Business card sizes. Standard business card formats. Making a business card in Photoshop Business card aspect ratio

A business card, it would seem, is an ordinary piece of cardboard or plastic with the contact information of its owner. However, the culture of exchanging business cards has long outgrown the nursery period with enthusiasts and imitators, and today represents a whole movement in the design industry. Exchange of business cards is also no longer just a habit, it has become something more: the norm. Of course, in the relevant areas, but these days both individual lawyers and huge corporations, as well as the average schoolchild, have their business cards: in all this wide range this phenomenon has become commonplace.

Business card size for printing in millimeters 50 x 90 mm

Business card size for print in centimeters 9 cm x 5 cm

Business card size for print in inches (in illustrator) 1.97 x 3.54 inches


Business card size for print in pixels (in illustrator) 141.73 x 255.12 pixels


Business card size for print in pixels (in Photoshop, 300 dpi) 591 x 1063 pixels


Business card for business man is also an integral part of everyday work. In such conditions, a competent design of a contact card is necessary, because it becomes the face of the owner in the eyes of the person who receives it. In this aspect, everything is also very vague: there are both business cards that are works of art and plain business cards with only the name and preferred method of contact. But there are rules of design, developed over years of practice, numerous trials, successes and no less rare errors. We invite you to familiarize yourself with the main ones.

It is worth paying very close attention to the size and idea of ​​the business card. Of course, this may be a matter of purely taste or principle, but it is worth remembering some nuances:

  • The usual place for storing business cards is a wallet or a bookkeeper; many models of the former have special compartments for contact cards. Their sizes are adjusted to the general standard - this means that such a business card will not be stored where everyone else is, in a place that is atypical for its new owner. At the right moment, such a business card will definitely disappear, be torn to the point of complete loss of information content - in a word, they will not be able to contact you at the right time only because your business card differed in size from a certain uniform standard.
  • Is there a single standard? Yes, but it differs slightly among different states and unions of countries. For example, among Belarusians, Russians and Ukrainians the general standard is 50x90 mm, or five by nine centimeters. In the EU, for example, the 55x85 format, or five and a half by eight and a half centimeters, is in use, while this is really monitored, as you might guess, in Germany: in their understanding, the owner of a business card must strictly follow general standards. In the USA, the sizes are almost identical to European ones, and cards with magnetic tape for attaching to the refrigerator door are becoming fashionable. The Japanese have some of the largest cards: the average size is 91x55 mm, which makes it necessary when traveling to Japan to get cards in their format. As for the figure, almost everyone is unanimous: such a card should be a rectangle. It should, however, be understood that there is no GOST for business cards - this is an individual matter, so exceptions are still not uncommon. The trendsetters in the world of business cards are the British: they created the now popular narrow business card, and the Italians adore these things, made in the form of miniature books.
  • Women's business cards, as a rule, are somewhat different from men's - they are slightly smaller, a millimeter on each side. This is a tribute to the tradition that existed back in the days of the USSR.
  • If a large business card is inconvenient, then there is nothing wrong with business cards that are visually smaller than those made according to the standard. In Western countries, this option is now very popular.
  • Professionals advise making business cards that differ slightly from the standard: they are much easier to find in a pile of others, even just by touch. On the other hand, it is important not to overdo it, so that the new holder does not think of its owner as a selfish type.

Proper use of fashion trends and standards when selecting card sizes, as we can see, plays a crucial role. The business cards themselves differ into several types according to the criterion of its original owner:

  • Executive business cards. Their goal is to familiarize the recipient with some information, but they represent people who have many business meetings and do not want to “shine” their work and personal contacts. It is often used at various meetings, where it is distributed to everyone, so the size of such business cards is not carefully monitored during production: they have an introductory function, but very rarely a contact one.
  • Personal business cards They also do not have a passion for formalities and rules. They are most often stored in boxes and cabinets, so their sizes vary greatly from case to case, and a radical departure from the rectangular shape is not uncommon.
  • Business cards. The recipient can be either a person or a company, but it represents one person - for example, a businessman or lawyer. It always indicates: first and last name, company, position in the company, contacts. They almost always have a standard shape and size, as well as a design approved by the company’s leading designer.
  • Corporate business cards. Unlike business cards, they represent a company, not an individual employee, so they can be of a strict design, if the company is conservative, or bright, non-standard, using different sizes of the card itself from the standard. The second option is found in companies that have their own recognizable style of product design - in this case, the business card will be the bearer of all the elements of a recognizable corporate style, that is, the information on it is transmitted not only through text, but also visually.



