How To Setup and Design Business Cards in Adobe Illustrator

[kylevovin]

As I work for a printing company and create Business Cards on a day-to-day basis, before to start creating your artwork I would recommend creating a box the size of your Business Card (i.e. 90mm x 55mm) then select "Object - Path - Offset path and offset it " -3mm" then hit Ctrl + 5 this will convert it to a guide. I find it helps in creatings a guide for text so you don't have text too close to the edge of the card. (Note: These sizes are the standard Australian Business Card sizes)

[kylevovin]

Just watching how you started your tutorial, a few points for people I've noticed here in the comments asking how to do the front and back of the cards.

If your using CS5 you can create Multiple Artboard within the one .ai document. You can set this when you have the window for the size of your artboard open, there's an option for "number of artboards" set this to 2.

[PupiFalco]

3.5 x 2.0 seems way to little...even when you have it on Illustrator, and fit the image at 100%, it seems way too small. When I fit the image at 150%, then it seems like the standard size for a Business Card.....Can you please help me with this? Thanks!

[MejJalTok]

Can you go over how you design the icons? I always wanted to do that. Also if you know how to do icon with distress edges and light splashes that would be nice too. I always wanted to do that as well, but never knew how.

[frea1able]

Great info. I just paid a fortune to Kinkos for cards.

[Blueorchid824]

Many thanks!

[evajoseph100]

the design business cards in adobe illustrator is used in business and how to set up the designed cards in business illustration, business cards are easy to gain it is a more cheaper.

[2diefor8694]

pls can somr one help , what did to press to bleed to bring the white to the front , im so stuff

[Rorschackh]

Thank you.

[obala08]

Hey so iam new to Illustrator and iam intrested in how to create those pics on the back side of the card :)

[TheAmme2011]

instead of 2 files, 1 for the front and 1 for the back, can i make an illustrator with 1 art boards?

[N0o0oRA91]

what did he choice after right-clicking that box when he said "thats called the uh bleeding"?????????????????????­????? i can't figure it out there wasn't the word bleeding in there!!

[ShakaSoftware]

Super videos. When you combine text marketing with old fashioned targeted direct mail the results are awesome.

[raytaypaytay]

Thank you. Simple, to the point. Effective.

[kueebreeze]

if i send it to a printing company, do i save it as a pdf or ai file? does it matter?

[mlwebco]

@kueebreeze PDF or AI are fine with most printing companies. Either is ok.

[LaPersonaNonGrata]

You want to leave .125 inches between the bleed and the trim/ cut line so anything within the "no text zone" will be omitted during the cutting process. I know this because I am currently taking Computer Graphic Design ( he he).

But thanks to people like you who put videos out in order for others to learn, especially me cause you only get so much when I'm in class -- youtube is a god send and uploaders, like you sir, are its angels. Thanks for the useful video.

[something377]

Thanks for the great vid.

Can you tell me which font you used for the address / telephone details on the card? It looks great but I don't recognise it.

Thanks again!

[eoghanflynn]

@something377 Ye what is the font you are using?

[VeTutorials]

why use illustrator when you can use InDesign which does a better job?

[callofdytu2]

are you uesing version cs3-cs4-cs5 ?

[ZookanProductions]

@callofdytu2 He's using CS2.

[kangashack]

how do you print on both sides though...

[mlwebco]

@kangashack To print on both sides, you have to just repeat the process for the back. You'll end up with two files (front and back). You send both files to your printing company and they'll do the rest and print it double sided.

[Hageeisanass]

I too was hoping to learn how to print a page of cards. I think printing a page of cards is a great idea. Looks like a photo instead card stock - sets me apart. Then, instead of getting 200 cards that only use 50, I can change my design and print another 50 for less than the 200. But hey, thanks for the video.

[TheAbooli]

Thanks mate!

[cdisxm]

I loved it. you did not explain how you made the blue lines, but I will look around.

[kerupitt]

@cdisxm the blue lines are called guide lines & you can get them by pressing ctrl+r (for rulers) once there click & drag on the ruler you want to the position of your choice, the rulers are just visual guides so that means they dont get printed... hope that helped... greetings from méxico

[crxgun]

Thank you :) helped with my studies and design knowledge. keep it up

[adeptodaboamusica]

Thanx a lot, man! I just donwloaded the trial version of Adobe Illustrator and your videos are helping me sooo much!

[ruaridouglas]

Good video, really helpful!

[HitByTime]

That was a good instructional video, but you should focus on its verbal aspect. It was a bit tiresome...

[iBlastWeb]

nice tutorial

thanks

[kingnobles310]

Cheaper to just buy cards? lol Compare $20 to $200... Please. Doing the work yourself can always save a person money. If you plan to say that home made cards are poor quality, then that would depend on your printer, cards and creativity. In my case, my cards are sexy. But thanks for the vid tho buddy. It helped alot.

[DeceptivePerfection]

You should really do your research before uploading a video. There shouldn't be guessing with any type of print media. The bleed area for business cards are always 1/8 inch.

[kingnobles310]

You didnt mention how to print a page of cards. No one prints just one card. The hard part is more so in figuring how to print off a page of cards.

[mlwebco]

@kingnobles310 This example is primarily for getting your cards printed at a professional print shop. Now and days, the cost of getting business cards are so cheap that printing a page of cards is never a good idea.

[lostboy4444]

@mlwebco

How do you exactly set up a page of cards. I can't figure it out.

[Magxz]

excellent tutorial

[mlwebco]

@Magxz thanks, glad you found it useful. ;)

[rayandjoe2010]

thx u may help me in my graphic communications class and this is ray of the ray and joe show coming soon

[luciferdiablo16]

Wow Awsome ! im learning so much : D

[mlwebco]

Glad to hear. ;)

[luciferdiablo16]

hehe im really happy its rear for me to understand something really fast thats why : ) thanks alot ! but may i ask you something ?can i pm message u ?

[mlwebco]

sure anytime.

[OloraCorvus]

Great and helpfull, thnx a lot :D

[Kristiandog]

Finally,

I video that makes perfect sense!!!!

Great Tutorial!

[mlwebco]

@Kristiandog,

Thanks for the feedback. Glad it was helpful. ;)

~ML

[fcomatador]

Thanks Michael...Yes I had the same question about the outlines..Im ok now...

[Whatisright]

Why create an outline? Why not just leave the text as it is?

[mlwebco]

Good question. You always want to create an outline because this turns your text into vector so that your printer can use it without needing the fonts. Sometimes you might use a unique font that the printing company doesn't have, in this case, they prefer that you turn everything into outlines before sending off to print.

[ZookanProductions]

@Whatisright For example if you wish to use a font and the company your sending the card to for printing doesn't own that font, it will not be shown on the design, as a vector object instead of live text, any machine can read it

[mlwebco]

I know its sometimes difficult to find a good printing company. I used the company called Printrunner. Just Google them, you can find their site easy. What I like about Printrunner is that they offer low quantity at a low price. So you can print out a 100 cards for little under $20 bucks or so. This is good for when you're testing designs, etc. You dont' want to print thousands of cards to find out you didn't really like and want to change. ;)