How to make a business card: size, layout and print

Step 1

What to put on the card

A business card isn't a resume. Its job is to remind people who you are and give them a way to reach you. Write the text in a plain document and cut ruthlessly:

• •first and last name, the way people will search for you;
• •role or what you do: "UI/UX designer", "illustrator", not a list of every skill;
• •one or two main contacts, for example phone and email, or Telegram; more contacts means more noise;
• •a portfolio link, as a short address or a QR code;
• •a logo or mark if there's a brand; for a personal card, a well-set name is enough.

💡 Ask yourself about each line: "will someone contact me through this?" If not, the line can go.

Step 2

Size and orientation

There's no single international business card size; it's a print-industry convention. According to Wikipedia, 90 × 50 mm is common in Ukraine and many Eastern European countries, 85 × 55 mm in most of Western Europe and 3.5 × 2 inches (about 89 × 51 mm) in the US. So always take the size and template from the print shop you'll use.

• •landscape: the familiar choice; name and contacts read easily in lines;
• •portrait: stands out among others but needs more careful composition;
• •double-sided: one side for contacts, the other for the brand;
• •safe area: keep text away from the edge; get the exact margin and bleed from the print shop.

💡 A business card is close to the size of a bank card (85.6 × 54 mm). Print the layout at 100% scale and hold a card next to it: you'll see at once how small your text really is.

Step 3

Hierarchy and grid

Visual hierarchy is the order in which the eye notices elements. On a business card it's almost always the same: name → role → contacts. Nielsen Norman Group recommends sticking to three sizes, and on a card that's more than enough. The proximity principle handles the rest: keep related things together and separate different things with space.

• •name and role are one group, contacts another; leave more space between groups than inside them;
• •align everything to one or two lines: left edge or center, but don't mix them;
• •leave empty space: a card with room to breathe looks more expensive than a crowded one;
• •don't blow up the logo: it signs the card, it doesn't replace the contacts.

💡 Make three versions with the same text: left-aligned, centered and with contacts at the bottom. Comparing them side by side shows what works faster than polishing one.

Step 4

Fonts, colors and a QR code

On a tiny format every detail shows, so keep it simple.

• •fonts: one, two at most, with Cyrillic support; separate levels by size and weight;
• •small text: thin weights and decorative fonts often "disappear" in print on a business card; check on a printout at actual size;
• •contrast: WCAG requires at least 4.5:1 for normal text; with small contact details on a card, aim higher;
• •palette: a brand color as an accent or as the background of the back, not on all the text;
• •QR code: it can open your portfolio or carry a contact in vCard format, the IETF standard for exchanging contacts; leave an empty margin of at least four modules (the code's smallest squares) around it.

Step 5

Print preparation and testing

Business cards are printed in batches, so a typo in a phone number can't be fixed afterwards. Before printing:

• •check every letter and digit in the contacts; better still, ask someone else to read them aloud;
• •get a template from the print shop with the size, bleed and safe area; extend the background into the bleed;
• •export a print PDF: in Canva, for example, PDF Print is 300 dpi with bleed and crop marks, and the CMYK color profile isn't available on the free plan;
• •scan the QR code from a printout with several phones;
• •decide on paper and finish: weight, matte or gloss, rounded corners; each changes the look and the price, so choose deliberately.

💡 Print the card on a regular printer, cut it out with scissors and place it next to a few other people's cards. If yours is the one you'd pick up first and the contacts read effortlessly, order the batch. Before that, show the layout in the community.