How to Make a Blogger Business Card in 5 Minutes (And Win 1000 free!)
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If you’d like to enter a draw to win one of 4 sets of 1000 free business cards from UPrinting.com, make sure you read down to the end of the post!
As bloggers we’re used to doing all our networking and promotion online. None of us are likely to be taking out billboard advertising deals any time soon, but a business card is a cheap and easy way to network in the real world as well.
Why not hand one over the next time your cousin asks about your “web thing” again? Or that co-worker with the techy friends? Or the talkative guy beside you on the bus?
They could become your next diehard reader, and you never know who they might pass the card on to.
Design Your Own Card in 5 Minutes
Just like designing your own default avatar, a business card is deceptively easy to create.
Basics of Print Design
Designing for print is different to designing for the web. And I don’t know a lot about designing for print… but thankfully Selene does!
Sadly, this is going to sound a little complicated at first, but it’s important and I’ve made up a template file at the end for you to use.
I’ll paraphrase the most important parts of Selene’s advice here, but read her post for a full explanation and an in-depth review of UPrinting’s service.
- Work in CMYK, not RGB color. (One of the settings in the File > New window of Photoshop)
- High resolution. 300 pixels per inch, not 72. (Another setting on the New Document page)
- “Bleed” your background past where it should end by 0.125 inches. Sometimes the card moves a little during printing, which would give you white lines along your borders (Read What Is Printing Bleed? to hear the full explanation).
- Use a “safe margin” of 0.125 inches inside your card’s borders. Do not put any content in this area, incase it’s cut off by the card moving during printing.
Here’s a diagram (Not to scale!) to help make the bleeding and safe margins clearer:
If it’s all still confusing, I’ve made a PSD template of a standard 3.5 x 2 inch card. Just open it up in Photoshop, and go to View > Show > Guides to make sure the guides are shown. You’ll see that the margins have been marked out for you now (And the guidelines won’t be printed).
Now, to design our card!
Step 1 – The Front
- Take the main color of your blog (e.g. Do you have a colored background or header?) and fill the background with it.
- Place the logo from your blog into the center of the card. You may need to remake the logo to make it large enough for printing.
- Place your blog’s title and slogan beneath the logo, and move the logo up accordingly. You can use the same fonts and styling that you do in your blog header.
- Use the Eyedropper Tool to select your card’s background color. Now press the “x” key to swap your Foreground and Background colors over, and select your card’s background color once again. Then change the Foreground color to a lighter variant of what it currently is.
Use the Gradient Tool, and choose a Radial Gradient with Foreground to Background as the fill.
Click and drag a gradient out from behind the center of your logo.
That’s the front of the card all done.
Step 2 – The Back
- Select a color that is very different to what the front’s background color was. For me, this meant the green from the logo. Fill the background with the color.
- Place all of your contact information into the lower left corner of the card. You can style it however you like, but remember to keep the content out of the safe margin!
- Take your logo again, but zoom in on it even further this time and place it in the upper right corner, so that part of the logo is cut off.
- Place the logo behind the text and lower its visibility so that the text is easily readable, and stands out more than your logo. The logo is just a way of decorating the background, it’s not meant to draw attention this time. You may need to recolor your logo to suit your background more.
And that’s that. You now have a clean, distinctive business card ready to be printed.
Win 1000 Free Business Cards!
UPrinting.com have kindly offered to give away 1000 business cards to each of 4 readers on this site (And 1000 for me too, thanks guys!).
You can choose from any of their options, including custom sizes and your choice of stock (There’s even an eco-friendly option if you’re interested!).
To enter the competition, just leave a comment here with a link to a business card photo that you think looks great (Can be for any anything, not necessarily a blogger!).
I’ll pick out 4 random winners on Monday and get in touch. If you live in the US or Canada, it’s all completely free. Sadly however, if you live outside, you’ll have to pay for the postage (But the cards are still free).
Hopefully by the end, we’ll have some great business card inspiration in the comments! Good luck everyone!
PS – Brian Yerkes’ Business Cards of Bloggers list is a good place to start. I love Robert F Russo’s!
Enjoy this post? You should follow me on Twitter!
