Monthly Archives: October 2021

QR code business cards

Are Business Cards with QR Codes a Good Idea?

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Even if you don’t know what a QR (Quick Response) code is, you’ve doubtless seen these odd barcode type squares of dots, popping up in marketing information and posters over the past few years. QR codes are essentially barcodes, evolved.
You might then wonder what QR codes bring to the party when it comes to business cards—and the answer is quite a lot. While the traditional barcode deals with a limited amount of data, the QR code may include any form of computer-readable data, including a file containing up to 7K of data. The uses of QR codes are many and diverse. For instance, have you ever used your phone to check-in for a flight? That’s a type of QR code.
This article will discuss what QR codes are, what they add to business cards, and will go through the pros and cons of adding such a technology to your own card.

What Is a QR Code?

Japanese conglomerate Toshiba, with the help of a sister company, developed the modern form of QR code technology after becoming dissatisfied with the reliability of traditional barcodes. Since its development in 1994, QR codes have become an open international standard, used all over the world, in many industries.

How Do QR Codes Relate to Business Cards?

To answer this question, you need to know something about their use in marketing. Most modern smartphones include barcode scanning functionality, enabling the scanning of both traditional barcodes and QR codes.
The information in a traditional barcode is of limited value, outside of its intended use. However, the QR code on a marketing poster may contain a link that, when scanned, takes the user directly to a promotional website, or provides some useful piece of tourist information if scanned from a museum exhibit.
That’s a great function—no requirement for the user to type a fiddly website address into their smartphone—almost instant access to the information.
A QR code may contain any information usually printed on a business card, enabling a user to scan your contact, or other promotional information, directly into their smartphone.

What Information to Include in Your QR Code

If you’re thinking about including a QR code on your business card, you may wonder: what information should I include in it?

Personal Contact Information

If it’s for personal contact information, the QR code should include a vCard containing all contact information.
A vCard is a file format used for sharing contact information between smartphones, computers and PDAs. A customer may scan your business card details directly into their smartphone or computer.

You may use either a static or dynamic vCard.

1) Static vCard QR code: The static vCard contains all contact information. Advantage: the customer may import this directly into their smartphone. Disadvantage: The details can’t be edited and if your contact details change, you must print a new card.

2) Dynamic vCard QR code: The dynamic vCard directs to a landing page on a website, which hosts your vCard.

Advantages: It’s possible to track how often the business card is scanned and also record the IP address and location of the scanning device. The details in the vCard may change without updating the QR code. Disadvantages: The customer’s device must have Wi-Fi or Internet access to use this function—the static vCard doesn’t. It’s more complicated to set up and less straightforward for the customer.

Business Promotion

If the card is part of a business promotion, the QR code may include a direct link to a sales promotion. If, for instance, your business sells printing supplies, include a direct link for the customer to reorder their toner or paper.
It’s common practice to use QR codes to link to free competitions or giveaways, enabling instant sign up on the website.

Other Uses and Benefits of Business Cards with QR Codes

You might think that the most obvious advantage of business card QR codes is the ease with which your customer can scan the information, but that’s only half the story.
After most sales conferences, trade shows or seminars, events where attendees exchange huge amounts of business cards, an unfortunate intern has the job of inputting all that contact information into their company’s CMS.

For traditional business cards, that’s feeding them through an OCR enabled business card scanner. These scanners are pretty good, but they are not perfect and depending on the quality of the printing and the typeface used, things can go wrong.
An observant intern might check and manually correct, but no guarantee. With a QR code, the contact data will transfer perfectly.

Here are some other advantages of using QR codes on business cards:

1) Direct link to Your LinkedIn Profile: LinkedIn is a popular business-oriented social media platform. A link to your profile encourages a customer to follow you on the platform.

2) Direct link to Your Business Portfolio: Direct a customer to your portfolio or list of business services. For instance, the profile for a graphic designer might show a gallery of their work, or writing, in the case of a freelance writer.

3) Quick Access to Your Contact Details: If a customer is looking for the service provided by your business and they have several competitor cards in front of them—Would they spend minutes typing in a web address from each business card, or access your company details directly from the QR code?

4) Save Space: A QR code uses less space than printed details

5) Show Your Techy Side: If your business is in technology, it’s good to show the customer that you’re keeping up with popular trends.

