{"id":75317,"date":"2014-09-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-16T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ndf-blog.nextdayflyers.com\/blog\/?p=75317"},"modified":"2026-08-05T16:42:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T23:42:58","slug":"bad-business-cards-how-to-avoid-by-professional-business-card-printers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextdayflyers.com\/blog\/bad-business-cards-how-to-avoid-by-professional-business-card-printers\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Bad Business Cards and How to Avoid Them &#8211; Professional Business Card Printers Weigh In"},"content":{"rendered":"<main id='bde-main'><section class=\"bde-section-75317-100 bde-section\">\n  \n  \n\t\n\n\n\n<div class=\"section-container\"><div class=\"bde-rich-text-75317-101 bde-rich-text breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>Let\u2019s be honest for a minute. Are your business cards a total embarrassment? The answer may surprise you. At NextDayFlyers, we pride ourselves on being the Web\u2019s premier business card printers, and as such, we have seen more terrible business card designs than we care to acknowledge. But there is hope. Choosing the best business card design for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextdayflyers.com\/business-card-printing\/plastic-business-cards.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">plastic<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextdayflyers.com\/business-card-printing\/metallic-business-card\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">metallic<\/a>, or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.printrunner.com\/foil-business-cards.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">foil\u00a0<\/a>will not only highlight the print material but also the content of the business card it self. The way to design a better business card isn\u2019t by looking at good examples, but by looking at bad examples, and understanding what makes them such visual eyesores.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-75317-102 bde-heading post-mark-heading\">\nToo Crowded\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-75317-104 bde-rich-text breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>If your business card reads like a Charles Dickens novel, it\u2019s probably time to trim the fat. We don\u2019t need five email addresses, three phone numbers, and links to your favorite Pinterest recipes. The purpose of a business card is to provide clients, customers, associates, colleagues, and other assorted acquaintances with the most fundamental contact information. If you need to switch to 3pt type just to make room for your XBox Live profile, it\u2019s time to step back and re-examine your life.<\/p>\n<p>The takeaway: Keep it succinct, and stick to the most essential information.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-75317-106 bde-heading post-mark-heading\">\nToo Boring\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-75317-107 bde-rich-text breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>Perhaps less forgivable than the over-bloated business card is the overly insipid business card. Business card printers receive these types of requests all the time from well-meaning professionals who simply don\u2019t understand the power of a well-designed card. First impressions are extremely important, and if you present people with a dull Times New Roman presentation on a purely white background, you should expect them to read it in a Ben Stein voice.<\/p>\n<p>The takeaway: It\u2019s okay to keep it simple, but try to incorporate at least a little bit of personality and color.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-75317-109 bde-heading post-mark-heading\">\nToo Hideous\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-75317-110 bde-rich-text breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>Hopefully this one goes without saying, but given the number of horrendous business cards we\u2019ve seen, it\u2019s important to emphasize this point. Ugly business cards are bad business cards. Clashing color combinations, cheesy clipart, bright gradients\u2026these are things you\u2019ll want to avoid. And if you ever feel the urge to use Comic Sans as the primary font for your business card, please seek medical attention at once. You don\u2019t have to suffer in silence any longer.<\/p>\n<p>The takeaway: If you think your business card might be a little too gaudy, we can assure you that it\u2019s way too gaudy.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-75317-112 bde-heading post-mark-heading\">\nToo Inappropriate\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-75317-113 bde-rich-text breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>Yes, of course you want to use your business card as an outlet to showcase your wonderful personality, but perhaps there are certain aspects of your personality best concealed within the deep recesses of your mind. For instance, if you work as a partner in a family law firm, you might not want to model your business card after the Jack Daniels logo. Yes, your slacker friends will think it\u2019s totally awesome, but chances are, those boneheads can\u2019t afford your services anyway, so let\u2019s keep it professional.<\/p>\n<p>The takeaway: If you think your business card might be a little too \u201creal\u201d for some people to handle, it\u2019s time to scale it back. Unless you specifically work in a counter-culture business, you\u2019ll want to keep it professional.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-75317-115 bde-heading post-mark-heading\">\nToo Obnoxious\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-75317-116 bde-rich-text breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>There\u2019s a fine line between confidence and arrogance, and if you haven\u2019t figured out where that line is, you probably fall into the latter category. There\u2019s nothing wrong with using your business card as a persuasive marketing tool to get people excited about your service, but the trick is learning to convey this excitement without coming off as a total d-bag. Helpful hint: You may want to avoid describing yourself with words like \u201cguru,\u201d \u201cninja,\u201d or \u201crock star.\u201d Helpful hint #2: Just try to imagine what Kanye West would do, and then do the opposite.<\/p>\n<p>The takeaway: Sell, but don\u2019t oversell.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-75317-118 bde-heading post-mark-heading\">\nNextDayFlyers: Your Premier Business Card Printers\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-75317-117 bde-rich-text breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>If you\u2019re concerned that your business cards aren\u2019t conveying the right message, NextDayFlyers is here to help. We offer stylish business cards in a wide array of elegant styles that are sure to keep you out of the Bad Business Card Club.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextdayflyers.com\/business-card-printing\/\">Explore the full range of options<\/a>, and see why we\u2019re not your average business card printers.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/section><\/main>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let\u2019s be honest for a minute. Are your business cards a total embarrassment? The answer may surprise you.  We have seen many terrible business card designs than we care to acknowledge. But there is hope. The way to design a better business card isn\u2019t by looking at good examples, but by looking at bad examples, and understanding what makes them such visual eyesores.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":75330,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_breakdance_hide_in_design_set":false,"_breakdance_tags":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4127],"tags":[3928],"class_list":["post-75317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-design-creative-ideas","tag-business-cards"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextdayflyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextdayflyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextdayflyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextdayflyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextdayflyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75317"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextdayflyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84929,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextdayflyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75317\/revisions\/84929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextdayflyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextdayflyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextdayflyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextdayflyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}