About the Author
Michael Martin
Michael Martin is the founder of Pro Blog Design. He works as a freelance web designer, loves WordPress, and has an unhealthy addiction to smilies.
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Very good!
I have to get those printed, unfortunately I’m broke these days: http://www.soulvisual.com/blog/images/fraiscard.png
I’ll be very happy to win!
Nice quick and easy tutorial, in my experience u-printing offers a nice product and friendly customer service, I wish all of the entrants the best of luck.Plastic Card
That’s a nice looking card! Have you have any of them printed?
Nice quick and easy tutorial, in my experience u-printing offers a nice product and friendly customer service, I wish all of the entrants the best of luck.
Thanks for the quick ‘n simple, yet effective design idea. Something I still haven’t done yet for my own video business.
Here’s a link to another card I liked:
http://flickr.com/photos/handcolored/117531510/
Hey Michael,
Sure, what the heck. :) Sounds like fun… Nothing to loose! (I am pretty glad I subscribe or I would have no idea about this!)
–half hour later–
Okay, I threw something together. Not sure how exactly you wanted them, but are two JPEGs of the front and back (I always save PSDs, too): http://jdh23.com/business_card/index.html The actual JPEGs are huge, so I resized them with CSS so they fit better on the page.
Oh, and the gap on the right of the back side is “writing area”–I always tend to need to write something down on the cards I have handed out before, and since I have something on the back, I have an area predefined. :)
Thanks for this “competition”– it is pretty sweet.
-JD Hartley
Nice looking cards Michael, – I’m a fan of the business cards pictured here: http://tinyurl.com/5gujtq . You can see the design process for the logo/cards at http://tinyurl.com/6zzsuz (not my design firm, but they do great work).
Nice post Michael.
Oh, and here’s an interesting business card photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dailypoetics/495139596/in/set-72057594104389710/ No, it’s not one of those cool plastic or laser-cut metal ones, but it grabs your attention.
really good basic explanation :)) thanks :)
Great tutorial… thanks.
I really love the use of florals in this card:
http://faveup.com/images/design-images/Depth-cjfrxb.jpg?1210731619
Here is a card that matches my personality, plus it is functional for the person who has it:
http://flickr.com/photos/30969731@N04/2926935774/
Sounds simple enough to do. http://randaclay.com/inspiration/does-a-blogger-need-a-business-card/
Love your cards. Simple but yet professional. Another example of this is http://farm1.static.flickr.com/194/491964966_5fed8e58b7.jpg?v=0
Great article again! I’ve always intended on looking into business cards, and I’ve found this very useful! Here’s a card that I think that looks great: http://flickr.com/photos/simplebitsdan/345499451/
Just ONE link! There are so many creative and nice business cards around! But these are probably my favourites so far:
http://www.quicksprout.com/images/businesscards/blood.jpg
http://www.andybudd.com/archives/images/business-cards.jpg (so environment-friendly-looking) :D
This one popped up at me:
http://www.brianyerkes.com/graphics/cards/robert-fusso.gif
First of all, it’s vertical, so that stands out right away. I think the narrow font takes advantage of that orientation, and the colors are simple but smart.
Thanks, Jonathan! Your kind words are appreciated. (Sorry I’m just now getting to this blog … a bit late, I know!)
I live outside US/Canada, so something tells me that this offer would cost me more to join than to not do so :)
The front of your card (with the dark background) looks beautiful, but at least to me, the rear of the card, with the black text on green background doesn’t look good. Maybe it is just me…
David Airey’s cards are really nice. Very clean and simple: http://www.davidairey.com/personal-business-card/
And… thanks Linette for linking to my cards! I need new ones as I’ve moved and I made the mistake of putting my address on my old ones.
How about this one?
http://www.problogdesign.com/advertising/how-to-make-a-blogger-business-card-in-5-minutes-and-win-1000-free/
:D
Michael, thanks so much for the link! I’m glad I could help out with the mini-how to!
That’s great that uprinting.com gave you some cards to giveaway – good luck to everyone (obviously I don’t need them as I just got my own, LOL)
Here are two that I currently use but would really like to get the top one printed on some Pearl paper, or something with glitter embedded in the paper: http://www.mikepanic.com/new-business-card-designs/
As Mitch Hedberg, here’s to hoping I’m soon winning a few free lunches. :D
I’m a fan of the clean and semi-plain designs. Nothing too crazy, just something like this: http://faveup.com/design/3039 Enough color to make it not too boring, but not overdone like some of the “unique” cards you see these days.
