April 11, 2018

10 Common Business Card Mistakes

There are lots of options when it comes to business cards these days, as they come in all kinds of formats.  You can even get digital or 3D business cards.  They are commonly used at networking event’s or even social occasions to give someone your contact details.

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The important thing to remember is what is on your business card is a reflection on you.  There are some mistakes that lots of people fall into when creating personalized business cards – and this can give out the wrong first impression.  We have come up with a list of things not to do when creating your business card.

10 Common Business Card Mistakes: eAskme
10 Common Business Card Mistakes: eAskme
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Don’t Add Too Many Fonts

You may have multiple preferences when it comes to font choice, but don’t use them all on one business card.  It’s important to keep things simple, so stick to the same font throughout.  Ideally, it should match your branding – so try and use the font that’s associated with your logo or any strapline that you may have. 

Don’t Make the Writing Too Small

This may seem fairly obvious – but it’s a mistake that we have seen all too often.  Some people choose a small font size in order to fit in lots of information.  This is a big mistake.  If people find your contact information too difficult to read, then it’s likely that they will lose interest and not contact you.  Make sure your font size is large enough for them to see.

Don’t be too unusual in Terms of Shape

Although business cards do come in all shapes and sizes, try not to be too creative with it.  Whenever possible use the appropriate dimensions for your company. They are made that way for a reason.  Business cards with strange shapes can be difficult to fit into wallets and they can be distracting. If you do want a business card that’s a little more abstract, the business card printing by print24 gives you the option of fold-out cards which will make them stand out against the regular cards usually handed out.

Don’t Worry about Whitespace

It is a common myth that you need to fill every single bit of space on your business card.  It’s ok to leave areas of the card blank – it should be simplistic in its design.  The reader shouldn’t have to stop and think about your contact details, they should be plain to see.  

Color Contrast

Colors are important – as they can affect how well you are able to read the content on the card.  Make sure you limit your color palette.  Similarly to the font, use your company colors wherever possible.  The colors should be contrasting, so no pale blue with dark blue, or pale pink with dark pink etc.  This is something that we see quite a lot of. 

Make Sure Data Types are Grouped Together

Some people feel the need to be too quirky or cool.  When they do this they can make the mistake of trying to design it in such a way that they group data elements separately which is confusing and time consuming.  Keep to the traditional style of having a standard structure for your contact info that is legible.  For example: Name, Title, Address etc.

Don’t Be Ambiguous

Sometimes you will find that there is a lot of contact information listed out, but they aren’t clearly labelled.  If you do feel the need to put additional phone numbers, fax numbers etc on your card – then make sure they are clearly itemised.

Don’t Forget your Social Media URLS

Unless you have an augmented reality, or digital business card – you need to remember that Facebook icons aren’t clickable.  There are lots of people with business cards out there that feature social media channels, and don’t have accompanying URLS.  How are they meant to find you?

Don’t Use a LinkedIn URL that’s not Custom

We have seen lots of business cards that feature LinkedIn icons and links, but they aren’t customized as yet.  This is an unattractive way of directing people to your LinkedIn profile or company page.  As standard, they are made up with a number of random letters and numbers – however a custom approach has your name for example at the end.  If you don’t practice this, it’s unlikely people will ever reach your profile.

Company Logo

On some business cards you can barely see the logo.  Make sure that you have this clearly visible and that you also have your company’s name directly below it, don’t assume people will know your company name purely based on branding. If you are handing out your business card it’s unlikely that they know who you are, so it’s important that your logo and company name instantly jump out at them.

Hopefully after reading this list, you will have a better idea of what not to do when creating your next business card.