How to Choose a Business Card

It’s the worst when someone asks you for a business card and you don’t have any. But choosing what your business card looks like can be pretty tough. You could design your business card yourself, but there’s also a lot of places that have premade business card designs for you to use. While it’s standard for a business or brand to have business cards, bloggers, influencers, and content creators should carry business cards, too. You never know when it might come up in conversation, and giving people business cards is a great way to grow your network! Since I just rebranded, I’m definitely in the market for some new business cards. Using my design background, I chose five of my favorite designs from Basic Invite, a custom invitation and stationery sites that has many customizable business card designs to choose from. The designs I chose are great for creative business cards but could also be perfect for small business or personal business cards, too.

I decided to try all custom designs, although you can also upload your own design if you want. The five design samples (and the paper type I got them in) that I chose were the following, from left to right:

• Palm Plans Clear Business Card – Frosted
• Unique Florals Logo Business Card – Triple Thick Velvet
• Classic Photo Landscape Business Card – Premium Shimmer
• Bold Lines Clear Business Card – Clear
• Makeup Swatches Business Card – Triple Thick Matte

For each card, I’m going to let you guys know why I liked it, who it’s great for, and a bit about the actual card itself. I’ll also tell you a bit about all the paper options and other features you can find on Basic Invite.

Types of Paper

Colors

You can choose from 180 colors. That’s not quite as good as being able to put in your own color values but should be good enough as long as you’re not trying to match a specific brand color. Certain business cards also have the ability to print part of the design in foil. Basic Invite offers both flat foil and raised foil, which is pretty unique! There is gold foil, rose gold foil, and silver foil. I didn’t order any of my samples with foil, but I think it would be a fun way to make a business card stand out, maybe for business cards for students or something.

Palm Plans Clear Business Card

Why I like it

The palm leaves frame the name on the card quite nicely. The frosted background actually looks pretty luxe and the card was sturdy (the non-frosted clear cards were much flimsier). No flipping required with this card—all the information is on the front.

It’s great for

Creators (bonus points if you’re from somewhere tropical). Plant-related brands. Personal contact cards.

The first card I sampled was this cute palm leaf design on a frosted vinyl card. I was pleasantly surprised with the sturdiness of the card as well as how nice the frosted background looked. After putting my fingerprints all over it, you really couldn’t tell afterward, so I wouldn’t be too worried about these getting dirty. I think the clear, frosted look is fun and unique but also stands out immediately as something different. This was my favorite of the bunch, but it might not be the right fit if you have a lot of information to put on a card or need to include a logo.

Unique Florals Logo Business Card

Why I like it

The front of the card focuses on the logo. There’s a lot of real estate on the back of the card for information. A vertical business card stands out without being too flashy.

It’s great for

Small brands. Bloggers or influencers. Beauty brands or makeup artists.

I ordered this design on the Triple Thick Velvet paper because I wanted to test out the velvet coating. On all of my triple thick cards that I ordered, there seemed to be some cutting issues along the border of the card (you can see the raw white edge in my photos). I would just stick to regular card thickness anyways—these could be hard to store in a smaller wallet. The velvet coating was soft but probably not suede enough for the average person to notice. I would probably skip out for just the signature matte or something similar next time.

Classic Photo Landscape Business Card

Why I like it

A large feature image will capture attention right away. You could easily make multiple versions with different images. A great memory aid to match a face to a name. The back is entirely customizable.

It’s great for

Influencers. Photographers/Videographers. May even be good for hair salon business cards featuring some of their best work.

I ordered this design using one of my Instagram photos on the Premium Shimmer paper, which is supposed to be great for photographs. Unlike the velvet paper, the shimmer paper was definitely noticeable. You can see above that when you hold the card at an angle, the shimmer gets really bright. I think the shimmer paper would be great for a wedding photographer or similar, or an image with a lot of white. This was the only card that I struggled a bit to find the correct colors for the text on the back. With the 180 colors, it’s easy to come really close, but hard to get an exact match when working with a photograph.

Bold Lines Clear Business Card

Why I like it

The bold lines immediately command attention. It’s a little bit fun but still professionally acceptable. The clear background is unique and edgy.

It’s great for

Working professionals. Bloggers. Small, modern brands. Someone bold.

Okay, this was the only card that was sort of a fail for me. For some reason, most of my info did not print well on the clear card (a big difference from the frosted card that seemed to print perfectly). I also was a bit disappointed in the brightness of the text color—it seemed more of a light grey than the bold white I was hoping for. Out of curiosity, I tried to scratch off the ink on the card, but it stayed put. So, that’s a good thing! I also noticed that the clear cards seemed a lot more flimsy compared to all of the other cards I ordered. Even though the frosted cards are made from the same material, the clear card was much harder to pick up off of a flat surface and was a lot more bendy. It was a cool concept, but the final product just didn’t wow me.

Makeup Swatches Business Card

Why I like it

It’s fresh, it’s fun, and it already lets people know what kind of business your in before having to read any text. The two-side layout allows your name or your brand name to really shine on it’s own regardless of what side you’re on.

It’s great for

Makeup artists or brands. Other artists/creatives. Someone fun and girly.

I chose this sample design because I thought it was fun and perfectly fitting for an artsy influencer or beauty artist or something. I printed this one on the Triple Thick Matte. Like the Triple Thick Velvet, this one also had some cutting issues that you can see on the back of the card. For that reason, I would suggest against getting the triple thick weight cards! Other than that, the colors were really great on this card and the text was crisp and clear.

Final Thoughts

And those are the five business card designs I chose! I think when you choose a business card, it says a lot about your brand and even your personality. There are countless designs online to get you started, but in general, look for a card that will make you stand out (in a good way), leave an impression or way to remember you by, and that fits your brand (whether you actually are a business or it’s just your personal brand)! Hopefully looking at some of the ones I picked out will help you get a jumpstart on your own design. Right now, you can also save on your Basic Invite order by using the code 15FF51 to get 15% off of your order.

^{Note: This post was sponsored by Basic Invite. All opinions are 100% my own.}