Make Business Cards on Your Computer

Make your own business cards with an existing logo

I've made business cards about every way you can except scribbling my number on a piece of paper! Actually, I've done that too, but it wasn't business. One of the first business cards I made for myself was on Microsoft Publisher. They have some nice templates for business cards, and I even liked one of their logos. On Publisher you can just open the template, type in the information where indicated, replace visuals, put your cursor on corners of things and pull them out to make them bigger or push them back to make them smaller. You can change the colors and then change them back again if you want. They have color schemes you can choose from with a whole palette of coordinating colors, or you can create your own. It really is fun to play around and see what you can come up with. (And I'm just going to dangle that preposition"with," so there.)

Print cards on your home printer
I kept a supply of the Avery business card perforated sheets that Publisher works with, and whenever I ran out of cards I would just print out a sheet and pull the cards apart. I found Avery had a slightly more expensive business card product that separated into cleaner edges. I bought them in ivory or cream rather than stark white, so the cards would look more "Printed." Well,I outgrew those when I started seeing the logo I was using showing up everywhere, on yard signs, powerpoint presentations and other stuff.

Design your own logo for your business cards
For my next business cards, I designed my own logo, just by using a certain type font, and putting two of the letters in a different color from the others. I added bars of color behind the company name, and inserted a background I found somewhere, recolorized and distorted a little. Suddenly, I had an all new original logo and business card. I created this one on Adobe Illustrator, with a little help from Adobe Photoshop. But, except for colorizing the background in Photoshop, and squeezing the letters of the text together in Illustrator, it could have been designed in Microsoft Publisher too.
Send your business cards to an online printer

This time though, I decided to graduate to an online printer instead of printing the cards myself. I was always getting emails from VistaPrint offering incredibly low rates, and sometimes even free business cards. So they walked me through uploading my design, nd I spent a little extra on a glossy finish. Woohoo, I thought they looked great. (see pictures.)

Business cards for Imaginary businesses
But back to Publisher. Just for fun, I made some imaginary business cards on Publisher and uploaded them here to show how easy it is. I've also done brochures with Publisher. It's when I try to have them professionally printed that I run into problems with Publisher. The color settings were not right for professional printing, and the type can't be manipulated very well. (Of course new versions of Publisher may have all the problems ironed out. I was using the 2002 version.)

Make business cards in Adobe Illustrator
Since then, in my business, I've mostly done business cards in Illustrator, and had them printed online at VistaPrint and saved my clients some money. I've had the matching folders and and brochures printed on VistaPrint, and other online printers too. I've also paid professional designers to design logos and business cards for some "high image" clients. It just depends on the budget they have, and the business they're in. Sometimes it's something simple I can do myself, sometimes it takes a "real" designer, sometimes I can find a design I really like online. You can find lots of gorgeous designs for a realtor, for example, but not for a vending machine company.

Use business card templates online
A new way to make professional looking cards in a hurry is to use predesigned cards on Vista Print. They have photos to choose from, and color schemes. A friend who was starting her own home staging business needed cards fast. We found a design on VistaPrint's site that we loved, and I adapted it for her, changing the fonts, etc. The result is very professional and expensive looking. To think it was all done on the computer, ordered on the computer, paid for on the computer, and the cards were delivered in a few days is absolutely amazing.
Business cards back in the day

Years ago when I started in advertising, getting new "corporate identity" materials was a very big deal for clients. You had meetings to discuss mission and "feel", you hired a designer to create a logo, then a layout artist came up with the layout for each piece: the business card, the letterhead, the presentation folders, the brochures, etc. Some designs required original photography which was very expensive and time consuming. Then we would send the text out to a type house and wait for the type to be set and come back. Then a paste-up artist would put it all together according to the layout: the logo, the picture, the text. Off it would go to the printer, and then we would wait for the proof to come back. If there were mistakes, then we would have to wait for a corrected proof. Finally, when everything was signed off on, the proof would go back to the printer and we would wait for the finished product. That's why nobody ever wanted to change their business cards, much less the logo on their trucks. The time line could be as much as two months.

Now that everything is digital, you can change it all in a week on your computer. Sometimes in 3 days!

I'm about ready to redesign my logo again. But what about the 1000 blue business cards I have left? Guess I could use them to wallpaper the office.

It won't be hard to tell which business cards here are for imaginary businesses. Leave me a comment and tell me which ones you think they are.

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