Business Cards for Freelancers

Article by Preetam Kaushik (22,775 pts ) , published Mar 15, 2009

As a freelancer you often neglect the importance of a good quality business card. But it's one of the most important factors that contribute to actual growth and potential of one’s portfolio and business as a whole. Read about how your business card should look so that it doesn't get discarded.

Designing a business card for a freelancer is indeed a daunting task and calls for extraordinary imagination and creative skills. Unlike established organizations that enjoy a well-known brand name and a popular logo, freelancers (particularly those that do not have existing market presence) have to convince the market about their reliability and capacity to deliver.

Name and Logo

Most freelancers use the brand name and logo of the company they represent so that prospective clients know they are dealing not with unknown individuals but reputed companies. But there are freelancers who wish to avoid using the name or logo of their principals and instead want the name of their own enterprise albeit with all its attendant risks. But the thinking of these more enterprising freelancers is to create in the long run a brand image for themselves by using their own names. These aspiring businessmen who start off as freelancers have their name printed clearly on the business card without hiding behind well-known brand names and logos.

Color Scheme

As freelancers are not the employees of the organizations they represent, they have the liberty to use the color combinations of their own choice. Since freelancers wish to pursue independent careers, it's only proper that they choose colors that will reflect their own preference and career goals. Most freelancers want to be fiercely independent and that is possibly the chief reason why they choose this career path. Freelancers are therefore free to opt for the color of their choice although it needs to be stated that the color chosen should be sober and appear professional and not a color that is too bright and gaudy that most people will resent.

We generally tend to associate certain colors with certain industries. For instance, white denotes the hospital industry or the nursing profession and green is the favorite color of environmentalists. Similarly, business blue represents corporate executives and olive green the military. The business card designers are quite aware of the color scheme and can guide the freelancer towards choosing the appropriate color that would reflect his or her industry accurately.

Card design

Card design has to be extraordinarily unique as business cards are the only effective tools for all freelancers. There are countless aesthetic business cards designs available in the market for a freelancer to choose from.

The design for a business card has to be simple, uncomplicated, and appealing to the client. Any attempt to over-design a card or having too much text or too many graphics will not only spoil the appearance of the card but it will be an eyesore for the recipient. . The freelancer's name, details of sales or service offered, and contact particulars should suffice.

However, these three items must be printed in the right font size and in the right colors. It may be advisable to make full use of double-sided cards if the text to be conveyed is more. But if the text has to be a long list of services and their details, then it is best that a small brochure accompanies the business card.

Another important factor is to design the card horizontally as most clients keep business cards in a horizontal box for easy flipping. They will often miss viewing cards that are printed vertically.

The final piece of advice is that the more captivating the overall presentation of the card is, the lcard has less of a chance of being discarded.

Reference for Writing Business Cards for Freelancers - Creating Business Crads for Freelancers