designing a business card

http://legilimens.org/abstract/_img_scaps/ap-11.jpg

What do you want it to convey? That you're serious about business? Sober & boring black and white card. That you're original and a design genius? Trapezium shaped foldout colored, requires 3D glasses to read your phone number, original font that is just, but only just, readable.

http://i17.tinypic.com/72pqfdj.png

(Just the square part in the middle.)

http://www.moo.com/products/minicards.php look nice. not traditional size though, which is probably a mistake.

Much better to get an incredibly simple business card nicely printed on the best stock you can afford than a four color card on crap stock.

Letterpress also makes for very cool simple business cards on nice stock.

Excellent quality paper, no gimmicks.

It DEFINITELY depends on where you plan on giving them out. If you're going to be at conventions and stuff, it REALLY pays to have a card that stands out. Also, I am a huuuuuge fan of just putting an e-mail address, bu having a blank spot somewhere where you can write your phone number on for a person-- means A) not everyone has your number and B) it's obvious that you "personally" want this person to have your number... meaning they might be more inclined to contact you.

But seriously, it depends on what you do.

Please no weird shaped business cards, they end up getting lost if they don't fit into a wallet. Make them a standard size and shape.

The coolest one I've seen was printed on a kind of thickish frosted mylar with just two colors: black for the contact info and a midrange turquoise for the (screened) logo. Very distinctive, indestructible, and because of the frosted finish, you could still write on the back.

Yeah, mine's on frosted mylar too, with a "will" business card type deal on one side, and a general "the company" style business card on the other. they're actually really great-- stand out, don't feel chintzy, and yeah, you can write on it.

background: in grad school, suddenly presented with opportunity to schmooze and network with countless professionals in my field whom i hope will give me a job next summer/fall. i have an event at the end of nov. to go to where my prof. has advised me to collect as many cards as possible, but i'd rather trade theirs for mine than just collect theirs!

these people are performing arts managers/executives, so there is a little room for "flair," but i also think it might be best to just go as classy as possible - that may go farther than any cute design thing.

i like libcrypt's idea - classy, but a little more adventurous... but yeah, i think regular size is important.

well you could use an unconventional size that is smaller and WILL fit in wallets and other such things.

If you want something that is k-different I think a vertical version (ie tilted 90º) of yr classic 2"x3.5" (IIRC) card is way better than a card that will shift about or get lost in people's wallets.

I don't know where yr getting them printed/how fancy you want them but Kinko's is actually printed pretty cheap if you want some classic but simple b/w thing on cardstock (like 20-30 cents per sheet of cardstock which has ten cards per sheet, or if you want to bring in some fancier cardstock it's 8 cents a sheet, and then $7.50 for them to cut into business cards). If you want I could share with you how their standard setup is so you wouldn't have to pay layout fees.

Are you designing them or is someone else?

don't go smaller than average, your card can get lost between two larger, but still wallet-sized cards.

FOR REAL

Are you doing it on colored cardstock or color printing? The former is a lot cheaper and can look just as good, IMO. (I've had hell of jobs just designing the damn things).

Here are some business cards I made for the man as a gift the first Xmas I knew him. Maybe not what yr looking for, but to show b/w on nice colored stock can be pretty versatile.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/igotabeefpastry/bizcards.jpg

clockwise from upper left: classic banker card, hilarious 'learn french' clclipart one, fake Suspiria poster (black is way more opaque when not scanned somehow), and penguin whose smoke spells his name.

i will either do it online or at staples or something. i don't mind spending a bit to make them nice, but i don't have access to my own graphic designer or anything.

i kind of like the mylar idea, but is it too gimmicky?

I don't think so, esp. if it's within yr budget.

Aw, that's so sweet making yr guy bidness cards for xmas! Far better than socks and batteries! (xp)

wait, what's mylar again? maybe mine's not made of that. mine's just frosted plasticky feeling stuff... not shiny, though. i thought mylar was shiny or something. nonpaper is cool, though, if you nca afford it! that's where i am goign w/ this.

yeah that... google searches for mylar business cards are yielding magnets?

My dentist has a mylar business card. My florist, on the other hand, has a square, letterpress, nice-card-stock business card. Make of that what you will.

Maybe Will M. and co. are thinking of a very thick vellum...kinda translucent paper that looks frosted?

The one I'm thinking of is def. plastic of some sort, the same stuff as Australian money is made of. Not tearable by human hands, and waterproof.

Do you know what is hard to do? Finding a photo of a translucent paper is hard to do.

The envelope here is some heavyweight vellum...you can see it's translucent here. It's got a smooth feel and is heavy enough for business cards:

http://wedding-thankyou.invitesite.com/assets/images_prod/cezanne_orange.JPG

It is made from cotton and it is tearable, FWIW, unlike jaq's mystery stock!

