Making your own business cards

cowasaki

cowasaki

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As many of you will know I do a regular feature "top tips for the Mac". I wrote this one today and its not Mac specific so I am placing it here for Windows users too.

Illustrator - Creating business cards.

Run Illustrator

Create new document, we will call this "business card demo"

TIP327a.png


Change the size to A4 landscape (or A3 portrait)

Click [OK]

You will now see a black rectangle on your screen.

Zoom in so that you can see the full screen.


TIP327b.png


Create a box in the bottom left of the window the right size for a business card.

This is your choice but I am going to use 85mm x 55mm. To do this click on the rectangle icon and just draw a rough box in the bottom left of the page.


TIP327c.png


Adjust the box size and location.

On the top bar your will see four values, these are X, Y, W & H. You will also see nine little tiny squares in a 3x3 pattern with one of these squares black. Click on the bottom left of these nine squares and it will go black. This means that all the numbers now refer to the bottom left corner of the item selected which in our case will be the blank business card. Change the values as follows:

X = 8mm
Y = 10mm
W = 85mm
H = 55mm

Now you can save your business card template.

Create your design

Then place your information, pictures etc to create the card. I am purposefully leaving this section of the tutorial empty as this is where you place what YOU want on the card.

TIP327d.png



Right now we need to group everything on the card.

Use the white arrow (direct selection tool) and select the box and everything in the box. Then go to OBJECT and then GROUP.

Now we magically duplicate it to cover the page.

Zoom back out so that you can see the whole page.

Goto EFFECT :: DISTORT & TRANSFORM :: TRANSFORM…

Click PREVIEW

Change Horizontal to 90mm

Change copies to 2

Click somewhere else in the Transform Effect box.

TIP327e.png


You should now see three copies of your card across the screen.

Click [OK]

Now group these three cards by clicking on the white arrow again and selecting all three items then going to OBJECT and selecting GROUP.

Now we can duplicate them in the other direction…

Goto EFFECT :: DISTORT & TRANSFORM :: TRANSFORM…

You will get a warning saying "This will apply another instance of this effect" - Click [Apply New Effect]

Click PREVIEW

Change Vertical to 60mm

Change copies to 2 (6 if using A3)

Click somewhere else in the Transform Effect box.

You should now see nine copies of your card across the screen.

Click [OK]

TIP327f.png


Your card is still editable!

You will see nine (or however many cards you can fit) on your screen. If you edit the original card (the bottom left one) your changes will affect ALL the cards!

So now you can print the card and cut out your cards.
 
Sorry, but why would you do this? It would be much better to export your file with bleed and tick marks into a seperate file, then drop that into a decent layout package. Easy then to line up and use a scalpel and ruler to cut out yourself. How tacky would business cards look like this, with a black border around the edge of each card!
 
richpage said:
Sorry, but why would you do this? It would be much better to export your file with bleed and tick marks into a seperate file, then drop that into a decent layout package. Easy then to line up and use a scalpel and ruler to cut out yourself. How tacky would business cards look like this, with a black border around the edge of each card!
Click to expand...

They don't need a black border around them that was just part of the quick 2 minute design I did to demonstrate the technique! I would normally chop them up using a guillotine with sizing marks on it. It is also demonstrating the technique for creating multiple copies of the same thing and them remaining editable.
 
I kind of agree. I'm not entirely sure how handy this would be. I mean, are you going to cut out each business card manually? Why not just send the artwork to a pint company and be done with it? I can get 6000 cards printed on high quality laminate card with rounded corners for £60.

I understand the article was written in good faith, but I question the relevance. The techniques might come in handy for other types of artworking, but not really for business cards. Your top tips thread is excellent though.
 
KayJay said:
I kind of agree. I'm not entirely sure how handy this would be. I mean, are you going to cut out each business card manually? Why not just send the artwork to a pint company and be done with it? I can get 6000 cards printed on high quality laminate card with rounded corners for £60.

I understand the article was written in good faith, but I question the relevance. Your top tips thread is excellent though.
Click to expand...