Thus, a business card must be of a certain size in order to efficiently perform all its functions: transferring your coordinates to other people and keeping your contact information with them for a long time. It is recommended that people of creative professions who love non-standardism in everything pay special attention to this point: it is advisable, however, not to have anything against the standard size of a business card, since this directly affects the nuances listed above. There is nothing forbidden to work with the design, the font of the inscriptions - you can even make your card vertically oriented, placing the text information not along the long side of the rectangle, but the short one: such a business card looks fresh and is well remembered.

Business card layout requirements

If you are preparing a business card design for production, then you need to keep a few rules in mind to ensure that the final result meets our expectations. Let's list the main points:

  • Ready to print. Your layout should be completely ready and not require any additional preparations for printing - this file can be printed as soon as it is received, simply sent to production.
  • The method of transferring the file is not particularly important, but you should carefully consider the condition of the physical media if you decide to transfer the design to us using them: the disk must be free of scratches and other damage, the Flash card or USB device must not contain virus programs that can harm the layout or even just suddenly delete it. If you send a file by E-mail, its name should be written exclusively in Latin letters.
  • Remember: a file containing a business card can have only a few types of extensions, depending on the program in which it was drawn. Files from the Corel Draw program must have the extension .cdr (the program used must not be younger than version 14), layouts from Adobe Illustrator- .ai or .eps, files prepared in Adobe Photoshop should only have .tiff resolution, and if you do not send the source from the program, then the common extension is .pdf (read by a program, for example, Acrobat Reader).

Listed above are extensions of popular programs in which almost everyone draws business cards. Below for two of them, Corel Draw and Adobe Photoshop, we list the basic requirements.

Corel Draw

  • Make a page-by-page arrangement of business cards. If the business card is double-sided, then place its sides on two pages of the program.
  • The size of the working field (page) on which the business card is depicted must match its dimensions!
  • Avoid placing text on your business card closer than 4mm to the cut line. If you place the text closer, then during production some letters may be cut off, and important data will be lost, and the entire batch will become money thrown away. That is, on each side of the card the text block should be at least 4 mm away from the cutting line.
  • All parts of the card that are supposed to be placed right through must protrude at least 2 mm beyond the boundaries of the future business card.
  • All fonts in the layout should be converted to “curves”.
  • If the business card contains a company logo or some kind of brand name, then in order to improve the quality of display, you should draw them in vector graphics.
  • The possible “Transparency” effect, if it was used when developing a business card design, should be transferred to one layer with other elements.

Adobe Photoshop

  • All layers used to develop a business card should be combined into one in the final version.
  • All unnecessary layers, additional paths and crop marks must be removed from the layout.
  • Remember: lines less than 0.03 mm thick are completely invisible when printed!
  • Use CMYK and Grayscale color models.
  • On a printed business card, a raster with a value of up to 5% will be invisible - with larger values ​​it will be visible.
  • If you need an accurate representation of any colors in a business card, then you should attach a color profile to the layout, and specify the color itself in Panton Process.
  • Remember also that the maximum color intensity should not exceed 320% if you want a business card on coated paper, and 280% if the paper is uncoated.

The rules for placing text information coincide with the requirements for layouts from Corel Draw.

Keeping all these rules in mind and following their instructions when preparing a layout for production, you are guaranteed to receive business cards of the quality you require.

The Komint company has been producing business cards for a long time and has excellent experience both in the development of layouts and in their physical implementation. By contacting us and deciding to order business cards from us, you can be sure of an excellent final result!

√ Your application

Standard business card size in mm is 90x50 millimeters, that is business card size in cm.- this is 9x5 centimeters, but this format is common only in the CIS countries. International business card size corresponds to the size of a credit card and is 85x55 mm - this is euro size business cards Therefore, for international meetings, many customers additionally order the production of business cards measuring 55x85 mm. And here standard size for plastic business cards 86x54 mm. When developing a business card layout, it is worth considering that business card size for printing increases by 2-3 mm. on each side, this is done so that there is room for the business card to be cut, thus business card size for printing in a printing house (business card layout size in photoshop) is 94x54 mm or 96x56 mm.

