Business Card Typography: There is no better tool for business networking than a business card since it efficiently encapsulates who you are professionally. One of its important aspects is the selection of font.
Fonts work to establish the brand’s identity as well as how the intended audience will react to the information being passed out. Unfortunately, with so many fonts that are readily available online, it almost becomes a headache trying to go about finding a font that suits your business.
The fonts that the potential customers are likely to come across on the business cards mainly perform two roles: alertness and support. In this article, we will consider typography as an important branch of design, search for the most effective fonts for business card typography, and study what should be the size of the font on your business card typography.
What is Business Card Typography?
First, let’s clarify what we mean by typography on a business card. Indeed, this is the art and craft of type arrangement font, its size, spacing, and style on the business card. Indeed, typography impacts greatly on how these essential details are kept on the card and how customers perceive the card. Well-done typography also draws attention to the card, and at the same time makes it easy for people to remember and read the details they need to know: one’s name, title, contact details, and even a company logo.
Key Elements of Business Card Typography:
Selection of the font: The fonts you use can have a different image. For example, serif fonts such as Times New Roman indicate a conservative approach while sans-serif Arial or Helvetica are more progressive and clean-cut. Picking the appropriate font helps ensure that the intended message of the card is compatible with the brand character.
Font Size: Form follows function but does not mean design should be sacrificed in the quest for functionality. The name of the person should be the most prominent size on the card whereas contact details tend to be smaller than the name position but readable. In any normal scenario, the main text is recommended to be kept within the size of 10-12 points for readability without excessive strain.
Spacing and alignment: Sufficient spacing—both inter-letter (kerning) and inter-line (leading)—orders and directs the reading of any kind of text or captions present within the card and the graphical object as a whole. Textual elements should be placed at the far left where it can easily be seen in line with the spiral technique.
Hierarchy: Not all information available on business cards is given equal importance. Tools of typography promote a hierarchy by way of making certain elements more visually prominent in any hierarchy even without considering the content, such as a name, address, and other communications, by augmenting the size or thickness of the font. In this way, the least significant information is attended to last.
Business card typography works in all instances, be it form or function. An aesthetically pleasing card with organized typography provides basic information about a person and portrays what others would want to think about the person in terms of professionalism and branding.
Types of fonts
Let’s get the most important issues sorted out straight away. Which three basic types of fonts should you mind when designing your business cards?
Serif fonts
The origins of serifs are derived from the cutting of stone on temples, buildings, and even gravestones. Serif fonts are therefore acceptable when the desire is to present a brand with a sense of age and establishment.
For everyday use, a serif font can be used in books, newspapers, and magazines. Many people believe that these additional strokes help when reading long passages of text as they assist the eye in ‘traveling’ from one character to another.
Sans serif fonts
Sans serif fonts or typefaces do not contain short lines at the end of their strokes. Such fonts are more of the same thickness and can be read in a hurry, thus they come in handy for the titles of products like business cards. As such, sans-serif fonts portray sleek and clean design, which is essential in contemporary aesthetics.
Script fonts
With flowing loops and hand-crafted lines, script fonts have that personal touch. They are often used in invitations, greeting cards, and titles. They have more formal classic scripts while playful rounder ones.
Factors to consider when choosing a business card font
Anyone willing to consider the order of things should first consider the fact that: the following factors should be taken into consideration when deciding on the font for your business cards:
1. Font Sizes: There is a need to be able to read the text at smaller point sizes which is what is common in business cards. Use the font at the size of the card to ensure clarity of all the items written on it.
2. Font Weights: Fonts are differentiated by weights such as bold, medium, or thin, which all help determine how visible the font will be and clarity especially when printed. Finer fonts may not deliver as sharp images as thicker types do especially when scaled down to a small size.
3. Legibility: It is advisable to focus on the readability of a font rather than its aesthetics. If details may be missed out when the font is enlarged or reduced choose fonts that are readable at each size. Do not use overly decorative fonts that look beautiful at the expense of readability.
