam you get in the mail every few days. If loud was good, louder was even better. (Not all do it, but you know who they are. Nuff said.)
On the other hand, talented designers started creating some incredible business cards – first for themselves, of course – and then for their clients. Case in point, I received a KILLER business card yesterday from Brady Bone, over at The Republik. The best way I can describe it is “Minority Report” meets Homeland Security meets New York subway ticket. It’s black on white, super clean, with bar codes, all kinds of cool little details and a magnetic strip. It even has Brady’s signature and an enigmatic half-tone shot of his face, which are both nice touches. Anyway, my point here isn’t to rave about Brady’s awesome card, but to point out that when it comes to blank canvasses, business cards are still one of the great frontiers when it comes to design.
And brand communication.
So you basically have three options when it comes to business card design: Good, bad, and boring.
Good can be this, this, this or even this. Good can be just a little good, or it can be Brady good. (Go here for a pretty sweet collection of creative designs- some better than others.)
Bad is just bad. I’ll just say this: If it looks like a car dealership ad, it’s probably bad. If it combines Comic Sans and gold/yellow, it’s probably bad as well. More often than not, bad very often looks like this:
Boring is just… you know… a typical template (or as Rich Lafferty would call it, “corporate”) card: Logo, info, maybe a box of color here and there to dress it up, but zero personality. 90% of business cards I run into fall into that category. I’ll be willing to bet that most websites associated with companies with boring business cards are also based on unremarkable templates and don’t get a whole lot of traffic. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but if you’re going to spend money on a website, money on business cards and letterhead, money on networking events and business organization memberships – money on marketing in general, why not make that money count? Why settle for boring or ugly or ineffective? Seems like kind of a waste, doesn’t it? Why not spend a little bit of time giving your image some thought? Your zip code is filled with graphic designers and creative agencies that could help you with that. Not help you just create pretty cards, but help you make your business more memorable and attractive – yes, even if it is only at first glance. (, you have to start somewhere.)
Think about the stacks of business cards yo come home with after a business event. Don’t you tend to reach for the well designed ones first? The ones with a little bit more personality or information? Of course you do. And what happens to retention when someone hands you a memorable card vs. a boring one? Don’t you have a tendency to remember the encounter a little better? The person’s face, your conversation, the context, etc.? Don’t you find that there’s value in using business cards to anchor contextual memories – which help cement what people and their companies do in your mental business mapping center?
So having a remarkable card (hopefully in a good way) makes good business sense. Having an unremarkable business card puts you at a disadvantage. (Think: lost in the shuffle.) Having an awful card might actually turn off prospective clients and partners if it is bad enough.
Card design is pretty important, then.
Naturally, creative agencies and freelancers will tend to have seriously memorable cards. Some are works of art in their own right. Others are just clever. Some are examples of flawless design. And then some pretty much turn into movements, like Hugh’s designs (below). There is pretty much a design range for everyone. Creatives will often lean towards graphic design masterpieces, while other professions (say, attorneys and accountants) will opt for more sober, less creative designs. And that’s just dandy. As long as the design is good, and as long as the design works for the person or business (fit, image, tone, message, etc.)
I could yap about business cards for hours, but… I won’t. (Hang out here just a little while longer. We’re almost done.) The reason why I am obsessing over business cards today – as opposed to social media, the latest bailout or Pepsi’s latest can redesign (which sucks, by the way) – is that I have suddenly found myself in need of business cards.
As many of you probably know, the brandbuilder blog is finally becoming a biz in its own right (brand consulting, marketing management, online reputation management, and all that good stuff). Yep, little Olivier is finally all grown up and ready to go help cool businesses conquer the world.
Now that I’ve finally secured an address – which took long enough – I can at last get some business cards printed. No more “my cards aren’t printed yet” excuses during ritual business card exchanges at business events. No siree.
But first, I have to settle on a business card design. And as you may well imagine for a somewhat creative guy like me, picking the right design can turn into a dangerous exercise: On the one hand, I want to stand out a bit. On the other, I don’t want my designs to be too unique. There needs to be some measure of brand continuity between the blog, the site, the cards, etc… but also not so much that the design looks stale. The idea here is to strike the right balance. While I work with my fair share of creatives, I am not a creative agency, and I need to remember that.