By and large, business cards can be made of any shape and size, especially if we're talking about about personal business cards, but you should consider the following. Firstly, the standard business card size is 50x90 mm, because in this case the least amount of paper is consumed. When digital printing, A3+ (SRA3) format sheets are used, 24 business cards can be placed on them, which is why many printing houses offer sets of 96 pieces, and not 100 pieces, because from 4 sheets you get 96 business cards, and with offset printing- sheets of A1 format, in these cases business cards of size 50x90 mm are evenly placed around the perimeter of the sheet, leaving no unused spaces. In cases where business cards are produced in non-standard sizes, there may be an overuse of paper, for which the customer will have to pay extra. And, secondly, business card holders are made to fit standard business card sizes, wallets have special compartments for credit cards, and custom size business cards simply do not fit in a specially designated place, and there is a possibility that such a business card will not be stored.

Thus, if the customer wants to stand out through a business card, there is no need to produce non-standard formats; it is better to “take it” with a creative design, the use of unusual materials and the use of various post-work. Nowadays it is carried out on many materials, ranging from standard paper materials to the use of veneer, and even iron. Post-printing work can make even an ordinary business card made of coated paper very presentable and unusual, you just need to skillfully combine the design with a certain type of post-printing work. In our printing house you can, etc.

Modern equipment allows you to realize any customer’s ideas, the main thing is that he is ready to pay for it, and the printing house has everything necessary equipment to carry out certain technical characteristics order. OFSET MOSCOW accepts orders for printing of any complexity. The presence of modern equipment and the best specialists in the printing business are the components that guarantee high-quality results.

Order a calculation

If small errors are found in the layout that do not allow you to complete the order in good quality, our manager will contact you and offer options for correcting the layout. The cost of edits is from 200 rubles.
Two types of layout files are accepted: raster ( TIFF, JPEG) and vector ( PDF, PSD).

File size (pre-trimmed format)

Product format (cut format)

Safe area

Layout file size(pre-cut format) -
this is the file size of printed products, taking into account the bleed margins, departures.

The size of this file is larger than the size of the finished product by 5mm(size of overhangs) on each side. or +10mm to the width and +10mm to the height of the finished product.

For example:
Leaflet A4 = 210mm wide x 297mm high + overhang = 220x307mm.

IMPORTANT!
Exception - Business Cards:
Departures for business cards are 2mm on each side or 4mm in width and height.
Standard business card size is 90x50mm,
and with overhangs, the size of the print-ready layout (pre-trimmed format) = 94x54mm.

SECURITY ZONE
shows the boundaries of the zone in which it is recommended that designers and technologists place the information you need and graphic elements so that it is not slaughtered during production. By placing the main elements in this area, you will be sure that they will not get cut and will be at a sufficient distance from the edge of the cut.

Calculated based on the size of the finished product:
We retreat inward 5mm (overhangs) on each side.

For example:
Business card size = 90x50 mm - minus 5 mm on each side, which means the area for placing text = 80x40 mm.

IMPORTANT!
Background image it is necessary to cover the entire layout area, including the pre-cut format area. The actual size of the finished product is equal to the trimmed format, but the background image of the correct layout fills the entire pre-trimmed format.

Technical requirements for preparing the layout:

Formats

TIFF, JPEG, PSD, PDF

Permission

300 dpi for all printed products, for business cards from 300 dpi to 600 dpi For large formats from 200 dpi to 600 dpi

Layout size

Actual size + 5 mm on each side for bleed, for business cards + 2 mm on each side

Workspace

Must not contain non-printable objects (marks, cutting lines, comments)

Save options

When saving, you must use the “Uncompressed” function and merge all layers

Color profile

For optimal printing use - CMYK (CoatedFOGRA39)

Total paint coverage

No more than 300%

Minimum font size

7pt

Rich black

C80 M60 Y60 K100

file size

The maximum upload file size should not exceed 100 MB

Departures and arrivals

In view of huge amount layouts that may lead to an unsatisfactory result, we will try to tell you what “departures” and “departures” are.
Overhangs are allowances for the trim format, which must be created when part of the image goes “under the bleed”, that is, the cutting line does not run along the empty field of unprinted paper, but along the picture. Overhangs are 2 mm on each side, overhangs are 5 mm, respectively, inside on each side.

