I’m in the process of getting some business cards designed for my freelance writing business, because while I may have a knack for the written word, I’m not as well versed in the art of graphic design. That said, I am aware of several factors that can separate an effective business card from one that is less effective. Here are a few things that you should consider when creating your own business card design.

Strong Branding: Your company logo should be easy to spot and should be featured prominently. Beyond the logo, you should ensure that the layout and overall “feel” of your business card is in line with what your company stands for and the type of market that it’s going after. For example, if you’re a part of an accounting firm, it would not be appropriate to use flashy colors and unique orientations, whereas if you’re in the business of comic books, it’s perfectly acceptable to be a bit more on the creative side.

Keep It Simple: The most important aspect of a business card is that it is easy to read and the information shown is easy to access. Keep everything as simple (and bold) as possible. It’s not necessary to squish customer testimonials and several slogans onto such a small space. This is a business card, not a sales letter. Also try to restrict the number of font sizes, typefaces, and colors used as to not create a jumbled mess of incongruence.

Contrast: Going back to having your business card easy to read, make sure the elements on your card are in sharp contrast. The easiest is to stick with black and white, but that can be pretty boring too. Contrasting colors work well to make a bold statement and to really catch people’s attention. Try to remember the complementary colors (color wheel) you learned about in elementary school.

Whitespace: Just because there’s a certain amount of space on your business card doesn’t mean that you need to completely fill it with information. When you arrive at a website that is absolutely filled with text from corner to corner, it can be very overwhelming and it makes you want to turn away. The same can be said about business cards; maintain a decent amount of whitespace as make reading a little easier.