Business cards... Who's seen this design??

Anyone? Everyone?

I have personally seen this design used at least 4 times and I'm only talking about within a small country town! Take away 'The Purple Florist' text and what does that card tell you? Not much!

A business card represents YOUR business and its corporate identity. So why would you use a template that's already been used 1,000+ times before?

Hire a professional designer

When it comes to a business card, get it done properly in the first place! A business card can serve as a powerful branding tool and allow people to quickly remember who you are, what you have to offer and what purpose your business serves.

"Your business card should look consistent with your other printed materials. Generic designs (like the above) will make your business card blend in with the crowd". (entrepreneur.com) Your card should reflect your business.

I’ve seen SO many typos on people’s business cards – I would never use a business who is okay with having a mistake on their card! It screams unprofessional to me. The beauty of hiring a professional is that they will proof your card for you AND they will ensure you proof it also. They have hours upon hours, (years upon years in my case), of experience designing cards and they KNOW what works/doesn’t work and can help direct you.

Keep it simple. I've seen many cards with so much information on there it hurts my brain and makes it impossible to read. Business name/logo, your name, title, phone, email and web are plenty! Have social media? Great! Use the icon! You don't need to spell out www.facebook.com/mybusinessname blah blah – in this digital age my 6yo could probably find your business based on the fact you included a simple Facebook icon on your card! Okay well, not quite, as he certainly doesn't have access to FB but what I'm saying is people are savvy enough to manage to connect that having the FB icon on your card means you are on FB and use the search function ;)

Same goes for 'www' – get rid of it people! It's redundant!! A quick check that your web page functions without the 'www' (most do!) and there you go, you can drop it. I also question why some need the words 'phone' or 'mobile' in front of a phone number. Pretty sure the fact it's numbers and looks like a phone number is enough to give that away. Sound cynical? Perhaps I am ;)

You'll probably hear me repeat this over and over in my blog posts but when it comes to choosing a designer we are not all made equally. There is a HUGE difference.

Simply, having a hammer does not make one a carpenter.

And the same goes for graphic designers. The digital age makes programs and imagery easy to come by but simply having access to the programs doesn't always mean a professional result. There are many around who claim the title but there's a huge difference in experience and training and this is what you pay for. And remember, you get what you pay for! I have personally had to correct many logos or files over the past 12 years. Clients who've paid for the logo or 'bought it online' (!) only to find out it's not high enough quality for professional print/they don't own the rights to use it, etc, etc.

Don't get caught out, use a professional and do it right the first time.