4. Compatibility: Choosing fonts that complement each other is perhaps one of the most difficult things in the design process. Try different styles from sans serif, serif, and script fonts to see which is the best for your brand. Also, use the design of your logo as a guide to select fonts with similar stroke and shape designs.
The best fonts for business cards to represent your brand
The best font to use on a business card is different for each organization, as it represents the brand and its target audience. Choosing the ideal font is an artistic process that requires planning, thinking, and possibly even a little feeling.
Many companies have business cards printed in commonplace styles like Arial, Helvetica, and Times New Roman for straightforward buttons. These are clear to show off, but there is also nun very impressive about them helping your brand to get noticed.
Other fonts can be used to enhance the uniqueness of your brand and that are still easy to read. Let us look at 10 designs that will help in selecting the appropriate visiting card fonts:
Times new roman
Times New Roman is a traditional serif typeface that was created with the intent of enhancing readability and ease. The sophisticated and classic-looking font can be used for many purposes including business cards.
As Times New Roman is quite interesting, only as body text it is surrounded by a strong urge to appreciate and therefore it is advisable to use it in the calling card layout as a title.
Designer: Stanley Morison, Victor Lardent (1931)
Why it works for print: Most people already know what it is, why it’s needed, and how it looks, which is why it’s used in printed products, for example – visiting cards, a name like Times New Roman. Its width-to-height relationship of the letters and the width of the variables does not affect the readability of the text even font size.
Helvetica
Helvetica is one of the most celebrated and recognized sans-serif type fonts, due to its excessive use of simplicity and efficiency. This makes it ideal for business cards, letterheads, and other publications.
Designer: Max Miedinger, Eduard Hoffmann (1957)
Why it works for print: Given that there is less complexity in the form and the graphic names for example business cards or visiting cards. It is very hard to struggle with a neutral shape, color, or design since even stroke width allows the type to be read especially when the size is small and any essential information is well-directed.
Arial
Arial is one of the widely used sans-serif fonts which has the same metric and character width as Helvetica. Arial must be seen for no less than it is designed to be. A variety of styles, sizes, and weights are made available for voracious Letraset collectors. More so, because hepatitis is available in various styles.
Designer: Robin Nicholas, Patricia Saunders (1982)
Why it works for print: There is no better typography for visiting cards than Arial because of its adaptable design and clean San serif font.
Futura
Futura is a sans-serif typeface with a circular geometry. It consists of thin, curved letters that create a functional and utilitarian typeface, which is why it is often found on business cards.
Futura is the typeface of now and the typeface of the future. It was frequently referred to in promotion campaigns of Bauer and its American branches. It also provides a set of additional symbols for European languages, notably, the German language.
Designer: Paul Renner (1927)
Why it works for print: Futura has a functional character because even at smaller sizes, the letters remain legible owing to the fine and angular construction of the figure. Thanks to the contemporary and stylish look of Futura font, your visiting cards will have a special class and add professionalism to your branding in the right way.
Black Caviar
The Black Caviar font is modern calligraphy and is very classy. It is very humanized and has features like letterheads that look like they were handwritten, making the names and signatures on your business cards look as if they were done by hand. This font is very liked by graphic designers because of its delicate and costly personalization.
This font is developed by Nicky Laatz.
Why it works for print: With the help of the black caviar font, one can make a solid impression as it is stylish and a script font but still retains its legibility. The scope for design along with its multiple variations should make it easy to combine it with serif or sans serif fonts therefore it is quite suited for creative and innovative kinds of businesses.
Such a font is suitable due to its personal and sophisticated nature, which suppresses the monotonicity of business cards in an ordinary office style as well as draws attention to the important parts of the card, for example, your name or the name of your company, which usually looks like a catchy phrase.
Roboto
Effective, human-readable, and fashionable, Roboto is a hypothetical font that is both stylized and functional. Its uncluttered and adaptable features make it applicable in diverse areas such as on business card templates and other locations where detailing is needed. This is one of the favorite fonts of a designer for Business Cards; it is a Sans-Serif font with 28 other fonts. It is thus quite flexible due to its 6 various widths.
