While the logo is often considered the “face” of your business, your business card is the “head” that holds the face. Chances are your business card will be the first piece of collateral your customer will recieve from your company.   As your card is picked up, passed out or handed down, it will be the first way your logo is “used”.

So what is "necessary" on a business card? Personally I subscribe the the theory that less is more. Unfortunately, my clients don’t always subscribe to that same idea. In fact, I’ve dealt with just the opposite: the client that insists on a single-sided card with everything but their blood-type and social security number on there. (Seriously, they could use the thing as a second I.D.!).

Let’s see, if we just cover the basics, we need a BUSINESS NAME, CONTACT NAME, CONTACT POSITION, then contact information. I don’t put my mailing address on mine anymore, since I’m a freelancer, it’s not like I have a show room, or a studio that anyone can "Come By and Visit". So I just include my CITY, STATE, PHONE NUMBER, EMAIL ADDRESS and WEB SITE.

I also much prefer 2-sided cards as they finally give you enough room to space out your elements. I suggest grouping your information in a logical arrangement to make it easy on any reader that wants to quickly scan the card. If someone has to struggle to find your contact information, they may move on to someone else.

In my next post, I’ll be uploading some cool business card examples. One thing I do everywhere I go is pick up a card. I store these in a 3 ring binder in trading card pouches for easy access and design inspiration.

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