It is a demonstration of a technique that can be used for lots of different things. If you are having more than just a few hundred done then it would clearly be better to use a printing service and you can get cards done for as little as £10 but thats not really the point. I was simply demonstrating how you CAN do it and then these techniques can be used for other things. For example place cards at meal or something like that. (each individual name can be changed by changing each card after the original design is duplicated all over the sheet). If it is of no use to you then fine just ignore it but the process is a useful one.
 
cowasaki said:
It is a demonstration of a technique that can be used for lots of different things. If you are having more than just a few hundred done then it would clearly be better to use a printing service and you can get cards done for as little as £10 but thats not really the point. I was simply demonstrating how you CAN do it and then these techniques can be used for other things. For example place cards at meal or something like that. (each individual name can be changed by changing each card after the original design is duplicated all over the sheet). If it is of no use to you then fine just ignore it but the process is a useful one.
Click to expand...

I didn't mean any offense, but you got to admit, this has had far fewer replies than your other threads. Anyone that respects their craft would be silly to cut out some business cards manually.

I think instead of business cards you should have used a different example. That's just my opinion and suggestion.
 
Like I said it's just a technique that can be applied to other things too and for a non design type company for a small run it wouldn't be an unusable method cut out using a rotary cutter on decent quality photographic card. I do a lot of tutorials and people can pick and chose bits out of them to add to their own arsenal of techniques with some being less useful to them than others.
 
Its a cheaper way of doing, may not be the easiest way but if you have the time why not. :)

And it would be easier to edit and you dont have to wait a few days to get them done.
 
I also didn't mean offence by the reply, but when you name the thread "Making your own business cards" you are kind of telling everyone this is how to do it.

If you had said "How to duplicate items using Illustrator", then yes, this would have been a good tutorial for some people. I would just worry that offering advice like this could potentially ruin their image to a lot of potential clients.;)
 
Why not make just one the right size and in Bridge in output make a contact sheet of them easy. But I get mine printed I think when anyone gives me a home made card I feel like this tell a story and that story is CHEAP is the name of the game. Would I want to use them? I think not.
 
If you want crop marks in illustrator just group all the items of the one card together and go to 'Effect' and click 'Crop Marks'.

I do this type of design work in InDesign rather than illustrator, but i've done this plenty of times and it's surprising how many cards you can produce in a hour. Ideal if people want some cards straight away while waiting for the proper ones to come back from print.
 
Chaz Photos said:
I get mine printed I think when anyone gives me a home made card I feel like this tell a story and that story is CHEAP is the name of the game. Would I want to use them? I think not.
Click to expand...

I agree with you there, but it's surprising the quality you can produce at home. I've seen plenty of professional printed business cards that are very poor quality.
 
goffski said:
I agree with you there, but it's surprising the quality you can produce at home. I've seen plenty of professional printed business cards that are very poor quality.
Click to expand...
The biggest fault is the weight of card, and then the way some laminate then Ahgggg!
 
Laminate is a no no. As for the weight of the card, Spraymount, you'd never know there's too sheets stuck together.
 
Matt Lam from the printers is good, home lamination not good, but this is my own personal opinion.
 
This is a useful technique if you need a personalised card for what ever reason

Example:
Your wedding images will be available here

However normally it is smarter to use a holding page and use the same card

A gilloutine is much better for coppiing the cards up than a scalpel
 
I do a regular feature for mac users on the top tips thread and occasionally there is a post I feel might have a wider audience so I post it generally. What I am doing is posting a technique. This can be used for business cards and lots of printers will accept thick enough card. Yes it's true that you will get better results professionally but for quick runs it can be acceptable. I did a run of how to build a web page with iWeb which created a rubbish web site but the techniques would allow you to create a decent enough one. Anyone that thinks this is rubbish just don't use it I will not be offended. Like most things computer related it is just one method there are lots of others.

It is just another method and something else you may chose to use!
 
Thumbs up from me Cowasaki, many thanks for taking the time do this :thumbs:

I make personalised cards “business cards” for rescue dogs seeking homes and although I have Illustrator installed I’ve never used it. I’ve managed in Publisher so far – will this be easier do you think?

I use a guillotine to cut them out and yes, it is a pain, but when you only need 20 or so it makes no sense to send them off for printing, especially as the costs come out of my own pocket!
 
Alison said:
Thumbs up from me Cowasaki, many thanks for taking the time do this :thumbs:

I make personalised cards “business cards” for rescue dogs seeking homes and although I have Illustrator installed I’ve never used it. I’ve managed in Publisher so far – will this be easier do you think?

I use a guillotine to cut them out and yes, it is a pain, but when you only need 20 or so it makes no sense to send them off for printing, especially as the costs come out of my own pocket!
Click to expand...

It could quite possibly be easier. Give it a try. If you get stuck PM me and I will give you a hand.
 
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