In a world where communication is key it is perhaps no surprise that more and more often we are seeing business cards with extra contact details on. Traditional details like telephone, fax and email no longer seem to be enough.

Extra details that are often found on business cards now include:

• Personal / Project website
• Blog address
• Skype address
• IM address (MSN, AOL etc)
• LinkedIn Profile address

Paths of communication are now more varied than ever and different people prefer different methods. If you have extra ways of contacting you, why not advertise them on your business card.

Going Green, being carbon friendly, carbon neutral business cards, eco friendly business cards, what does all this mean.

Well the myth is you need recycled business cards to be green - not really, most paper these days are produced from paper mills who promote sustainable forests. You can easily find out from your printer if your business cards are printed using paper from an fsc certified forest or paper mill by asking if the paper carriers the fsc logo - visit fsc.org for more details.

Also find out how your printer is offsetting their carbon and environmental issues,

for example which of the two illustration below is the greener

1. A litho printer using solvent inks on a printing press that does not have recyclable plates and blankets but prints your business cards on recycled paper is not really to carbon friendly.

2. A digital printer using no plates and blankets, running a digital press which uses EA toner and reduce energy consumption printing your business cards on paper from a FSC rated paper mill.

The answer in my opinion would have to be the digital printer.

When creating a business card it is essential to make sure that your target audiance is clearly defined. It’s a fact that creativity needs restrictions, and a set format is perfectly fine as a working guidline however there are a lot of other things to do before you look outside the conventional format of a business card.
If you are trying to attract people from other creative disciplines then you have to stretch your imagination and go just that little bit further for a stronger impact.
However less can be more and depending your your audiance this is perfectly fine for your business. It’s true that you really don’t need to spend a fortune either to obtain an original, good quaility card.

To make it easy for all you would-be designers, I’ve added templates below to be downloaded for business cards in PDF and Adobe InDesign format.

Download your business card template here:

• Business card PDF template
• Business card InDesign Template

You will notice on the InDesign file a text box which is illustrated in pink to give you a parameters to work your text within. The PDF includes the crop marks and 3mm bleed which you may also find useful.
A few helpful hints:

1) Keep your business card clean and uncluttered
2) make sure the text is easily read
3) Ensure the text and images balance or give equal width from their ends to the edge of the card. (Any slight movement will really show on a business card)
4) Do not place text or important graphics too close to the edge of the card, try to leave at least 6-8mm from the edge of the card.
5) If you want to use borders make them broad and not too thin as any slight deviation in cutting will show ten-fold
6) When using the InDesign file, don’t forget to add crop marks and 3mm bleed when saving as a print ready PDF (see PDF file).

Did you know?
Everydayprint will allow you to upload your own design via their website http://www.everydayprint.co.uk/backend/edouk/products.jsp?onlyUpload=true
or if you need any help contact us on 0845 437 0551

The print industry is a very heavy user of raw materials and increasingly customers are requesting print on recycled papers. business cards on recycled card are probably the commonest starting point for companies to begin their changeover to recycled stocks.

A wide range of recycled stocks are now available for digital print. For those who want the paper to look good it is possible to have a 75% recycled board which gives almost as good a quality as new made board, while for those who are keen for their customers to know their greenness, 100% recycled board is available unbleached and with added dirt to make certain that people will know it is recycled as soon as they see it.