Business Cards... - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

09/05/2005 12:08:27 PM · #1

OK..so Kinkos does business cards. I'm wondering if it would be better to just find out what you want on the card, like your website, name, phone, etc... or if it would be better to design your own from the ground up?

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I just want something simple that says "David Paull Photography" and "www.davidpaullphotography.com" along the bottom with my phone number, and that's about it...

If it's better to design it yourself, what size of a file should I start out with like 600 pixels wide or like 1200, I'm clueless.

Makka

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

09/05/2005 12:14:19 PM · #2

I know here in Australia our standard business card size is 89mm x 54mm. I'm not sure if it's any different where you are.

Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC for Canon

09/05/2005 12:19:10 PM · #3

If you're designing the business card in photoshop, set your rulers and other dimensions to inches; the standard business card is 3.5 x 2 inches. You should run a resolution of at least 600dpi on this. Use "show rulers" and set guidelines a quarter of an inch in from each edge, to be safe. Definitely at least an eighth of an inch in; nothing should extend past those guidelines, lest uneven trimming of the cards produce very lopsided looking examples.

Photoshop is not the ideal program for designing cards, though. CorelDraw or Illustrator is much better, and for setting type something like Pagemaker or Quark is optimum, though on these you need to import yout graphics from another program.

Keep graphics and type faces simple. Use no more than two faces and 3 fonts, as a rule of thumb. A "face" would be Times new Roman, for example, or Helvetica. A "font" would be Times New Roman Bold, or Italic, or Bold Italic, or Normal, variations of the face. Techincally, each separate size is a "font" also, though we don't use the word that way much anymore with electronic typesetting.

Remember your goal is to communicate, primarily. Good design is important, but it has to be design that communicates. Youw ant people to be able to "use" the card easily.

I have designed a LOT of business cards in my day. Let me know if I can be of help.

R.

Kavey

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

09/05/2005 12:26:10 PM · #4

I used vistaprint (let me know if you want the referral link, gives you 25% off your order - meant to give me a $1 but hasn't ever come through so far but I don't need it as I have all the cards I need for a long while).

They provide a PS template as well as size/ bleed guidelines.

You can either create your own card design from scratch, including uploading your own graphics (costs extra), use their templates as starting points but customise them (with your own graphics or with pictures from their large stock library which are free to use), or opt for their non-customisable templates - these are cheapest.

HRoxas

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

09/05/2005 12:31:28 PM · #5

Overnightprints.com

You can either design it yourself or use their templates. Inexpensive and excellent quality.

Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC for Canon

09/05/2005 12:46:14 PM · #6

How does this look...

edit: nice, simple and to the point...does it work? or is there any major flaws?

EDIT: updated view:

Message edited by author 2005-09-05 13:06:49.

Kavey

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

09/05/2005 12:53:09 PM · #7

Originally posted by deapee:

How does this look...

edit: nice, simple and to the point...does it work? or is there any major flaws?

To my eye the text/ logo at the top is too close to the edge of the frame - it feels too tight. I'd bring it down a touch and in a bit too.

I also wonder if the tel/ email/ web text could be right alighed to the right edge to match the name/ address text that is left aligned to it's left?

I like the simple colour scheme and clean styling.

Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC for Canon

09/05/2005 12:55:52 PM · #8

Originally posted by deapee:

How does this look...

edit: nice, simple and to the point...does it work? or is there any major flaws?

It's clean and simple for sure. The upper left elements are too close to the left and top edges. The lower right elements are too close to the right edge. The lower left elements are positioned about right, maybe a bit too close. You might want to move the lower type elements down a bit too; they're uncomfortably close to the upper edge of the blue and there's a lot of excess blue to work with at the bottom.

Another concern is that this is a "bleed" card, with the blue element going right to the edge on 3 sides. This means you need to design the card to allow excess on all sides for the trim process, typically an eighth if an inch, lest variations in stacking and trim leave white hairlines outside the blue.

