Everyone wants a stylish business card.  Prospective employees are looking to leave an impact on their potential employers, and sometimes we go overboard.  A bad business card is a bad business card, and we can over design just as much as we can under do it.  As you sit down to design your card, please keep these things in mind.  Next time you meet a potential employer, you will thank yourself.

Avoid a Cluttered Business Card

If it isn’t contact info, it probably doesn’t belong.  Some people will attempt to place selling points about themselves, but this can quickly lead to an over influx of information on your business card.  If you must list a strong point or tag line, keep it to one line.  Use the separator bar “|” or [shift+\] to separate each independent thought.

Use Readable Fonts on Your Business Card

The tendency of designers to get too fancy with their font is one stylish business card pitfall.  Lots of things can destroy the readability of the card, if the font is too small, or if you bold something the letters may be too blocky.  Remember that the more effects you apply to your text, the busier your layout gets.

Don’t Over Simplify Your Business Card Design

Beginners have a tendency to place things front and center, believing this to be a clean design technique, when in fact it’s just outdated.  Not all of your text needs to be shifted into unusual positions, but don’t be afraid to explore the space you are dealing with.  Try out your text in a corner, or cascading vertically.  Through experimentation, you can come up with a good business card design by accident!

Don’t Do it Yourself

Printing from the DIY business card paper is almost always a bad idea.  The perforation lines alone should be enough to deter most people.  If the card doesn’t look cleanly cut, and there are ink smudges all over it from your home printer, you are sending the message that you are sloppy to your potential employer.  The one time you should spend money on yourself is your business card.  Get it done right!

Avoid Unusual Sizes and Shapes

Though you may have seen a cool rounded or die cut business card on the net, if you don’t conceptualize the design you might end up paying for an accent that doesn’t add value to the card.  A die cut card says that you are just a little bit different from everyone else, and the design you place on that card adds or subtracts from that.  There’s nothing worse than an overly clever cut card that can’t fit in someone’s wallet or is shaped in such a way that prevents easy pocketing.

The Business Card is not a Resume

Think about the goals of your business card.  Would you bring a resume with you to a dinner party?  If you are trying to establish contact and make conversation, the business cards you carry should expand on that.  If you are a jack of all trades and possess many skills, try carrying different cards for different situations.  Paying a little bit extra to get the right business card for the right occasion is worth it once you are placed in the job you want.

Pick the Right Paper for the Business Card

A 14 point gloss coated cardstock isn’t going to accept pen very well.  Think about this before you are in a situation where your potential employer is attempting to take notes on you only to find that he or she cannot write on your card.  Also be sure the paper isn’t terrible quality, the last thing you need is for your potential employer to punch his or her pen through a flimsy paper business card.

Contact and Other Information

If you have your own website, you should have an email address from that domain.  If you are in an office, or have a cell phone dedicated to business, list those numbers.  You want the call, so make the contact information point to a place where you will be able to answer it.

A good business card can lead you to exciting opportunities in the field you apply for, but a bad business card can shut the door as quickly as it was opened.  These 8 simple tips will help you avoid the pitfalls of the over stylized business card.