QR code business cards

Not to mention, they simply look attractive and professional. When handing a card to a potential customer, a cool-looking business card with a QR code is a good conversation starter.

What Are the Downsides to Using QR Codes on Business Cards?

Unfortunately, like any technology, QR codes aren’t perfect – they have their downsides, too. Here are some potential disadvantages to think about before you go sticking them across all of your promotional materials.

Security Concerns with QR Codes

The one downside of QR codes that attracts the most headlines is security. Banks, always keen to protect their customers from phishing scams, issue warnings about clicking on risky emails or web links. Now they include QR codes in these warnings.
Unlike traditional barcodes, which contain a limited amount of data, QR codes can contain detailed computer-readable data. This might include links to malicious web pages or even malware contained directly in the QR code data.

It is important to realise that a QR code is a black box, and it’s impossible to know what data it includes without first scanning the code.
The encouraging news here is that security companies and anti-virus software vendors are becoming more proactive in combating these risks.
In terms of smartphones, anti-virus companies provide free QR code scanner apps, which scan the QR code for security risks before loading the data.

How to Encourage Customers to Scan Your QR Code

It’s all about trust. If your brand is well-known, your customer is more likely to feel comfortable scanning the QR code. However, if not and you’re engaging in a new promotion, carefully consider how to integrate the QR code in your business card design.
It has become commonplace in the tech industry for people to go all out with QR codes on their business cards. For instance, someone might include their name and job title only (Dave Martin, The World’s Best Games Programmer) and include everything else in a vCard, encoded in a QR code.

While that approach might seem ‘cool’ and appeal to techy types, others might feel nervous to scan such a QR code into their device. This is especially true if you decide to distribute your cards in public.
When designing the business card, include printed contact information, don’t just rely on the QR code. In that way, someone would feel more confident to scan the code.
There are other reasons for not relying 100% on the QR code. If your business is in a traditional industry, not all of your customers would be tech savvy, or even own a smartphone!
The moral of this story is unless you are 100% confident that a QR code only business card works for all of your customers, take care to include sufficient printed contact information.

The Importance of Good Business Card Design

As mentioned in the previous section, the place where you distribute your card will subliminally affect how trustworthy the customer considers your card.
Make sure that your card looks professional and well printed. If the card that you’re distributing looks ‘spammy’ or poorly printed, the chance of it being picked up is minimal and less than minimal that a person would scan a QR code on such a card.

By using a professional business stationer such as 123Print, you can be sure that your business cards will look professional and be printed to a very high standard. If you decide to include a QR code, simply use the upload artwork feature in our easy editor to paste the code directly onto your design.
With our 100% satisfaction guarantee, you’ll get your money back if you’re not completely happy with the end result. Choose from one of our thousands of templates to get started!

16 Fun and Easy Kids Birthday Party Theme Ideas

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There’s so much to think about when planning a birthday party for your child – especially if you want them to have the best party of all time! From deciding where to host the party, to what party invitations to buy, it can feel fairly overwhelming.
Having a solid kid’s birthday party theme can help make everything that little bit easier. You can design the decorations, invitations, and even the food to coordinate with the theme, so that nothing looks out of place. And theming a birthday party doesn’t have to be difficult, time consuming or expensive!

Here are 16 fun and easy birthday party themes for you to choose from.

1. Detective

Why not put a twist on the classic theme of cops and robbers by throwing a detective themed party. Give out some cheap magnifying glasses, and have the children search for crime-solving clues in a scavenger hunt.
You could use brown paper bags decorated to look like evidence bags, and put some mini disguise kits and a notepad inside each one to act as their party favours. You could even finish the party with a classic game of Cluedo!

2. Sports Day

If you’d prefer an outdoor party, then a sports day themed birthday would be perfect for your back garden, or even the local park.
The children can dress up in their sports kit and you can pick activities such as a sack race, a ball relay, or if the weather is warm enough, maybe water balloon dodgeball! You could finish the party off by giving out medals and prizes to those who took part. This trees invitation will help spread the message that the party will be held outside!

3. Lego

When it comes to throwing an awesome, creative, and gender-neutral party, what’s better than lego? Not only will it be popular, but it’s likely that you will have enough at home to add to the decor.
Why not have a building challenge, or use some moulds bought online to create sweets or chocolates in the shape of these bricks. You could even create bigger bricks for decoration by using some boxes and painting them in the same colours as your theme. A construction-themed party invitation will help get guests in the mood for building!

