Do you know that a large percentage of business cards handed out to people can be thrown away within a few weeks or even worse, a few days? When you’re working on the business card design for your company, you might want to ask yourself why this is happening. You wonder if it’s because of the poor design, low-quality print, or wrong choice of size.
In this article, we will focus on improving the design aspect of business cards by providing you with the top business card design trends that will take over 2018.
1. Bold typeface
This popular trend can easily be recognized by big and bold typeface of the logo being used on one side of the card. It usually sits on a single, solid color background and takes a big space of the card. Its key purpose is, of course, to draw attention to the company logo and slogan.
This year, more designers are picking bold typeface because it can create a unique and memorable look. As long as the trend comes with the right concept, it can give a competitive edge for your card. Since there’s already a bold typeface on the card’s design, other elements should be kept to a minimum. Otherwise, different design elements will fight with each other and create a messy look.
3. Die-cut shape
Instead of using the traditional rectangular shape of 3.5 x 2 inches, a die-cut shaped card goes out of this standard size to impress the recipients. Depending on your business industry, it can be anything from the die-cut of a leaf if you’re in organic products, to a t-shirt or tie if your business is in garment and textile. There’re not any standards for this trend; the designers might go out of the box to create a unique shape. That said, when you brief them, try to be as clear and specific as possible.
This innovative design style can certainly stand you out from the crowd and leaves a lasting impact on your prospects. In addition, it’s very memorable as your recipients can immediately relate your card to your company just after the first glance. Achieving a good balance between being creative and practical in terms of delivering key information of a business card is important.
2. Minimal design
True to its name, business cards which are grouped under minimal design are always clean and simple. Modern font types, clear space between different design elements, limited colors are basic characteristics of this style. It’s very likely that designers don’t use flowery fonts or fancy details and decorations. This is to avoid diverting viewers’ attention away from key information.
The minimal-designed business card serves it most basic purpose: to inform the recipients of the necessary company’s information such as the name, contact details, email address, phone number, website address, etc. This might sound like a boring design. But with the right choice of typeface and business card template, designers can achieve a sophisticated, premium look by keeping their card minimalist.
4. Painted-edge design
This is also called colored-edge or edge-finishing design trend which has a line of color on the rim (the edge) of the card. This is simply an add-on feature so that it makes your business card print more stylish and thereby stand out from your competitors.
It might sound a bit unbelievable. You might be thinking “it’s just a small dash of color, it can’t create such a difference”. Actually, it can add character and energy to your card more than you might even think of. The reason is the chosen colors (or Pantone codes) for the edge, which must definitely be aligned with the key brands’ colors. Therefore, painted-edge business cards enhance your brand voice in a subtle yet professional way.
5. Interactive card design
As its name suggests, interactive cards give the recipients something to explore rather than just the basic information about the company. In terms of recipes or specifications of the design, this trend is somewhat close to the die-cut shaped one because it doesn’t have a specific recipe to follow. So, to create interaction with the recipients, brief your designers carefully and then let them use their creativity.
For example, if you’re a personal yoga instructor, your business card can be in the rectangular shape like any others. However, its material shouldn’t be paper, but PVC or recycled rubber which resembles the material of a real yoga mat. Upon receiving your card, your prospects can hardly resist to roll it. By offering your recipients a fun and enjoyable interaction, your card will certainly have a much higher chance to stay with them rather than being thrown in the dustbin.
In like manner, you can turn your card into a thumb drive (a USB stick). Key information about your company is on it, but it also helps your customers and partners save their data. Unlike any other traditional cards, this is a double-function card. Nobody would want to throw away such a useful card.
Interaction might come from many elements: a unique type of material, an unconventional shape, a clever die-cut, an embossed illustration. The creative minds do not have their limitations. However, business owners need to make sure that it doesn’t take too much time for your customers to figure out how to interact with your card. Challenging your card recipients by making them play around with it just to get your contact information might be a double-edged sword.
Conclusion
Regardless of how interesting or innovative your business card design is, it needs to play its most important role. That is to provide your customers with your contact information. Otherwise, it will find its way to the dustbin just as fast as handing it out to people out there. Besides, your card needs to reflect your brand characters as it’s the first thing you get to give your potential customers, business partners in your first meeting.
We hope that our article is helpful. Leave your comment below if you have any questions. Thank you for reading!