The business card is more than a piece of cardboard with bits of information printed on it. It is a window of opportunity, a uniquely placed marketing tool that can garner enormous benefits for your business. In difficult economic times, one of the most important steps that a business must take is to ensure that it makes a good first impression on prospective patrons. More often than not, the nature of that first impression is influenced considerably by how much thought was given towards the design of the business cards.

At the most basic level, a business card conveys information about your company in a format that is convenient to use. However, the business card can also be used to achieve much more than that. They can be considered an inexpensive, yet highly effective means of marketing your business. If you can ensure that you have an attention-grabbing business card with up-to-date information about the important aspects of your business, then you go a long way towards establishing your business in a favorable light with your clients and customers.

Of course, before you can decide exactly how to design a business card, you must decide upon the specific information that the card will be designed around. And while you can feel free to include any information that you feel is relevant, keep in mind that certain facts should not be omitted. Among these are:
- The name and position of the card holder
- The company;s name, logo, and slogan (if it has one)
- Contact information, including street addresses, telephone numbers, fax number, website and email address.

The aesthetic form of the business card should complement the information that it contains. There are many ways in which this overall harmony of design can be achieved. Remember that you have open to you a wide range of options regarding every aspect of your business card's design, and that it would be wise not to discount the opportunity differentiate your cards by combining striking visual elements. For instance, the colors of you business card can be chosen to balance the colors in your company's logo. Furthermore, both sides of the business card can be used in order to convey information, or to simply highlight the design of the card. The reverse of the card is often used to convey information about the businesses products or services.

Even the material that your cards are made from can be customized to suit the rest of the card’s design. While most business cards are made from paper or cardboard, many kinds of plastics, including translucent, white or metallic plastics can also be used. The size and aspect ratio of the card can also be varied. Business cards are normally printed on sheet-fed offset printing presses using spot colors, but other options are also available. They can be printed horizontally or vertically, and can be designed to have rounded corners, or UV gloss coatings.

Be sure to consider all of the options available to you in creating your business cards, and don't understand the importance of a good first impression.