4. Princes and Princesses

The great thing about a prince and princess themed party is that as well as being timeless, it’s also flexible. Whether you go for a general royalty theme, or base it around a specific Disney princess, you’re bound to have a perfect time.
Consider activities such as magic wand making, a scavenger hunt for royal treasure, and maybe swap musical chairs for musical thrones! Have pink lemonade and cut some sandwiches into dainty heart shapes. End the party with some cheap plastic crowns as party favours. This sparkly pink love heart invitation definitely gives off princess vibes.

5. Pirates

If your child is into pirates, then have a swashbuckling good time with a pirate-themed bash. Organise a scavenger hunt and have the kids search for pirate booty, and if they’re dressed up then even better! Luckily, pirate costumes are cheap and easy to make – all you need is an eye patch, a bandana and a billowy shirt.
You could even add to this with some temporary skull and crossbones tattoos, and if you have activities making pirate flags and telescopes, then they will really look the part. End the party with some fish and chips and ‘grog’. This spooky skull invitation would be perfect!

6. Pancakes and pyjamas

If you’re not a fan of sleepovers, then throwing a pancakes and pyjamas themed birthday can be a great alternative.
With a spread of pancakes, pastries, fruit, cereal and yogurt available, consider activities such as pancake decorating, pillow sack races and making necklaces out of your favourite hoop shaped cereal, all whilst wearing the comfiest pyjamas!

7. Rainbows

The best part of throwing a rainbow themed party is going crazy with all the colours, and not limiting yourself to just one or two hues. This makes shopping for props a breeze!
You can buy brightly coloured balloons and streamers for some exciting décor, have guests dress up in their favourite colours, and provide face painting as an activity. Food can be kept simple with rainbow fruit or veggie kebabs and if you have the time, you could make some rainbow fruit ice lollies. Add to the theme with this bright rainbow balloon party invitation.

8. Robots

Consider picking robots if you are looking for a versatile theme. With mostly silver, and one other colour, such as orange, blue or green, you could recycle some old boxes by sticking robot faces on them. You could even cut a circle in one of them to make a photo booth!
Why not put your snacks into different sized aluminium food trays, and arrange them to look like a robot, and for drinks, label some bottles as fuel. For activities, create your own masks and play a special game of musical robot statues.
And don’t think that robots are just for boys, either – this gears of love invitation combines robotic gears and subtle hearts for a girly touch.

9. Science

Throwing a science party is one of the most fun themes on this list; think orange, green and purple to create a mad lab with your little scientists. You could use food colouring in water for drinks and decorations, and you could even buy some petri dishes to put jelly in with some gummy worms.
Some simple science-themed party activities could include making slime, or conducting the classic coke and mentos experiment. As long as you have lots of bubbles and foam then you are bound to have a fun time. Don’t forget to dress up in your white lab coats!

10. Unicorn

If your little one wants a magical or fantasy themed party, consider picking unicorns! You could stick to a pastel colour scheme, or even combine this with the rainbow theme for an enchanted time. Party snacks can be as simple as candyfloss for unicorn hair, and chocolate covered pretzel sticks with sprinkles for a unicorn horn.
Activities can be just as easy, with adapting a simple ring toss game to create toss the ring on the horn, or pin the tail on the unicorn instead of the donkey. Why not have the children decorate unicorn shaped biscuits for a fun and yummy treat.

11. Under the sea

Under the sea is another simple yet effective theme for your child’s birthday! You can keep it basic and stick to sea animals, or you could adapt it and make it mermaid or Spongebob themed, for example. Consider decorating with blue, green and purple streamers – they would make a great backdrop if you hung them from the ceiling, or maybe you could add them to some balloons to make some wiggly jellyfish.
For food, you could cut pizzas and sandwiches to look like starfish, or even decorate fish-shaped biscuits as one of your activities. For delightful ocean themed desserts, consider individual jellies with gummy fish in them, or skewer some grapes to look like seaweed! This seaside party invitation will tie the theme together.