HERE'S some vellum bus. cards, finally!

http://www.neitherfishnorfowl.com/images/41.jpg

oooh those are fancy.

yes search for vellum business cards yields many better results!

man, this is hard.

These appear to be the mystery plastic cards

http://www.plasticprinters.com/businesscards/samplebusiness3.jpg

Everywhere I can find plastic business cards is REALLY EXPENSIVE, like up to $3/card!

tza get them printed on colored cardstock, pretty cheap (like abbott says) and the color will make it stand out against the white cards! all this plastic/vellum stuff is gimmicky i think.

(says the unemployed college studnet)

yeah, vellum seems much cheaper

http://ppe.easiest.com/Previews/SendToFriend/138/55769868.jpg

too plain?

what if i did that layout on a colored cardstock instead of vellum?

i'm a little worried about the frosty-ness

http://www.thetalentshow.org/images/analrapist.jpg

<3 tobias

isn't anyone going to say something about or ask for invites to studnet?

Tehresa I think that is beautifully understated and sharp w/out looking like a banker or Patrick Bateman card cliché.

Colored cardstock: It's kind of hard to find a decent color in stock at Office Max or wherevs (same w/vellum) so you'd have to buy some elsewhere. Fortunately at yr typical specialty paper store there are huge arrays of stock in amazing varieties of texture, color, weight and appearance (ie matte or shiny, and some are sort of iridescent or have subtle sparkle & such). It's better to choose a lighter tint (ie coral rather than crimson) so the black will contrast better. And usually a pack of 25-50 sheets of the really nice stuff is $5-$10, and w/10 cards per sheet that is probably more business card than you will ever need. And like I said, then the b/w printing/cutting is muy cheap.

I am such a geex abt this subject, I can talk about paper for fucking ever.

i love that because i know nothing about it!
i kind of have an aversion to pastel/light colors (they sorta remind me of bank checks or certificates)... which is why i was originally looking at color printed cards, so i could have a dark color with light text. but i don't know... raised print on white stock is really classy to me, too...

I think raised print or even proper engraving, esp. w/a nice cotton or linen paper, is v. classy and classic too.

You can get a nice color that isn't pastel against which the black will still contrast nicely. ie plum, copper, mossy or lime green, turquoise, gold, burnt orange, a pretty matte grey...just anything that isn't more than like 60-70% black in tint.

A fun color chart...anything where the K level is under 60 would work just fine!

I hate pastels, too, they remind me of L.L. Bean and Easter sundays.

raised print is all kinds of classy

texture is sexy

Oh and if yr buying cardstock to get printed on at Office Max or such get a weight over 60 lb. but less than 100...120+ tend not to go through the drums of a copy machine as they are too stiff.

under 60, not 60 or below, right?

Over 60 and pref under 120...in that range. If it seems too heavy, try this:

Ask the people at the paper store if they will let you return it if it doesn't work in copy machines (they have always said I could so I bet they will to you). Then have the photocopy place do a trial run on 2-3 sheets and see if it works.

The problem is sometimes, say, an 80 lb weight will seem nice and sturdy and on another cardstock it will be floppy and flimsy. It's like bra-size level standardized.

oh sorry i meant the 60 thing about k levels

I had to do this while a grad student for a convention I was going to. I put my name, university, program, and date of graduation . . . along with address, phone and e-mail. I didn't really care so I just did it myself--I think the night before I left--but the paper that I bought to make the cards actually ended up sticking in my printer. I mostly traded them with my fellow students--the one professional who I splipped the card to seemed shocked that I had taken the inititiative--until I told her that our program practically forced us to.

Sorry tehresa, 60 or below k levels.

nice! there is a drastic difference in my taste between the colors with 40 k level and 60 k level.

i'm going to a paper place now to look at stock!

I did mine on Moo

Moo cards are kinds o_O

i did not like the papers at the paper store :(
then i went to staples and they were worse.
maybe online is the way to go, but how can you tell if it's good?

moo looks good! i think i'll do that.

i wish they had normal size cards

oh, i thought they were normal sized. maybe not then.

I've only done the (free) Flickr ones from Moo which really limits your layout.

they are good, amazingly good quality, but they are mini. they're not lying. But they will fit in a wallet...

I got the free Moo ones when they did that offer for Flickr Pro users. They look cool, but you're going to feel weird and unprofessional giving them to anyone over the age of 40.

anyone got recommendations for good places to get these from? i favour the simple/classy aesthetic, don't mind (and would prob like) bateman-cliché style cards, also like sleek helvetica-style modernism, definitely do not want cutesy/hilarious designs.

of the 5 prototypes that abbott posted upthread i like the top left the best...

Good quality card, minimal fannydangle is the way forward. A bit of colour somewhere would help though.

uhhhhh