Truth be told, my business card design(s) will probably change often. When a batch runs out, I will probably replace it with a completely fresh one. New look, new flavor, etc. Just to keep things interesting. But I right now, I need to settle on batch #1. The BrandBuilder, Inc.’s very first set of business cards. And for that, boys and girls, I need your help. Instead of picking them myself, I will let you guys (and gals) decide what my first calling card’s design will be.
Cool, huh?
Here are the three sets. By the way, the graphics and fonts got a little mangled when I shrank everything to size for this post, so my apologies if things look less than crisp.
Set #1. This one is a little tricky because you have to match front and back. Combine your favorite front with your favorite back and tell me what you think works best. Feel free to print out the image, get your scissors out, and make your own little cutouts to see how they work together.
Because one’s backside should always come first…
1.
2.
3.
And now for the front…
a.
b.
c.
d.
Set #2: The idea here was to create a simple and clean set of cards. Nothing fancy, just a clean design that can look pretty good in a card holder. In this set, the front (very last image, orange) stays the same while the back (all other images) changes. Each color/flavor has its own caption to help spread the message. (Why have only one tag line when you can have dozens?) The plan is to have all six versions printed.
above: back side. Below: front side
Set #3: This is the vertical set. Even more basic than set #2, it tries to be as clean as possible while asking some pertinent value-related questions. I call this the “what if…” set. The “what if…” questions currently on there are kind f lame, but the possibilities are endless. What if you knew how to leverage social media to make your customers love you? What if you didn’t have to spend so much on advertising? What if you could be the talk of the town again? What if your launch exceeded all of your expectations? You get the idea.
See? I told you. Nothing fancy. I just want to create a visual bridge between the blog and the business via the card/letterhead design, so the creative only has so much rope to play with.
Feel free to vote, comment, etc.
And thanks for taking the time to give me feedback. (Even if it’s negative.)
And by all means, if you have a design concept you want me to see, definitely send it to me. I’m open to any and all ideas, as always. 
So we have a vote for 3a already, from @sellphone (via Twitter).
Great stuff!
My two cents:
For set #1 I like 3 with a or b
For set two I like Your “down the street” marketing department or You run your business we’ll do the rest
For set three I’m just not feeling it
I guess I’m a bit of a stickler for CIGs being uniform and keeping it simple.
When are you doing mine?
Thanks. Good choices, man.
Set 1 – Back 3, Front d (with changes)
– Front d needs your name, and contact info, not the laundry list of what you do. I like a , but there’s no pup on the card then… and you gotta have the pup!
Set 2 – I get the idea, but what works as a set when you’re designing them, makes no difference to the person you just handed 1 card to… they won’t see the set, so it just looks like you picked a random set of colors.
Set 3 – I really like the idea, but again, what works in a set when you design, doesn’t come across when you’ve just handed someone a single card.
For what it’s worth…
@mikeconaty
Terrific feedback, Mike! Exactly what I need.
I have a cleaner version of d. (just with the info) that I kind of like too, so we’re on the same page there.
Pretty much each of these designs already has different variations with more or less noise on them. I prefer less noise, generally. (Like the design at the very top of the post.) The back of that one (not posted) has all of my social media/digital/web contact info, from simple email to LinkedIn, Twitter, Buzznet, etc. I’m getting it printed as well, for non business purposes.
Thanks again!
I’d give my vote to 3c. Simple, clean, nice.
The typeset in set #2 looks identical to CareerBuilder, so I’d say axe that right away.
I kinda like the orange back of the third set, but don’t like the reverse series of questions.
Hope that helps!
Rock on, Travis.
Yeah, you’re the second person to point out the CareerBuilder font similarities so far. Thanks for the heads up. The two fonts are indeed very similar.
#3 in Set 1 is definitely getting unanimous approval so far. There’s still some spread between A, B and C though.
Set 3 is kind of the control set, so I’m not surprised that no one really likes it.
Thanks again.
Travis,
Don’t you find the way the logo sticks out in ‘c’ is not so smooth?
There’s a smooth version of c as well. I thought dropping down like that would be interesting. It breaks up the lines a bit.
To me it sort of looks tacked on.
Noted.
Arié,
with C, I think if Olivier were to drop the offset brandbuilder box a little, add a bit more padding to all the sides, and make the top of the text line up with the orange line, it could work.
Easy enough.