* in the image below, the dark frame is part of the working field of the program (in which we create the business card layout), which is not any element of the layout. The white rectangle is the document we created (94 mm x 54 mm), which will subsequently become a business card layout.

Next, we place all the important information (text, logo, etc.) inside the guides farthest from the edge (in the inner rectangle formed by the guides). Everything that intersects these guides - the background (this can be: photos, dies, etc.) must go to the edge of the working field.

Features and incorrect layout

If the overhangs are not left, strips of unprinted paper may form along the edge of the sheet after trimming, and if the cutting is not done carefully, they will have different widths in different parts of the image, that is, they will leave the impression of an oblique cut. In addition, there is a high probability that different sides The white areas of the sheet will be of different sizes, which will increase the feeling of sloppy work.
Let us consider, at first glance, the correct layout that meets the size requirements: 94 mm x 54 mm.

* in the image below, the dark frame is part of the working field of the program (in which we create the business card layout), which is not any element of the layout.

Why this layout is not true? The fact is that the tolerance of the “printing press + cutting” combination is 2 mm and several degrees.
Any cutter has an error. Thus, when cutting printed business cards of the above layout, you may get the following options:

Business card on the left: the cutter “missed” to the left and up (white stripes). Business card on the right: the cutter “missed” to the right and down (white stripes).


The cutter “missed” and the white stripe intended by the designer “stuck” to the top of the business card; the burgundy stripe on top was completely cut off.

The cut distortion was ONLY ONE DEGREE.

In order for any smallest cutting inaccuracies to be unnoticeable, overhangs should be made.
The correct layout should look like this:

So that the printed and cut business cards look like this:


To make the most of the printing house equipment when preparing your layout, pay attention to:

Quality of digital printing and finishing

  1. Color accuracy
  2. Edition prints must comply with standard optical density standards or an original proof (color proof) signed by the Customer.
    The discrepancy between the signed sheet and the circulation should not exceed the standard for Xerox iGen3 printing equipment (delta E no more than 5).
    Automatic calibration of the printing machine is carried out constantly during operation, and the CMP operator performs calibration checks daily.

  3. Overall quality of finished products
  4. The production sheets must be free of mechanical damage (teared edges, nicked ends, wrinkled and bent corners), fingerprints, oil stains, etc.

  5. Paint registration quality
  6. The images of all colors on the prints must be accurately aligned.

    Permissible deviations:

    On paper with a density of 80 to 90 g/m² - up to 0.05 mm

    On paper with a density of 90 to 130 g/m² - up to 0.01 mm

    On paper with a density of 130 g/m² and above – 0.01 mm

  7. Guillotine cutting precision
  8. The cutting error is no more than 1 mm

    The minimum cutting length is 40 mm; when producing products with one side equal to 40 mm or less, plotter cutting is used

  9. Plotter cutting precision
  10. The cutting error is no more than 0.5 mm

  11. Creasing quality
  12. The product is folded along the lines of the big without distortion, the line of the big is uniform, without cuts

    The error in drawing the big line is no more than 1mm

  13. Folding quality
  14. Permissible deviation of the ratio of the image and fold lines up to 2 mm no more than 5% of the circulation

  15. Lamination quality
  16. The laminate is pressed onto the paper/cardboard evenly without obvious wrinkles or bubbles, and does not come off along the edges of the product without applying force. Deviations are allowed in no more than 5% of the circulation. Slight delamination of the laminate in places of internal creasing is allowed for part of the print run

  17. Quality of hot-melt bonding
  18. The cover does not come off the block when shaken

  19. Digital technology is critical to printing uniform fills and gradients. If you don't take action necessary measures, more or less pronounced banding is observed. This becomes especially noticeable when the fill area is large and without any graphic elements. It is recommended to use various effects, for example “noise” (noise in Photoshop is about 15%). Maximum quality fills are obtained with color density from 0% to 30% and from 80% to 100%
  20. The same problems arise when covering large areas with gradient fills. In such cases, it is highly recommended to add “noise” or another texture to the image.
  21. Thin graphic elements (less than 1pt) are recommended to be included in vector form only. Using raster formats (such as TIFF) for display
  22. Thin items may result in loss of quality. The minimum line thickness is 0.25 pt, for reverses - 0.5 pt.

