No matter what style of a business card is on the table, the best business cards will usually follow a set of primary design points which can work to encourage recipients to taken action while boosting brand visibility:

1 – Make it Convenient

Unless you have chosen a ‘design' business card, which needs to be highly unique to be genuinely useful, one of your first considerations should be convenience. An important question to ask is: how easy is it for your audience to receive, handle, and manage both your business card and the information contained on that card?

While unusual shapes, such as star shapes, for example, are indeed memorable, they are not easy to handle, especially for recipients storing cards in traditional business card holders.

Sometimes, a standard 3.5 x 2-inch business card can be more effective than something ‘different'. If you have chosen to go down a different route, consider other ways in which you can boost the convenience of your business card, such as leaving a blank, uncoated back to allow for note-jotting.

2 – Be Selective

Regardless of the shape of the business card, you are going for; one thing remains the same: business cards are pretty small.

This means that in many cases, it is going to be impossible to include all necessary information without producing an over-crowded design, and without overwhelming your audience.

That is why your next consideration should be about the type of information you want to include. It is essential to try to find the right balance between providing enough information to show you are the best solution for your audience's problems and retaining part of your story to encourage potential customers to reach out and learn more.

In many cases, a business will probably want to include their logo design and company name, their name and contact details, and a small snippet of what the company does.

3 – Consider Layout

We all know the importance of a good layout when it comes to websites, but many businesses overlook this when designing their business cards. However, the ‘rules' of good web design can easily be transferred to business cards, especially regarding where the audience is statistically most likely to look. Which parts of the information they are most likely to focus on.

Eye-tracking research has resulted in the formation of ‘gaze plot' patterns, and these patterns suggest that a typical audience will look for branding elements first and foremost.

Therefore, it is often said that the best business cards will accentuate these elements, making aspects such as the logo, the business name, and the primary graphic some of the most visible parts of the business card; perhaps larger or bolder than other aspects.