One of the best articles i read on the subject
I think i’ll take some of your advices and print it on my card at http://www.dcp-print.com
That way, i’ll have my own design and i won’t have to pa alot of money
I like the BrandBuilder designs that you have produced. Have a variety of cards is a nice ideal that many companies do not utilize.
You have to give props to GotFreeBusinesscards.com. They found this post and commented. I’m impressed on both counts.
Olivier,
I’d match #3 and b from set 1. The chihuahua provides interest on the front and the white on the front clearly distinguishes it from the solid back.
Plus, this is the one that would get pulled out of duty as a bookmark (where a *lot* of my business cards end up) and remembered.
And, hey, if you ever head down south to Columbia, let me know…
I like #3. IMHO I like the idea of printing them on some sort of slightly textured/recycled paper and making them in a series. It would be nice for a customer to ask for a second, or third business card to see what it says.
I also like set 3. Simple with personality. Design should also have purpose… not sure of the purpose to have the area code with so much emphasis. Also there is no reason a business cards needs to be the usual rectangle … maybe one corner needs a soft curve… in support of your brand font. What type of stock are you considering? That plays a big part in the design also.
Great feedback!
Gil, JP, Michelle, the stock for #3 and several of the other ones is indeed intended to be textured, not smooth.
And I was ready to completely throw away Series #3. Now you’re having me reconsider. Doh!!!
For 1st round looks I believe Set 2, orange back only does what you set out to do.
- Bone
Forgot to say that I would use that layout but keep your existing logotype.
The one is set 2 looks too much like careerbuilder.com
Plus I like the logotype you currently have.
- Bone
Thanks, Bone. The CareerBuilder font thing cracks me up. I would have never noticed that if you agency guys hadn’t spotted the similarities.
I like 1d in the first set and Set 3 with the back slogan about people getting excited about your business.
I like set 1 and 3
I like the concept of the 3rd set best, but I like the front design of card (b) in the first set better than the front in set 3. I’ve been taught that the most important thing about cards is the WOW factor. If you give your card to a customer and they don’t say, “Wow! Nice card!” Scrap it the design and try again.
Keep with the blog theme no matter what design you go with. Matching the blog is important. That has something to do with branding doesn’t it?
Patrick, Naveem and Jim: Thanks for the great feedback, guys. I totally agree, Jim. Both on the blog theme thing and the wow factor (without being too outrageously creative – unless creative is what you’re selling.)
Michelle, I see your point about the giant 864.
1. The idea there was to make the phone number stand out a bit and present it in a slightly unconventional way.
2. It was an opportunity to add a fresh design element to a tired old piece of data.
3. It also makes it easier for people to dial while holding the card, as most folks will look at a phone number 2-3 times while dialing. Segmenting the number into three parts makes it easier to read and dial.
4. Also, I want to emphasize the 864 both for my regional/in-state clients and my national ones. The 864 is turning into a cluster of social media, brand development and innovation professionals (Brains on Fire, Showcase, and Innoventure, to start off the list), and I want to start conveying that through the design. Not obvious yet, but in a year or so, it’ll probably make more sense.
I’m glad you brought it up.
Set 1 – Front d, Back 3. I think they do the job and convey it nicely.
Set 2 – too colorful for my taste…
Set 3 – Rocks! It’s great! Stands out, has a fresh uniqueness, and has that cute chihuahua.
Thanks Chris!
Olivier:
I understand the desire for a series of cards, but i think your second set creates more confusion…you lose the power of color as a brand element. The first set seems way too busy for your brand. The third set is my favorite because it helps you own the orange while creating that series feel.
I just started a series of posts on the opportunities provided by a business card, and I think your questions generate conversations that go well beyond “what do you do?”
Instead of changing designs all the time, I think you could keep creating new questions every time you order cards. That way, you maintain the color but still get to change things up from time to time.
Good luck as you move forward.
-Mark True | Brand Warrior
Excellent advice, Mark. Well put. Thanks!
I like set 3 quite a bit, actually. And your post is very timely for me. Congrats on striking out on your own. Oh, and I dig the dog.
Thanks!
Oliver, I am reading this late and I believe you have got a lot of feedback here so I won’t get into that bit. But I thought it would be interesting to show you a set of business cards which we had in my ex-agency ThinkWhyNot. We didn’t get business cards till my BOSS knew us well enough. And then he would pen down a few lines to be published on the front of the card along with the other details.
Click here to see.
