Business Card Tips for Artists
(The following is a guest post by Miranda Aschenbrenner – creator of Learn to… Art!; Illustration by Jenny Lloyd.)
Most professionals agree that a business card is one of your most valuable marketing tools. It’s small, portable, relatively affordable and can be given to anyone and everyone you meet.
The trick, of course, is getting your business card to work for you.
Design
Some people will tel you that artists are not graphic designers and that you should hire someone to design your business cards for you. Others will say that as an artist you’re in the perfect position to design your own promotional material. My stance? It depends.
If you
- have access to a program like Photoshop, Gimp or Coreldraw;
- have some experience with said program;
- are comfortable with designing your own products;
- and have extra time to devote to the design process
by all means design your own business cards!
I design my cards myself for a variety of reasons: it’s inexpensive, it gives me complete control, and I enjoy it. As with anything, there is a learning curve. My business cards of several years ago definitely look less professional than those I have now, and in a few years I’ll probably look back and say the same thing!
If you’re hesitant or uncomfortable on the computer, you may want to look into different options.If you decide to hire out, make sure you work closely with your designer to get the look you want. Artist business cards are slightly different than other run-of-the-mill cards and need special considerations.
Graphics
Personally, I like to keep graphic elements to a minimum. Unlike other businesses, you don’t need any kind of logo or other designs. The most prominent graphic on your card should be your art. Let me emphasize: your art should be on your card! If there’s no art on your business card, you’ve done something wrong already!
Make sure you start with a good quality image, then build your other design elements around it. Your card should compliment and showcase your work, not compete with it.
I’m a bit of a minimalist when it comes to design. My advice is to not get too fancy; sometimes the simplest layouts are the most effective.
One option to showcase your work is to crop it to create a “detail” view. You can then use this detail as your background. Another option is to feature your art on one side of the card and have your information printed on the back.
If you’re looking for inspiration, check out these creative business card designs.
Essential Information
Remember that your business card is a pretty small space to work with. You don’t want to cram everything about yourself onto it. Instead, stick with the basic, essential info and include it in a way that is clear and logical. You don’t want people to have to search for anything.
The most important information is your name, phone number, e-mail address, website (if you have one), and possibly your mailing address.
Remember:
- keep fonts legible
- make sure your text stands out from the background
- use a big enough font size (no smaller than 10)
If people can’t read your business card, you’ve failed!
Tweak It
I have always found that my first design is always a bit flat and lifeless. The second design is always better! Don’t be afraid to move things around and try different colour combinations. If you need cards for an event, make sure you leave yourself enough time to tweak the design.
Printing
Once you’re perfected your design, you will need to decide if you want to print your cards yourself or have someone do them for you.
I’ve always printed my own cards. Here’s why:
- I can print small quantities of cards
- I can change my design frequently to reflect my latest work
- I can print multiple designs to feature different artworks
- I have more control over the process
To print business cards at home, you will need a decent printer. For paper, I recommend the business card paper you can get from almost any stationery store. The one I use is a heavy, white, card stock that easily snaps apart without any perforations. I’ve always had great experiences with this! It can even be printed on both sides.
Conclusion
Whether you design and print them yourself or have them done professionally, the purpose of your business card is to show peole what you do (your art), who you are (your name), and how they can contact you (your info). Include those elements, arrange them in a tasteful, legible, pleasing way, and you’re on the right track!
Special thanks to Miranda Aschenbrenner for the guest post, and to Jenny Lloyd for the artwork.
About Miranda Aschenbrenner: Miranda is a is an artist working at both ends of the spectrum. She specializes in realistic portrait art as well as geometric abstractions. Aside from painting and drawing, Miranda teaches lessons and workshops and also shares art and business tips on her blog Learn to…Art!
About Jenny Lloyd: Jenny has been working as a freelance illustrator since graduating from Falmouth College of Arts in 2004, and during that time has undertaken commissions for a wide range of international clients. She is currently based in Ireland and is represented by London-based agency Phosphorart.
Related Posts:
- Promotion 101 for Artists
- Email Marketing vs. Print Promotion for Artists
- Are Your Promo Materials Out of Date?
- How to Build an Effective Mailing List
- Creating Your Promotional Strategy
- 10 Rules of Effective Self-Promotion
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This is such an awesome post. I have been creating my own business cards for a few years now and in my opinion they have not been up to par.
Thanks for the tips, I will store them in my memory bank and keep coming back to make sure I got them right.
Glad you enjoyed it, Greg. Good luck with your design!
I figured since the name of my site is Doug Draws I could make a card in the shape of a pencil. I thought this would be a neat way to advertise my ability.
That’s really cool, Doug. I think it’s so great when artists get creative with their cards. It really helps people to remember you and want to hold on to your card.
Thanks again for sharing this with your readers, James!
Greg, I find that my designs improve with each business card. It also helps to look at other artist’s cards for ideas on how best to arrange the information you want to include.
Doug, creating cards in a unique shape is a great way to catch people’s attention. People will definitely remember a pencil shaped business card!
Thanks. That was the idea :)
Sorry, Thomas, those double first names play games with my brain! That’s not the first time I’ve done that. I once called a curator by David. His last name was Davidson, his first name was something completely different. Oops!
I just ordered new business cards this week. I featured the primary image from my website homepage on the front of the card with my name, tag line, and website. I put additional contact info and a list of the type of work I do on the back.
I really wanted to print locally, but it wasn’t cost effective for me this year. So I ended up going to GotPrint.com based on other illustrator’s recommendations.
I’m curious to see what quality come back!
Just got my new cards today…. and… they look great! I can officially recommend GotPrint.com. They look great, feel great, and were priced great.
Business card design & production? Yes it should show an example of your art. Just remember that you are an artist who makes artworks that clients buy. Golden rule delegate things like this to the paid expert to deliver. What you finally produce for yourself may be only, at best, second best. Meanwhile you just get on and paint, this is your job.
Unless you’re referring to the actual printing of the business card, I have to say that artists are more than capable of designing their own cards and preparing them for printing.
I am just about to start designing my business card and the tips above became handy :) Thanks