  23. For solid color text it is recommended minimum size font 4
  24. The minimum recommended line thickness is 0.25 pt, on insides -
  25. 0.5 pt. In case of filling with less than 95% of one of the separations, it is recommended to increase the line thickness by 1.5-2 times

  26. Using "balanced" gray (transfer gray CMY ratio) is undesirable. It is better to use a percentage of Black and, if necessary, tint it with a CMY percentage.
  27. Our RIP allows you to adjust colors during the printing process. If for some reason you are not satisfied with the signal print, and the color in the file seems correct to you, simply write what changes to the base colors (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow or Black) you want to apply to the print. For example, you can remove Magenta in highlights throughout the image. The correction is applied to the entire document, not individual pages or images. Color correction on printing machine in large quantities leads to an increase in production time.
  28. Printing of additional (spot/Pantone) colors is carried out using their emulation method, please consult us first to find out the REAL color, for example, we can provide an atlas Pantone colors Printed on our machine according to Pantone certification.
  29. All transparencies, lenses, etc. must be converted to raster objects or Flatten Transparency technology must be applied to them, these objects require special control. Avoid intersections of transparencies/lenses and vector objects - this can lead to rasterization of that part of the vector object that is UNDER the transparency and, as a result, the two parts (UNDER and OUTSIDE the transparency) of the vector object will be different. Do not use spot/spot/Pantone colors in these effects - they will be converted to CMYK
  30. All color layout elements must be done in one color model(RGB - sRGB or CMYK - EuroOffset). The combined use of RGB and CMYK is only allowed in Adobe InDesign when creating multi-page documents.
  31. Printing with a specified raster lineature:
  1. Standard raster lineature is 175lpi: better fills and gradients are obtained
  2. Additional line size - 200lpi: fills and gradients will turn out worse, but the clarity of small and not 100% painted elements will be higher.

Did you know that business card size may vary from country to country? There are no official regulations on this matter, but there are certain preferences and traditions accepted in the business world.

Standard business card size for printing

  • in centimeters – 5 * 9 cm
  • in pixels (Photoshop, 300 dpi) – 591 * 1063 px
  • in pixels (illustrator) – 141.73 * 255.12 px

Business card size standards for different countries

When choosing the size of a business card in Photoshop, keep in mind that cards made for Europe will not fit in the wallet of partners from China or Hong Kong. Sometimes differences in length units are dictated by printing features, which cause differences in the final dimensions. It is worth remembering this so as not to get into an awkward situation.

In our country, as well as in Belarus, Ukraine, other countries of Eastern Europe and former USSR, the standard business card size in cm is 5 * 9 cm. This is the most popular version of business cards, and we are often ordered this particular format. It is also common in Israel, neighboring Finland and distant Argentina. A regular sheet of A3Extra paper can hold 24 business cards. The margins vary from 3 to 5 mm, and the remaining space is intended to accommodate information.

American standard

There are standard standards that we recommend following if your business is expanding internationally. For example, in North America, the standard business card size is 50.8 * 88.9 mm. It would seem like a small difference, but the card will stand out against the general background and will not fit in a business card holder. This can create inconvenience for partners and damage the reputation of your company. When traveling to the US and Canada, pay attention to the size of your business card to print to ensure you are on target.

Eastern features

When choosing a business card size in pixels, remember that cards made for Europe will not fit in the wallet of partners from China or Hong Kong. This is due to the fact that the European standard for making business cards is 55 * 85 mm, and businessmen from Hong Kong prefer to order business cards with completely different parameters - 54 * 90mm. Japan is worth mentioning separately. Business cards in this country are different from others. Japanese card format – 55 * 91 mm. A special country - and rules business etiquette there are special things in it too!

Trust the professionals

In Australia and New Zealand, as well as the Scandinavian countries - Sweden, Norway and Denmark, another business card size in cm is in use - 5.5 * 9 cm. It is important to know all these subtleties when placing an order and not make a mistake with your choice. Experienced consultants who are well aware of the peculiarities of business etiquette in different countries will help you with this.

The Graphics V printing house produces business cards with individual designs, taking into account the wishes of clients. We will tell you what standard business card size in pixels is accepted in the country with which cooperation is important for you, and we will select best option printing on thick paper or designer cardboard. Modern high power equipment and high quality Consumables allow us to quickly print copies and send them to the customer. With us you will always be on top!