How to Make a Lasting Impression with Creative Business Cards

I'm sure you've heard some variation of the phrase "first impressions are everything" and I definitely believe that to be true! Not only when it comes to how you dress when first meeting someone, but also your presence; the way you smile at someone, shake their hand, say hello. All of those little details add up when someone looks back on when they first met you, whether it's for an interview, a group project, or even for lunch. In the professional space, I find this to be of even greater importance!

Typically when you meet someone, you exchange business cards so they can learn a bit more about you and what you do. This can go one of two ways: your card can speak to your level of professionalism and detail with it's design and layout, or it can tell the viewer that you whipped up something in the wee hours of the morning because you were pressed for time. Of course, the first option is the type of business card we all want to have! Looking back on some business cards I designed for my portfolio when I graduated from FIDM, it's safe to say my style and design aesthetic has changed a lot! I have been meaning to design some creative business cards for my blog, because after being in the blogging space for 3 years I felt it was long overdue! When Basic Invite reached out to me and told me about how I could design my own creative business cards online, I was thrilled! 

My initial plan was to incorporate my blog logo into the design and choose a color story that revolved around that. Basic Invite offers 50+ templates that allow you to upload your own logo in both horizontal and portrait orientations! I played around with a few of these options for awhile, but wasn't totally loving how my logo looked within the templates; my logo is a bit long and I felt like it just wasn't working. Once I decided to move away from the idea of using my logo and look at the other templates, I instantly fell in love with at least 5 of the designs! I wanted to find something that was still cohesive with my overall brand aesthetic: classic, feminine and shades of blush pink. 

I chose a few designs to start with and one by one I customized how I wanted them to look. One of my favorite features of the design process was being able to choose from over 180 colors to customize specific elements of the card with an instant preview. There were at least 20 shades of pink that I could play around with to fit with my branding style! It was so fun to see each card design take on a completely different look just by changing the color of the font or background. Speaking of fonts, you also have the capability to select from multiple typefaces to suit your brand or business. 

I accidentally spent 3 hours on the site customizing a few different templates (I was seriously having so much fun!) and I finally decided on a beautiful painted wash design--I couldn't be happier with them! I love how the colors turned out and how the design fits with my brand image. I printed them on the signature matte paper which I feel has just the right amount of thickness and weight, but there are 6 other options you can choose from as well, including premium shimmer and luxe velvet! I also contemplated incorporating foil into some element of my business card, but I think I'll save that for our Christmas photo cards that I'll be designing pretty soon--can you believe it's almost that time of year again?! 

If you're wanting to give your brand or business a face lift with a new business card design, or maybe you want to get a jump start on your holiday cards, use promo code "15FF51" for 15% off your order! I can't wait to hand out my new business cards and have confidence knowing that I'm putting my best foot forward for my brand and my business. 

Thank you to Basic Invite for sponsoring this post.