12. Zoo

While going to the zoo can be fun, when you invite even just a few of your child’s friends the ticket price can soon add up. Instead, why not bring the zoo to your home, with a zoo-themed party! Have everyone dress up as their favourite animals, and make masks or use face-paints.
Why not have animal themed snacks: bananas for monkeys, veggies for goats and peanut butter sandwiches for elephants, and as well as decorating using different animal patterns, why not pop some small toy animals on the snack table that can be used as party favours. This adorable pastel zoo invitation would fit the theme perfectly.

13. Dinosaur

Dinosaurs will always be one of those “roarsome” birthday party themes that will never go out of style, and with a simple colour scheme of green and brown, you are bound to organise this with no effort whatsoever.
Why not have a sandpit as a digging site, with some plastic dinosaurs for the children to find? Or if you want to go the extra mile, you could make some fossils using salt dough. Biscuits with dino footprints would make a great snack alongside a fruit-a-saurus salad, and hold a dinosaur egg and spoon race for some extra fun.

14. Outer Space

With space missions starting up again, now is the perfect time to throw a space themed party! Gear yourself up with space themed decorations – multicoloured balloons would make great planets (whether from this solar system or not!)
Come up with some galactic activities, such as painting ‘moon’ rocks, creating ‘UFO’ frisbees, and making some ‘alien goo slime’. How about some out of this world flying saucer pizza or special star shaped sandwiches? However you choose to throw this intergalactic bash, don’t forget to pick a side for dressing up. Will you choose to be an astronaut or an alien?

15. Woodland creatures

A woodland themed party is great for all ages, and can be perfect for any season of the year. The best part is being able to use things from nature in your decorations and activities, saving money. Why not have a pinecone treasure hunt? And if you’re out in the woods, you could have a den-building competition from logs and branches.
You could even incorporate a fairy theme into it if you wanted to, decorating fairy doors and making fairy or animal masks. The food is where you could get the most creative: decorate cupcakes to look like mushrooms, use Swiss rolls as logs, pretzels for twigs, and incorporate lots of different berries. This neutral toned butterfly party invitation would be perfect for a woodland party.

16. Ice Cream Sundae Party

Perfect for the summer months, an ice cream sundae party is simple, but very tasty! Create your own sundae station, and add things like sprinkles and chocolate sauce, but also different fruits, biscuits and fun cereal toppings.
Consider a themed game: participants roll a die and depending on the result, put a cherry on top, add some chocolate syrup, pass the bowl to the left, etc, and when it ends they eat what’s in front of them. You could also play the classic game of “duck duck goose”, but instead change it to “banana banana split.”
Have you chosen your ideal birthday party theme yet? When you’re ready to pick your perfect matching invitations, head over to 123Print to browse our huge range of templates. They’re available in two sizes (A5 and A6) and are all fully customisable. Happy designing!

11 Funny and Memorable Ideas for Photo Christmas Cards

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Christmas is a special time of year that many people look forward to with great anticipation. It is when friends and family come together, share each other’s company, and exchange presents in an atmosphere of good cheer.
This atmosphere makes it possible for families to have fun with the holiday, including doing funny things with pictures on Christmas cards. Why settle for buying pre-printed, boring Christmas cards from your nearest Clinton’s or Card Factory?
When you send a Christmas card during the holiday season, you want it to be memorable – and funny if possible. Many stationers, such as 123Print, offer you the opportunity to design your own photographic Christmas cards and upload your pictures as you go. If you’re stuck for ideas for photo Christmas cards, check out the following ideas!

1. Turn into Father Christmas

Memorability is one of the best ways to create a compelling image for your Christmas card. A theme that will make your picture stand out from others is a great place to start. For instance, Christmas cards with images of Santa Claus are a dime a dozen at this time of year. You can create a funny card by replacing Santa with someone else.
A picture of yourself or your children dressed up in the full regalia of St. Nick makes for an excellent shot, especially if it is taken in a non-traditional setting. Think about doing your picture at the gym or the beach, for instance.
Alternatively, create a funny family scene where your kids walk in on you dressed up as Father Christmas, slipping presents underneath the tree! Or re-enact the classic song “I Saw Mummy Kissing Santa Claus” with your partner and kids.

2. Show Off for the Camera

Many families have a group of funny pictures that get passed around on an annual basis. Usually, these are taken by parents who ask their kids to do something ridiculous for the camera. If you have any of these pictures, find a way to use them for your Christmas card. Or, ask your kids to show-off for the camera and pull as many funny faces as they can!
You could also incorporate some role-play into the photos. For example, get everyone to act as if they’re having a huge argument – wagging their fingers at each other or pretending to his each other. Bonus points if the room is wrecked, with tinsel and baubles everywhere!