Designer: Christian Robertson (2011)
Why it works for print: Most business cards tend to use very small typography and Roboto’s size does not compromise legibility and sets understated style objectives for the card. This is because such shapes are methodically designed keeping style and professionalism in mind.
Riviera
Riviera is equipped with a script that is rather creative in design to help you illustrate your text with a nice twist. Although its use has been limited mainly to logo design, it has recently started to be incorporated into business cards and headlines, which are rather contemporary and fashionable.
Designer: Mark van Bronkhorst (2013)
Why it works for print: Because of the constructional features of the Riviera, it is very valuable for business card applications. Though it can still be used for textual information, Hudak needs to be preserved for primary text or logos, as it is unsuitable for secondary texts as it can be very detailed.
Leyton
Leyton is one of those serif fonts that balances vintage and modern styles and is, therefore, even more perfect for elegant businesses in need of sophistication. The graceful fillets and appreciable delicacy of contours let Leyton find its place even on luxury business cards.
Designer: Atipo Foundry
Why it works for print: Leyton, due to its logical and crisp design, works well at any point size, which includes appropriate sizes for headings/names on business cards for fashion logos, agencies, or hotels. It adds a luxury look and makes printed collateral more appealing.
Myriad pro
Myriad Pro is a sans-serif typeface that was used by Apple Inc. in its corporate materials from 2002 to 2017. Both its thin strokes and open letterforms provide simplicity and readability which fit well for business cards
Designer: Robert Slimbach, Carol Twombly (1992)
Why it works for print: Myriad Pro makes things easy, and its legibility makes it appropriate for multi-piece cards as there is no space wastage. Any other easier aspects will guarantee neatness without compromising on reading agility.
Baskerville
Baskerville employs classic serif fonts while adding modern touches like elongated serifs and straight letter structures. This amalgamation makes temperate elegant don’t seem to be exhausted ideal for usage – old-fashioned opulence on your business card.
Designer: John Baskerville (1757)
Why it works for print: Forever Strong type design by Baskerville guarantees appropriate communication even in the smallest sizes such as found on business cards. There’s something clean in its alphabet a clear decomposition of forms and serifs which helps to retain stylistic worry.
What’s the best font size for business cards?
The ideal fonts to be applied to business cards are said to fall within the range of 10 pt to 16 pt. If it’s necessary to minimize the size the minimum acceptable font size should be 8pt. Small letters would appear fine on the screen, however, it does not do so in print. Numbers that are above 8pt tend to be extremely small and cannot be read.
Font size strategy:
When it comes to typefaces, this measurement is most commonly used for their height and can be seen as the text size scaling while editing a Word document or a Photoshop document. Even in the past two hundred years, the size of the point has never been below the value outside the limit of 0.18 millimeters or courtesy of what is the maximum extent of 0.4 millimeters. Also, there are roughly 72 points in one inch. That shows how small a point is.
Basic or most important information presented on the business card like your company or your full name does not exceed some 10pt-16pt size depending on what can be accommodated.
Similar places and styles can be used for the secondary text like that of your job title, email address, phone number, Instagram handle, etc., but set it so that it’s still readable but noticeably smaller than the primary text.
Sans serif-type fonts offer legible reading without stress, even when small-sized. On the other hand, small-sized script and serif fonts practically become unreadable. Therefore, the best font size for your business card will primarily depend on the font family you are using.
4 font tips for your business card
Here are some tips on font usage on your business card:
- Pair fonts on your business card such that one is a script or serif whilst the second is a sans-serif.
- Never use fonts that are too close to each other.
- Change of style by applying different variations of the same font (bold, regular, italic).
- Restrict the number of font sizes per card to three (or two if possible).
- Make sure there is enough contrast for each text field, as well as the background, to ensure every text field stands out.