The standard size and dimensions for making business cards is 3.5 inches by 2 inches. You may not know however that dimension is just the tip of the iceberg. For example, not only do you want the right width by height, you want the right colors as well, and to step over problems with printing, be sure to use at least a 300 dots per inch resolution.
Many have made business cards that are far from your usual rectangle cardstock. But if you want to know what the actual size is look below. This is consistent for making business cards online with our links here and with normal company contact cards throughout the world.
About uploading your own designs for print
There is an option to load your own design as well, If anybody wants to use a custom design for their cards, First, let’s discuss print ready images specifications.
- 300dpi
- 3.5 inches by 2 inches
- CMYK color
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300 dpi
If you are using Adobe Suite and Illustrator or Photoshop, I find that the way to save at such a high resolution is to click File > Save As..TIFF (from the filetype dropdown, select “tiff”) this will automatically give you an option to save at 300dpi. Why this is important is because when you are printing, anything lower will print out fuzzy and blurred (low resolution). At 300 dpi the standard for print is met and you will find that this is true every place you print. Some text books print at 600 dpi.
Is the dots per inch on a monitor higher or lower? the DPI on a computer monitor is set to 75 dpi, back when the old bulky crt monitors were still being sold, a measure of quality was high dpi mayb up to 90. On screen, there is no differnce for anything above the seventy-five dpi. -
3.5 inches by 2 inches
Please use the standard size for business cards for your picture file, Any thing smaller will not necessarily fill the print area for your cards.
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CMYK color
On monitors the three colors which are used are Red, Green, Blue, or RGB for short. This is different from the colors of the printing process which is known as CMYK color. Cyan Magenta Yellow and Black. You will definetly need to save and work on your business card picture file in CMYK if you do not wish to see a difference in translation when it hits the press. If you are unsure if this will happen to you, uploading the file to the webpage temporarily, and take a look in the preview box.
Blurry business cards proof
If you have a blurry proof, the chances are that you are not using the right template, the correct template will be set up in a huge file for 300 dpi, and the right colors. If you had made your business cards template with a low resolution, or a smaller size than what is needed, it will be stretched to fit the correct size, and of course the pixels will get blown up to cover the space. This wil result in a blurry proof.
Following those 3 guidelines will ensure a better quality print. Click the green link and save on upload costs.
Call me at 292-0025 to get help setting up.
Templates
When you’re ordering from our ordering page, be sure to design with these templates, these are the right dimensions, the right colors and all you have to do is put your design on them to make sure everything else is right about your prints. They even come in the 300 dpi format.
Vistaprint_Distiller_businesscards