3. Overlay Digital Images onto Prints of Other Images

It is possible to take a picture of yourself or your family members and then superimpose that image onto a print of another photo.
This will allow you to create an incredible picture that showcases who you are as individuals, what you care about, and what makes the people in your life so special. The possibilities are endless:

1) Take a picture of your family members, then put them into a scene that is relevant to your holiday celebration. For example, dress everyone up in winter gear and superimpose yourselves onto an ice rink or into a festive snow-covered wood.
2) Add images to your Christmas cards in which Santa Claus visits other locations that have nothing to do with the North Pole and his usual entourage.

For a religious theme, you could even get everybody to dress up as characters from the Nativity, and superimpose your photo onto a background of a stable, complete with a manger! Or, dress up as Jesus and his disciples and digitally seat yourselves at the Last Supper.

4. Let Your Children Be the Photographers

If you’re running out of ideas yourself, you should consider giving your kids some digital cameras and letting them play photographer. You’ll be amazed what goes on in the minds of children! They may come up with some inventive ideas that you’d never have thought of. And sometimes, the photos taken by accident (such as hilarious close-up selfies) make the funniest shots of all.

Sure, they might not necessarily look like traditional Christmas card photos. But you can still add a festive touch by choosing a photo upload card design with a Christmas-themed background, such as this Santa Knows Best design.

5. Add a Homemade Touch to Your Card

Digital images can serve as a solid foundation for creating funny and memorable Christmas cards. However, you can give a homemade touch to your pictures by hand writing a Christmas greeting on the card with an old-fashioned pen and ink.

Use glittery or metallic ink, or even paint pens, to add an extra special feel. A personal greeting will add more dimension than simply printing out a pre-written message or sending out one of those mass-produced cards that everyone else is using. It will also be more fun for everyone to see.
You could also add textured or tactile elements to the front of the card. Scrounge some craft supplies and get the kids involved gluing colourful pom-poms, sequins and glitter all around the edge of the photograph.

6. Horrible Christmas Jumpers

Ugly Christmas jumpers, once condemned for their grotesquely garish appearance, are all the rage at the moment – they began to regain popularity after the classic Christmas jumper scene in Bridget Jones’s Diary.

Christmas jumpers often take the form of knitted designs featuring bright fair isle patterns, or festive creatures and characters (such as Father Christmas and Rudolph), along with tactile bobbles. Some Christmas jumpers even have built-in lights or sound makers for a truly gaudy festive display!

Why not have a day out shopping with your family to try and find the ugliest, most over-the-top Christmas jumpers, and then take a photo in them for your Christmas card. Bonus points if the whole family has a look of horror and disgust on their faces for being forced to wear them.

7. Yearbook-Style Photographs with Quotes

If you’ve got a fairly plan wall in an area of good natural light in your home, why not set up individual headshots of your family to look like yearbook photographs? The further away from high-school age your family members are, the funnier this will be.
Arrange these headshots on your photo upload Christmas card, and add funny or festive quotes underneath that represent each person, just as you would find in a real high school yearbook. This will help you show off your personality, and make your recipients laugh.
You could even write underneath the photos by hand, rather than typing it out, for an added personal touch.

8. Photograph Your Pets in Christmas Attire

Dressing up your family pets as Santa, Rudolph, a snowman, or in other Christmas-themed outfits will make for a memorable and hilarious festive picture. There are even ugly pet Christmas jumpers on the market that you can dress Fluffy up in to create the ultimate Christmas look.

And don’t think that this is limited to those of you with cats and dogs! Get creative with some felt and cotton wool and fashion a tiny Christmas hat for your rabbit, guinea pig, or even your hamster. And if there are no animals to speak of, why not tie Christmas scarves around your houseplants?

9. Stay Out of the Picture

For an extremely memorable photographic Christmas card, why not stay out of the picture altogether, and instead take a photograph of your empty home? Show of all of your Christmas decorations and your brightly-lit tree, for example. Or, set up a Christmas disaster scene by trashing your living room and making it look as though your pets did it.
You could even create footprints by dipping the soles of some winter boots in flour, to make it look like Father Christmas has walked across your living room carpet, trailing snow behind him. Add a shot of the half-eaten carrot and mince pie in the foreground for a nostalgic photo, harking back to the times when we all believed in Santa.

