To design your business, you need to first design your business card. There is one other preliminary activity that makes the rest of the business card design process run more smoothly. Taking a few minutes of reflection about your personal brand will help with some business card design questions down the line, particularly when it comes to displaying your personality. If you have already decided on a traditional rectangular business card, you can skip ahead to the second step. On the conservative end of the spectrum, you could simply round the corners for a friendlier business card. You can even build your entire business card theme around clever cutting. Cireson’s business card design uses shape to really highlight the employee picture, giving them a more personable and therefore approachable feel. For example, some companies such as STIR above like to die-cut areas of their logo.
Bleed area, trim line, and safety line on a standard U.S. /Canadian business card, 3.5 2 in. While these areas vary depending on the size and printer, a safe bet is to set the trim line at 0.125 in. From there, set the safety line at 0.125 in. That is 0.250 in total from the edge of the bleed area to the inside of the safety area.
Now we begin plotting the visual elements of your business card design, first and foremost the logo. Your logo should take centre stage on your business card, although other flourishes and secondary graphics can sometimes be useful as well. One strategy is to dedicate one side of the business card exclusively to the logo, while the other side showcases the contact information of the person.
However, it is also good to have the logo on both sides, so often you will see a smaller, out-of-the-way logo on the side with contact information, as with Omni. This is just one strategy of many, though, so feel free to experiment with logo placement until you find one for your tastes. While minimalism is a popular choice for business cards, if that empty space does not suit you, you can fill it with additional graphics.
Even if your logo is simple or text only, any related imagery serves the same ends. What your business card says depends on you. The point is different people benefit from different text on their business cards. So, the next step is for you to decide what to put on your business card.
To maintain readability, you want all your text to be at least 8 pts. However, you want your most important elements to stand out, so feel free to vary the text sizes. Font. Just remember to choose a font that represents the personality you are going for. Staying on-brand, choose text colours that go well with the background colour of your card, which should also be a brand colour. See if any of these “special effects” can benefit your business card design strategy. This technique creates three-dimensional reliefs, making certain areas “pop out. The result is something like an engravement, typically with special ink to draw further attention. This also works for accenting text if you’ve chosen a bold enough typeface. Spot UV coating is the same thing, except only applied to certain areas. That means you can apply a gloss on only your logo, specific graphics, or even a word or phrase. Use it when you want to accent certain areas over others but be mindful of how it affects the overall composition when only a portion is shiny.
A good visual flow should start with the logo, then the name, and then the secondary information, finishing on any secondary images if they are there. You can always change and optimize the visual flows by changing an element’s size and location.
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath
Hi there!
I'm not sure if you mean designing a business plan or designing the branding and look of a business and or business website.
First, you definitely need to have a solid business plan that includes what your company is all about, your mission, and what exactly you do.
Once you have your services or products outlined, you will need to calculate pricing to figure out where your break even points are to start making profit. Once your business plan and pricing is set, you can start designing the business marketing materials themselves, such as cards, website, ad campaigns, etc...
Start with the basics for your business branding and marketing. Choose a handful of main colors, develop a logo, or get one designed by a specialist. You can find great people on sites like Fiverr for logo design services and similar.
To run a small business website, I'd highly recommend WordPress. It's a free open source website management system that runs a lot of websites on the internet that you probably visit all the time. WordPress is also user friendly for non-coders. You can add and modify new pages fairly easily without code.
Make sure you build out your website with a solid homepage, about, and some service pages that explain what your business provides. Also make sure to include your main keywords that people use to search for your business in your website titles, images, and other web copy.
Lastly, when designing the website, make sure to think about what specifically you want the user to do once they get there. Phone call, form submission, etc... are likely options. Try to include elements in your pages that push users to your desired action of calling the business or submitting a form online, or what ever your goal is.
The process that I have seen that is most effective and I use with my clients in Business Design is defining three critical areas:
1. Purpose
2. Mission
3. Vision
The Purpose is your why? Why does your company exist? and why is it here? This purpose is guided by your organizational values. If your values do not align with your purpose then you do not believe in your purpose
It must also be lived out in your people. Every staff member must understand the purpose and know how to live it out in
their roles and behavior.
The Mission is Your How? How do you do what you do, how do you fulfill your purpose?
Your mission is is your guidepost and roadmap to delivery.
Organizations with strong missions do not meander, they have a focus and know how they will arrive at their goals
Your people must be enabled to live out the mission every staff member must understand the mission and be enabled
and equipped to contribute to the mission.
Your Vision is your where? Where do you want your organization to be?
Your vision is your destination. All organizations should know the short and long-term goals
Your people must also be aware of the vision. Every employee must understand the short and long-term vision of the organization and be given ample opportunity along the way to contribute.
Happy to discuss further if you believe it will be helpful.
Carlos