And oh yes, they came in various colors and it would be interesting to see faces at the meeting – wondering why he got the blue and I got the yellow one.
My first choice would be set #1: 3a but I actually do like set #3 as well. I thought the same thing a previous commenter did – why is the area code so big? But, it does add some visual interest.
Hi Oliver,
I like set #3 with “What if your marketing actually worked?”
The front is attention getting with both the colour and layout and the question engages your prospective client to think of the possibilities.
I would add a specific call to action:
“Visit for a free consultation…” etc…
Also I found an article which describes some of the meaning of colour in business card design, which I linked to from my post here:
http://www.business-card-advisor.com/business-card-news/business-card-news-nov-24-2008/
HtH and have a great day!
Mark
P.S. Join http://www.Business-Card-Advisor.com To Learn Effective Business Card Design and Marketing.
I like these designs although its totally apparent that most of these are influenced by the Career Builder typography of have the two words together (no space) with different colors for the words.
Its a great thing if you are building off that.
As far as uniqueness, the ones that use a different font from the career builder one may stand out from the CB idea.
I would say go with set 1 because it portrays the most uniqueness, professionalism, and style. I would keep those cards over the other two sets any day.
If you want some more unique Ideas check out my video plastic card gallery at http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=7C385C6EA61BEAD0
Thanks
Anthony: I can assure you that the typography similarities were completely accidental.
Crazy yeah overall I would still go with set one,
I really like how much each one stands out, and gives a much more unique feel and I really haven’t even seen anything like it.
I like the dog and the 1, 2, a, b of set one. The decoration really sets it apart from all the rest. Overall keep up the strong work and keep on keeping on, your doing great.
Oh hey which ones did you decide on?
[...] peak of the market and never really got the time to see how your business stationary looks like. Browse around and get a design school student to work out some interesting designs. A good branding exercise will [...]
Real estate agents are the worst. I work with them extensively. It’s nearly impossible to get them to stop it with the corny ideas. I try and try and try. I show them cards that are well-designed. Pointless. Most agents have no taste. And I fail to see the point of the headshot.
Everyone one of them comes to me and says “I want something different, unique.” This means: Make my card look like the crappy card my fellow agent has . . . with my name in 24pt Apple Chancery — all caps, my mall glamour shot with a drop shadow that makes it look like I’m hovering 6ft from the card, 6 phone numbers, my website, my Facebook, my LinkedIn, and could you put a smiley face on there somewhere?
If you use Helvetica or Garamond or a white background that looks “boring” rather than “professional.”
And while I’ll occasionally get an agent who does have taste, at this point, I just close my eyes and randomly click around on the artboard and whatever comes out, they love.
Thanks for giving me my first good laugh of the week.
Awesome comment.
I own a new real estate brokerage and am right there with you on the typical agent card hence the reason I’m using this site to research card designs. I have a design background so I am not typical at all and am always thinking out of the box. No one really gets excited talking about what service a company offers unless it’s something exciting so when advertising a business it is really boring and useless to list a bunch of ways to be contacted if the recipient isn’t drawn in by what is presented to them.
So that being said what are some examples of a good business card that you would use for real estate companies?
Stephen
Love your blog – ran across it when I did a search for Real Estate Agents to see what the business cards out there looked like – I’m a new agent getting to do a card of my own. Boy am I glad I saw your blog!!!!
I agree with you – some of those cards are just plain ugly and boring. The idea I have in mind is not that crazy glossy stuff (as in the blue card above;) but its not run of the mill either. I like clean lines and had already determined a white background with black copy. So I was glad to find your blog, and surprised to see that you’re in Greenville! Charlotte is sometimes home, so we’re neighbors! Keep up the good work (LOVE YOUR WORK) and thanks for the tips – I know I’m headed in the right direction with my R/E biz card (that I am designing myself, I am a graphic designer). When I’m done, I’ll send you the final. Thanks!
Hi all,
some of those cards are just plain ugly and boring.
=======================
avelino
allcreditcards
Nice design, great work.
Good quality plastic cards will help your business.
Oh really? Thanks for that. I was thinking maybe wood or steel, even paper. But if you say so, classy plastic it is.
Between ‘Good, bad and boring’ i think it’s the safest to be on either extreme. Boring is forgettable but even a bad business card is memorable (for all the wrong reasons however) but hey at least it made an impression.