Creating Your Own Business Cards: A Step by Step Guide for Beginners

Have you always wanted to make your own business card but don't know how to? Well look no further, this is a step-by-step guide to show you how to make your own business card and print several cards with one page.

Before beginning, you will need a copy of Adobe Illustrator on your computer. Once you have it ready, start the program and follow these instructions:

Step 1: Start a New Document

- Start the Adobe Illustrator program by clicking on the Illustrator icon on your desktop or start menu.

- If you want a ready-made template, click on "File" (on the upper left corner of your screen). Then choose "New Template" from the drop down menu of "File". After that click on the "Basic" folder and then the Blank Templates file.

- If you want to make your own template, click on "File" (on the upper left corner of your screen). From the File drop down menu, choose "New" and select the "Print Document" option. Now choose default letter size and set the units to inches.

The Adobe Illustrator version you have might be a CS3 or 4 version of Adobe Illustrator where you will notice a welcome panel showing up whenever you start the program. You can also use this welcome panel to select a new document as well.

To start using the welcome panel, do the following:

- Click Print document on the welcome board.

- Choose the default letter size and set units to inches.

- Click 'ok.'

- Once the document is open, select your rectangle tool and click on the document to create a business card sized rectangle of the size you want.

- Make sure that your rectangles have 'no fill'. The fill attribute can be disabled by clicking the box by the bottom part of the tools selection menu. 3.5 x 2 inches is the ideal, but if you want a larger one or a thinner size, adjust those measurements according how thick/thin/tall you want your business card to be.

Step 2: Make a Bleed Line

Bleed lines are margins for errors in printing, because when printing, the design may 'bleed' outside where you want your graphics to be.

- Estimate about a 0.25 inch expansion of your rectangle from your original measurements to create a bleed line. For example, if your original measurements are 3.5 x 2 inches, the rectangle for the bleed line should be 3.75 x 2.25 inches.

- Convert your rectangles into 'guides' so they will not be printed out. To do this click on 'View' on the upper part of the screen.

- Now you can place your design elements onto your business card. You should have your own design ready so you can simply paste them on to the rectangle guides. Unfortunately, I can't guide you with this step, because I do not know what you want your business card to look like.

Step 3: Type in Your Text

Click on the 'T' icon on your toolbar and then click on the area where you want the text to be then start typing.

- Enter the necessary details like name, address, telephone number, e-mail and website.

- Create outlines for the text in case your print service does not have the fonts.

- Move the object to the corner of the document.

- 'Release' your guides so you can make then make crop marks.

- Make sure your guides have no stroke or fill attribute. The fill and stroke option can be changed by clicking the boxes by the bottom of the tools selection bar.

Step 4: Make Crop Marks

It's important to create crop marks in illustrator especially since we will be duplicating the images later on.

-To make crop marks click on "Effects" (found on the top of the screen in line with the File, Edit, Object, etc. menues) and then choose "Crop marks" from the drop down menu.

Step 5: Printing Your Business Card

This is the part where most people have trouble, but don't worry, we've got you covered. To have a ready and printable set of business cards, click on "Effects" and from the drop down menu, select "Distort &Transform" and "Transform".

- Put a -2.75 vertical move if your business card is 3.5x2 inches.

- Put 3 on copies for 8x11 paper

- To have another column of cards, click on "Effects" and from the drop down menu select "Distort &Transform" and "Transform" again.

- Leave the vertical move at zero and change the entry on the horizontal move to your preferable business card size plus a 1 inch margin. For a 3.5x2 inches business card, its 4.25 and set copies to 1.

- This should give you 8 business cards in one page.

- You are now ready to print your business card. Print a test page to see if your estimates were right before printing several pages.

(Author Bio box)

This tutorial on making your own business cards using Adobe Illustrator has a free video tutorial companion on BusinessCardDesignIdeas.com The video is available in streaming and high-quality download format.