I think this business card is earth friendly, simple and inspiring! http://www.inhabitat.com/wp-content/uploads/anotherbloomindesigner.jpg
First, I’d like to say that the idea of using the dark background with light content on one side then flipping the color for the back. A great way to carry the theme/feel of the card from front to back. (I should suggest that to my department)
Anyway, I got a bunch of cards I’ve found that are awesome, but this one might just be my favorite do to the amount I laughed when I saw it:
http://creativebits.org/files/brutallyhonest.jpg
If you’re interested, here’s a couple links that contain a plethora of über creative business cards.
http://creativebits.org/cool_business_card_designs
http://creativebits.org/cool_business_card_designs_part_2
Great idea. Of course, there are only a select few (technical people) who will ever actually be justified in receiving your card. Although a rare occurrance (unless you work in Silicon Valley) – you don’t want to miss a key opportunity so having a few cards in the wallet is an advantage.
I really like this design http://www.flickr.com/photos/dailypoetics/2373706348/in/set-72057594104389710/ – its so simple
Jeremy,
That’s a great looking card! Love the clean design.
Jeremy,
Nope, haven’t had them printed yet. Quite excited to see how they’ll come out!
iChris,
Haha, that card made me laugh. :D
JD,
The writing space is a great idea. I’ve heard of people making notes on business cards before. Having room specifically for that would go down very well with them!
George,
I loved that design process link. Bookmarked it for the future. They’ve very thorough in their brainstorming and the samples looked great! :)
Redwall,
That one makes me kind of thirsty! Looks great though :D
Dainis,
Welcome!
MJ,
The color reversal there is a really nice effect! :)
Dan,
Looks like a handy card to have! Great idea. :D
Linette,
It is! And I can guess from your link that you’re sold on the idea of having them as well. :D
David,
Those look great. The rounded corners really add to it. I didn’t think they’d suit my design very much, but they look great there! :D
Will,
I’d never seen the Simplebits card before! Thanks for that. Letterpress cards would be a whole new ball game. I’ll have to look into that sometime.
Pelf,
Hehe – That’s half the fun of it for me! Forcing everyone to choose their favorite! ;) . The blood one scares me a little, but it’s an ingenious idea nonetheless!
Jonathan,
That’s the one that jumped out at me most as well. Great minds! ;)
Sumesh,
You could well be right. I wanted to use a color that contrasted a lot with the front. It’s not as safe an option as sticking with all one color would be, but that was the idea.
Randa,
I love those cards as well! Even the fact that just one corner is rounded is a noticeable touch.
Joshua,
Haha – That earns you 2 entries! ;)
Selene,
You wrote a great post, thanks for teaching us all this! :D
Mike,
Can’t get them loaded at the minute, sorry. I’ll check back again later.
Goob,
They have a good logo, but I’d be worried about that card appearing too plain. There are so many white business cards. Nothing wrong with white, it just needs a little distinguishment.
Linda,
Those are fantastic. Even the photo made me smile! :D
Jordan,
Thanks! And thanks for the links. I’d seen the first one but didn’t realise there was a part 2! That card made me laugh as well. They’re very honest. :D
Schwabe,
That depends on your blog topic really. Like for me; anyone can become a blogger these days. They don’t have to be technical people, so I could hand out cards to just about anyone. :)
LetrOdectUS,
The stock used there looks interesting! I wonder what it is exactly. :)
Nice and straight to the point. I’ve seen some rather cool cards over on http://creativebits.org/cool_business_card_designs.
i’d love a plastic business card like these.. so cool http://www.andreoni.com/plasticcardsamples1.htm
i love smoe of the others posted above as well. Anything unique and stands out works for me :)
i hope i’m chosen as a lucky winner!!
Nice article – great place for printing is http://www.moo.com and http://www.temcoau.com
Thanks for the cool tutorial!
