Your Business Card Reveals More Than You Think

Business cards say a lot about you. In addition to the obvious information your card has on it, it can also give people a feel for your personality and your business. A conservative, classic card says something very different than a colorful, whimsical one. The quality of the card and the amount of thought that went into the design also tell people how professional you are. Here are a few of the techniques that printers use to give your cards a truly professional look.

How your cards are cut changes how they look and this can be a good way to create a more memorable looking card. Die cuts can be placed anywhere on the card, whether it's along the edges or in the center of the card. Die cuts are used to create decorative edging and to cut out things like logos. Cutting the corners to produce rounded corners and softer edges is also popular. Rounding the corners is a simple thing that can really change the look of the cards in a good way.

You can also choose one of several advanced printing techniques. Having your cards printed in color is one such option, though a fairly basic one. This allows you to create more interesting imagery, including highlighting important text or better rendering your logo. Inline foil printing is a step beyond color printing. Inline foil printing is a way to get foil elements into the regular design of the card. Because it is part of the original print process, it can be layered like the rest of the printed design.

You might choose to have your card coated with a special substance to give it more shine or weight. Silk coating is one such option. Instead of creating a slick feeling card, it makes your cards feel silky, while also giving them added thickness, which increases their weight. It can also protect the card from water damage and tearing. UV business cards coating is another option. You can use UV coating all over the card to give it a high or low gloss, or just in certain places to highlight parts of the design.

Designing a business card that effectively uses these elements requires more work than designing a simple printed card and you will have to present more information to the printer, as well. You'll need to include additional files for these added elements, most likely, and the specific file requirements will vary depending on who is printing the cards. The printer you hire will tell you what additional information they'll need from you and how to format that information for their process.