The 10 Worst Business Card Mistakes

These days, business cards are a must-have for any company. Make sure your business card sends the right 

essage by avoiding these common mistakes:

1. Poor quality images or graphics

When designing a business card, keep in mind that what you see on the computer screen won’t necessarily translate to the card once it’s printed. If you’re using photographs, a good rule of thumb is to make sure they are at least 300 dpi. If you are using a logo, ensuring that it’s vector-based will make it easy to scale it up or down without compromising the quality.

2. Using your own picture

This is not always a mistake, but be sure to exercise caution when picking out your photo. Using a silly picture might score you some points, but also runs the risk of confusing or alienating potential clients. Try gathering some objective opinions on your selected photo before having a batch of business cards printed up.

3. Over-the-top shapes/sizes

Sometimes, unusually shaped or sized business cards can do wonders for helping your business stand out. However, remember that your card still needs to be able to be stored and carried around in a wallet, pocket or purse. If not, though the card might be admired at first, it’s likely to be discarded.

4. Too much white space

Simple, minimalistic business cards can send a positive message about your company. However, if the card has too much white space, it runs the risk of being used as a piece of scrap paper in a rushed moment. Try to strike a balance so that your design commands attention.

5. Cluttered design

While too much white space can be a bad thing, so can a cluttered design. Don’t try to include so much information that potential clients are overwhelmed—it should be easy to locate the essential information (name, phone number, email address) at a quick glance. If not, scale down your design until it is easy to read.

6. Poor grammar

Nothing tarnishes a company’s professional image like the presence of easy-to-avoid grammatical errors. Once you’ve finished your business card design, proofread it several times. Ask a few coworkers to look over it, too—sometimes a fresh pair of eyes will catch a mistake you’ve skipped over.

7. Cheap cards

Low-quality business cards are less durable and more likely to be discarded. Not only that, but customers will judge your business based partly on the material you’ve used.

8. Handwritten changes

It happens all too often: you’ve just printed up a new batch of business cards, and then ownership switches hands or the company gets a new phone number. It can be tempting to change this information on your existing business cards using any number of methods, but no matter what, this will likely make your cards (and you) look cheap.

9. Unnecessary photographs

Using your own photograph can sometimes be the best choice, especially if you’re trying to establish a personal feel. However, including other types of photos of products or the business itself is usually unnecessary and runs the additional risk of turning out poorly.

10. Unique, but cheap

In general, don’t be afraid to seek out unusual business card ideas, but make sure whatever you choose is still high-quality. In one notable circumstance, a company stamped the necessary information onto Post-Its for its customers. While this is a unique idea, the “cards” were likely lost before the end of the day.