I love these business cards:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27781573@N03/2923130998/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/miss_thundercat/2801039108/
Look very great and fabulous. Its an easy way to design blog business card with elegant look. Business card should be very attractive and cool since its a very important marketing tool to uplift your business.
Ahh I can’t believe I missed this article.
I made my blogger name card last year, and now I have 3 blogger name cards for 3 of my blogs. :)
I’d like to add that whether you need margin or not, really depends on the people printing as well. In my case, my card printer doesn’t require such margins.
While my goldfries.com card is similar to that in your example, my buurps.com card was in portrait angle while mustgolah.com card (oh wait, it’s my project but I haven’t printed mine. Did that for my wife who’s handling the project) it was landscape (or call it horizontal if you may) but of a lesser height.
Would you be interested to view the card design? :D
Here’s what I wrote nearly a year ago – http://www.goldfries.com/websites-blogging/bloggers-with-business-card/
The cards look great Goldfries! I really don’t know enough about print design to comment much on the margins. This was a first for me, but UPrinting’s site itself suggested using them, so it was safest to stick with Selene’s advice for me I think. :)
It’s actually a good practice to have margin, as you mentioned – safest – which I whole heartedly agree. :D
While the company that did my prints didn’t require margin, they did advise that it is still better to have, just in case the cutting goes off. I find this is true, especially if the card was colored or have patterns to the edges.
its the website is good banget, its the appearance is also good, successful always :)
Hey, Michael. I just noticed this blog and your note that you loved my business card. Thanks for the mention. It is truly appreciated.
One thing that works real well when it comes to making your business card stand out and be a more effective marketing tool is to put some kind of offer on the back that will draw people to your website. This could be something as simple as a free list of the Top 10 Things they can do to save, or to avoid common mistakes, etc. Obviously, it would be something related to the theme of your website and you have given them an intriguing reason to visit.
It is also important that type intended to be black (i.e. 100% Black (K), 0% Cyan(C), Magenta (M) & Yellow (Y)) be truly 100% K only–otherwise it can be difficult to register during a non-composite printing process commonly employed by commercial printers. This can result in “fuzzy” type. To do this, double-click the foreground color in PSD’s tool palette and manually set the CMYK values.
Also, if the business card has a background color other than solid white (0% CMYK) set the Blending Mode of the layer containing 100% K type to multiply (This in effect mimics a printing process known as overprinting). It will eliminate the “white hallows” that often appear around type due to poor registration.
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I liked the business cards shown above in your pics. They were very unique and that makes them stand out in a crowded bulletin board and a conversation piece!
You have very nice business card designs. I order mine from Vistaprint and they’re just right for my business. I might have to rethink the design though. Thanks for sharing this information.
nice business card tutorial.
It is vey simple to make a custom-made business card. With the use of simple a design, you will be able to make a ideal card that can be scattered.
sounds great. also i have a plastic card design website:www.plasticcardonline.com/design/design.html
I think the easiest way would be to use photoshop. I find it interesting because it lets you do so much without getting into the fuss of technology
What confuses me is why everyone is so stuck with traditional ways of doing it. Why cant you think outta box
Hopefully by the end, we’ll have some great business card inspiration in the comments! Anyway, I got a bunch of cards I’ve found that are awesome, but this one might just be my favorite do to the amount I laughed when I saw it:
http://www.onlinecardprint.com
lease contact me soon.
Good luck everyone!
Excellent Blog i enjoyed reading and hope to have a blog like this shortly , also other peoples posts are entertaining to read. Keep them coming
Maybe I can try this kind of business card for my football coach. He has no ideea about this stuff
Hopefully by the end, we’ll have some great business card inspiration in the comments! Anyway, I got a bunch of cards I’ve found that are awesome, but this one might just be my favorite do to the amount I laughed when I saw it:
http://www.plasticbusinesscard4you.com
lease contact me soon.
Good luck everyone!
Thanks for the info,,, I love it
Helpful information ,thank you for sharing!
Business cards are so important when it comes to promote yourself on other people. A well designed and printed business card can impress and make people take notice and remember you . A badly designed or printed card can leave a bad impression or even worse be simply forgotten. so it’s important to design a card which is unique and it should stands out from the competitors card. realtors business cards
It seems like an educational blog which always some new information to visitors and Enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you blog post.