Customized versus Template Business Cards

However, hardly anyone takes the risk to be wild and creative about their designs, hence the use of templates. There are advantages and disadvantages in customizing and in using templates and the question of which design philosophy to use is a big one.

If you are confused yourself as to what to do with the design, here are the pros and cons of template based and custom business cards:

• Custom business card pros – The obvious advantage of is that your design can be original and distinct from others. You can be your own businessperson. You can place your own custom images, use custom fonts and add in other unusual business card details such as slogans or quotations. You have full control over how your output works and you can even adapt it so that you can look better and more professional than others can. This is perfect for businesspersons who really want to be remembered and distinguished from the rest of the people in their industry.

• Cons – The big con for custom business cards is the price. Customization does not come cheap. The use of exotic inks, non-standard shapes and even non-standard materials like plastic and metal can double the price of a business card quotation. In addition, with all the things you can do with designs, there is a risk of getting overboard with the layout. Heavily detailed can actually backfire on you and some people will not really take you seriously for overly wild or loud designs. Therefore, care must be taken to avoid too much customization. It may become expensive and a risk to your reputation.

• Template based business cards pros – The great thing about template-based is that everybody has a chance to create them. Most word processing programs and design applications have wizards that let experts and beginners design quite easily. One can even have a template-based output ready for printing within 10-15 minutes if you know what you are doing. Therefore, if you want an uncomplicated time in printing and designing, using template layouts are the best choice.

• Cons – The bad thing about using templates though is that they can get boring or common. Since many people use it because it is fast and convenient, there will be little originality. It will be hard to stand out against other business contacts since your output may look almost the same as with the others. You pay that price though for convenience.

So what is your choice? For me personally, customized is still the best. As long as you are careful with designing and do not choose expensive printing options, it can still be quite affordable without getting too loud. However, if you are a beginner at business card printing, you might want to try out the template-based ones first before experimenting with custom jobs. Good Luck!

Kaye Z. Marks is an avid writer and follower of the developments in print business cards or business card printing industry.