Typically business cards are printed "4-up" on 8x5 or 8.5 x 5.5 cardstock, centered, and then trimmed out. You can see that this design, with bleed on the bottom, would require very precise trimming on the central horizontal cut. Back in the day, if I'd been designing this card for the print shop, I'd have ganged them up with a gutter between cards where the horizontal middle cut is made to allow overlap of the bleed on the top 2 cards. This would require an additional run through the paper cutter, and they'd have cost more to produce.

I don't honestly know if that equation has changed with digital printing.

You could also gang them up with the top two cards inverted, so all the bleeds were on the perimeter.

Robt.

Kavey

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

09/05/2005 01:00:07 PM · #9

Robt

Some of my designs I initially took to a traditional printers and they said same thing about having to charge more to cut accurately enough because of my images bleeding to edge but still requiring accuracy on cutting to ensure correct placement of text.

However, the prices on vistaprint tempted me to give that design a try anyway (it's what I had set my heart on) and they cut it VERY accurately indeed. On one of my later orders they cut less accurately (AND had made an error with one of the characters coming out wrong even though their preview showed it correctly) and redid them - and customer service lady said they would indeed have redone them just for the cropping innaccuracy alone.

Matthew

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Peleng 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye MC In M42 Mount

09/05/2005 01:01:24 PM · #10

Originally posted by Makka:

I know here in Australia our standard business card size is 89mm x 54mm. I'm not sure if it's any different where you are.

You crazy Australians - our's is 85mmx55mm.

09/05/2005 01:07:02 PM · #11

OK you all are awesome...how's this...

09/05/2005 01:07:49 PM · #12

Originally posted by Kavey:

I kind of suspected that might be the case. Thanx.

R.

09/05/2005 01:09:43 PM · #13

oh in case anyone is trying to call me...I upgraded my phone through Sprint, and waiting for a 'port' or something...freaking annoying, and bad for business I know!

Mattel Barbie Photo Designer Digital Camera

09/05/2005 01:11:04 PM · #14

Originally posted by deapee:

OK you all are awesome...how's this...

Make it so the top line of "David Paull Photography" is even with the top line of the telephone number block (the number block is correctly positioned here), and make it so the space between the logo and the top of the card is the same as the space between the logo and the left of the card (the left space is correct, the top one is too small), and you've got it.

R.

digitalknight

09/05/2005 01:17:45 PM · #15

now that you are on your way to perfecting this version of your card, I come along and ask this question...

"where's the photo?"

This is a tiny advertisment for yourself, I designed a simple front, and put three of my portraits, the type of photo I hope to do more of, on the back with a description of my philosophy.

So I would recommend you include a nice black and white photo that reads well in small sizes (not a lot of texture or detail) to show just how awesome of a photographer you are!

Brent_Ward

Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L USM

09/05/2005 01:24:36 PM · #16

Originally posted by deapee:

oh in case anyone is trying to call me...I upgraded my phone through Sprint, and waiting for a 'port' or something...freaking annoying, and bad for business I know!

I know a place where you can get 500 double sided CMYK cards for like $60 w/shipping. They did a great job on mine.

Also, you should try and get a graphic designer to design your cards for you. You could trade out shooting their printed pieces for their portfolio for it. Just a suggestion.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

09/05/2005 01:28:13 PM · #17

Originally posted by bear_music:

Cool, thanks...I appreciate it.

as for the photo, I'm going simple.

aboutimage

Canon EOS-30D

09/05/2005 01:31:10 PM · #18

Originally posted by bruchen:

Overnightprints.com

You can either design it yourself or use their templates. Inexpensive and excellent quality.

I gotta second this one. I've been using ONP for my clients for about a two years. Their quality is always excellent and they'll do glossy UV coats for no extra charge. They provide a sizing template on their site for custom work, or you can just use their templates. I've never used the templates but I hear they're pretty decent.

Brent_Ward

Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L USM

09/05/2005 02:05:09 PM · #19

This place looks like it's pretty good. Any place that holds that tight of trim can't be bad!

Travis99