10. Incorporate Your Family’s Holiday Traditions

Every family has their own idea of the perfect Christmas tradition. Why not take some photos of your family taking part in your favourite festive activity, and use this as the basis for your Christmas cards?
For example, some families have a tradition of visiting Disney at Christmas, meaning a Disney themed Christmas Card would be perfect. Other families enjoy going ice-skating or visiting a local zoo during the holidays, so using images of your family members on the rink or in front of cages at the zoo would make for an excellent picture.
You could even hire a photographer for a few hours, and keep the shots of the day in a keepsake photo album as well as using them for your cards.

11. Photograph Your Christmas Preparations

There’s so much to do in the lead up to Christmas! So, why not photograph your family taking part in the Christmas preparations? For example:

1) Trimming the Christmas tree
2) Baking mince pies or Christmas cookies
3) Decorating your house or apartment with fake snow, Christmas ornaments and festive garlands
4) Making the Christmas wreath to hang on your front door
5) Lighting an advent candle or opening the advent calendar
6) Wrapping Christmas presents

You could even go “meta” and photograph your family signing Christmas cards! (Though you’ll have to use prop cards for the shot, as your actual cards won’t arrive until you’ve taken the picture…)

Where Can I Order Photo Christmas Cards?

Photographic Christmas cards are a fun way to share what’s going on in your family’s lives, spread some cheer and humour, and show off your unique perspective on the holiday season.
At 123Print, we have a great selection of photo upload Christmas cards that you can personalise with your own images. Examples include your Christmas Polaroid, Jolly Holly, and Tree Amend card designs, among many others.

Visit our site to find the perfect Christmas card design for you and your family. All of our designs are fully customisable, so you can edit the text, wording, font and colour scheme as well as adding your own photographs with the click of a button. And with our speedy 48-hour dispatch time, you won’t have to wait long before you’re spreading the joy with your family and friends!

10 Things You Should Never Put on a Business Card

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Business cards play a major role in someone’s first impression of your business. How you present your business cards to potential partners, clients, or customers can have a significant impact on whether or not they will want to work with you or your business in the future.
Because business cards are so important, this means that you really need to be sure that your business cards are well-designed, and carry all the vital information your contacts will need to get in touch. However, did you know that there are certain things you should never put on a business card?
By reading on, you’ll discover the top 10 things that you should never include on your business card. This will help you avoid making a bad first impression, and create the best impact possible on your potential business contacts.

1. Hard-to-Read Text

Small font sizes and cursive typefaces can be extremely appealing from a stylistic point of view, but this may not be the most functional option for a business card. After all, business cards are designed to convey information quickly and clearly.
The font should be instantly readable by everyone who receives your business card. The font doesn’t need to be too big for the card, otherwise you won’t be able to fit everything that you need to on it. But, the font should never be so small that it’s unreadable. The same goes for low-contrast fonts, and swirling, cursive typefaces.

2. Clutter and Fluff

Clutter isn’t good in the home or office, and it’s especially not good on your business card. A cluttered and ‘busy’ business card won’t be visually appealing for your potential customers.
Every bit of information on the card should be concise, important, and immediately redable, allowing people to access the information that they are looking for.
If it’s too cluttered, with too much ‘fluff’ (unnecessary text that doesn’t serve any real purpose), it may be confusing and/or overwhelming for the customer. Only include an inspirational quote, tagline or testimonial, for example, if there’s adequate space for it.
If you want to share any additional information that there’s not space for, simply put it on your website, and include a link to it on the card – or a QR code.

3. Hobbies or Personal Interests

When people take your business card, they are interested in what your business can do for them. They want to know, in short, how you can help them. What they aren’t interested in is what you like to do in your space time.
Business cards aren’t like CVs or resumes. While you can have fun when designing them or using them, you should leave any non-essential information from the cards. Linking back to the previous point, this can help prevent the card from getting too cluttered and allow people to just see the information that they need from you.

4. Typos, Spelling and Punctuation Errors

Since business cards are the first impression that someone gets of you, and because they are supposed to be professional, typos and spelling or grammar mistakes can have a negative impact on your brand. Believe me, your customers will notice mistakes – so be sure to double and triple check your text before your cards are printed.
It’s easy not to notice a simple typing error, or a repeated word, on the first look over. And if you’re no great shakes at grammar, punctuation or spelling, it may be worth having somebody else read over your design before you finalise it.

