How to design a Plastic Business Card

Below you will find hints and tips on how to design stunning Plastic Business Cards.

How to create a stunning Plastic Business Card design

A plastic business card is often the first physical impression someone has of your business. Get it right and it reinforces your brand, feels premium in the hand, and gets kept rather than binned. Get it wrong and it reflects poorly on you before you've even had a conversation.

Here's a practical guide to designing an effective plastic business card — covering branding, layout, and the print-specific requirements that catch people out.

Understand Your Brand Identity

Before opening any design software, be clear on your brand. Your business card should be consistent with your website, signage, and other marketing materials — same colours, same fonts, same overall feel. A card that looks disconnected from your other branding undermines both.

Think about the impression you want to create. A solicitor's card should feel different to a photographer's card. Let your industry and personality guide the design choices rather than just copying what everyone else in your sector does.

Size and Layout

Standard plastic business cards are 85.6mm × 54mm — the same as a credit card. This is the CR80 format and is what we print as standard. It fits neatly in wallets and cardholders, which matters more than people realise — a card that doesn't fit gets left behind.

Decide early whether you want a landscape or portrait layout. Portrait cards are less common and can stand out for the right type of business. Whatever orientation you choose, make sure the hierarchy of information is logical: your name and company should be the first thing the eye lands on, with contact details secondary.

What to Include

Keep it to the essentials. A cluttered card is harder to read and looks less professional than a clean, well-spaced one. Typically you need:

• Your name and job title
• Company name and logo
• Phone number
• Email address
• Website

If you're tempted to add more, ask yourself whether it genuinely helps the person reading it or just fills space. A QR code linking to your website or LinkedIn profile can replace several lines of text and looks modern. Any overflow information works well on the back of the card.

Typography

Use no more than two fonts. A stronger, more distinctive font for your name or company, and a clean, readable font for contact details. Sans-serif fonts reproduce well at small sizes on plastic cards and are generally the safer choice for body text.

Keep body text no smaller than 6pt. Anything smaller becomes difficult to read, particularly on glossy cards under certain lighting. Test your design at 100% print size before committing — what looks fine on a large monitor can be uncomfortably small in print.

Important: before supplying your artwork, outline all fonts (also called "converting to curves"). If we don't have your font installed, text may reflow or be substituted. Outlining eliminates this risk entirely.

Colour

Use your brand colours consistently. Ensure strong contrast between text and background — light on dark or dark on light. Avoid placing small text over busy or gradient backgrounds where legibility suffers.

Important: supply all artwork in CMYK colour mode, not RGB. RGB is for screens; CMYK is for print. Colours that look vivid on screen in RGB can shift noticeably when converted for print. Set your document to CMYK from the start in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or InDesign. See our CMYK guide for more detail.

Logo

Your logo should be supplied as a vector file (AI, EPS, or PDF) rather than a JPEG or PNG where possible. Vector logos stay sharp at any size; raster logos can appear pixelated when scaled up. If you only have a JPEG or PNG, make sure it's at least 300dpi at the size it will appear on the card.

Position your logo prominently but don't let it dominate the card at the expense of your contact details. Both need to be clearly visible.

Images and Graphics

If you're using a background image or photograph, it must be supplied at a minimum of 300dpi at the finished print size. Images that look acceptable on screen are often far lower resolution than this and will appear noticeably blurry when printed. If in doubt, ask us before you finalise your design.

Artwork Setup: Bleed and Safe Zone

This is the most commonly overlooked step, and getting it wrong means your artwork can't go to print without amendments.

• Bleed: extend your background colour or design 1.5mm beyond the card edge on all sides. Cards are printed on larger sheets and then cut down — bleed prevents white edges appearing if the cut is very slightly off.
• Safe zone: keep all important content — text, logos, phone numbers — at least 3mm away from the card edge. Anything closer risks being trimmed.
• File format: supply as a high-resolution PDF, AI, or EPS. We do not recommend Word documents or low-resolution JPEGs.
• Resolution: 300dpi minimum at finished size for any raster images or backgrounds.

Full specifications and downloadable templates are on our artwork guides page.

The Back of the Card

Don't leave the back blank — it's free space that most people waste. Options include a striking full-bleed design, your tagline, a QR code, a map to your premises, or simply a cleaner repeat of your branding. The back should complement the front rather than duplicate it or contradict it.

For businesses that regularly update contact details, the back is also a sensible place to put information that might change — keeping the front clean and timeless.

Material and Finish

Our plastic business cards are printed on 760 micron solid PVC — significantly thicker and more rigid than standard paper cards. You can choose between a gloss finish for vibrant, high-impact colour or a matt finish for a more understated, premium look and feel. Both options make a strong impression compared to paper alternatives.

Common Design Mistakes to Avoid

• Text too close to the card edge — always observe the 3mm safe zone.
• RGB instead of CMYK — colours will shift at print, sometimes significantly.
• Low-resolution images — anything below 300dpi will print poorly.
• Fonts not outlined — always convert text to curves before supplying artwork.
• Too much information — overcrowded cards look unprofessional and are hard to read.
• No bleed — white edges will appear after cutting if your background doesn't extend to the bleed area.
• Repeated "Brand consistency" paragraph — check your copy carefully; duplicated content looks careless.

Not confident designing it yourself?

No problem — our in-house design team can create a professional business card design from your brief, logo, or rough idea. Find out more about our design service.

Proofing and Approval

Before we go to print, we'll send you a free photorealistic email proof so you can check the design, layout, and all text. Review it carefully and ask a colleague to proofread it too — once cards are printed, errors can't be corrected. Once you're happy and approve the proof, we move straight to production.

Ready to get started? Request a quote and our team will typically respond within 10 minutes during working hours.