5. Handwritten Information

Business cards can be pricey, and it can also be a hassle to have new cards printed when your information changes. For this reason, some people are tempted to hand-write new information on the cards.
The problem is that handwriting on business cards can leave a negative impression of you. Business cards should be professional and presentable, and handwriting can make your cards look messy. There should never be handwriting on a business card unless you are taking notes for yourself on someone else’s business card – or you’re writing down details of an appointment.

6. Inappropriate Slang or Jargon

A business card, first and foremost, should be professional. That doesn’t mean you can’t use any slang, contractions, or colloquialisms on your business card: it merely means that they should be appropriate.
For example, using contractions and slang might be perfect for a business card representing a kids’ soft play centre, or a roller rink where the target market is teenagers. But for an accounting firm, it would look downright unprofessional.
But be sure not to go too far the other way. Using long words and complex industry jargon on your business cards may be off-putting for customers and clients – they may not understand what you mean, and will simply throw your card away.

7. Outdated or Incorrect Contact Details

It’s crucial that you check all of the information on your cards to make sure that all of the information is current and correct. If people go to your website or call the number on the card but can’t get through to you, they will likely give up and move onto your competition.
Double-check to make sure all of the information on your business cards is up to date and accurate. If you change any of your contact details, such as your telephone number, socials or physical address, immediately discard your old cards and order new ones.

8. Jokes and Sarcasm

Remember when we discussed the use of slang, and how you need to tailor it to your business? The same goes for jokes, sarcasm, and irony. If your business is in a very serious sector, such as family law, your business card might not be the best place for you to show off your comedic skills. But if you’re a stand-up comedian, or a kid’s birthday party clown? Go for it!
When it comes to sarcasm and irony, it’s best to avoid it altogether. Sarcasm doesn’t translate well over text, and you can never be sure whether your reader will think you’re serious. You don’t want to miss out on custom due to a joke that didn’t land.

9. Low-Resolution or Pixelated Images

Of course you should use images on your business card – they’re important for catching the reader’s eye. The most important image, of course, is your company’s logo. You can also use photos of your products, or stock images to set the tone of the card.
However, you should never include a picture on your business card if it’s low-resolution. When printed, it will look blurry and pixelated – and this will immediately make your business card look unprofessional. Even a professional printer won’t be able to make a low-res image look clear and sharp.

10. Too Much Empty Space

White space is important, as previously mentioned. So why not take advantage of the back of the card to fit all the information you need, without worrying about the card looking too cluttered. Whoever you hand the card to will automatically turn it over to see what’s on the other side – so don’t present them with an empty page.

You can use the back of your card for promotional purposes, such as a coupon or as a space for loyalty card stamps. You could use it to write a basic pricing list of your most popular products or services. There are plenty of things that you can add to the back of the card to make use of all of that real estate.

What Should You Include on Your Business Card?

Now that you know what shouldn’t be included on your business card, you need to be familiar with what you should put on there. This final section will discuss the most important information that should always be present on your business card:

1)  Your Name and Title
This is one of the most important things that you need to have on your card because it introduces who you are. The title is particularly important – especially if you own your business. List yourself as the CEO, director, founder, what have you – just make sure there’s a title of some sort!

2) Company Logo and Tagline
This is important because not only will it tell customers where you work, but it will also help to spread your brand image and ethos. A contact should know what your business is about just by looking at the card.

3) Contact Information
Without your contact information, they won’t be able to communicate with you. Include your premises address (if applicable), your phone number, email address, and any socials. Double-check that your details are all correct before sending your design to print.

Where Can I Order Business Cards in the UK?

Your business card should be representative of who you are as a brand. That’s why it’s vital to use a professional stationer, such as 123Print, when it comes to designing and ordering your business cards. With a professionally printed, high-quality business card, you’ll instantly create a favourable first impression of your brand with customers, clients and peers.

At 123Print, we offer hundreds of full-colour business card templates, all of which are completely editable and customisable. Simply select your preferred design to open our easy editor, and begin inputting your information.
With a 100% satisfaction guarantee and thousands of satisfied customers, you can trust us with all of your business stationery needs. Browse our business card templates today!