InDesign Business Card Templates and Tutorial

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Design Business Cards in Adobe InDesign

This tutorial will guide you through the process of designing business cards and postcards in InDesign as well as providing press-ready templates to get you started.

Once finished, upload your files to order high quality eco-friendly business cards!

This page is graphic intensive.
Please allow a few moments for the screenshots to finish downloading.

Step 1 - Update InDesign if applicable. Download a template.

Step 2 - Turn on guidelines.

Step 3 - Create your designs.

Useful Tips - Save often and print your designs.

Step 4 - Check step 2 one last time.

Step 5 - Save as .INDD.

Step 6 - Export to PDF.

Step 7 - Place your order.

Step One

CS users must update InDesign to support CS2 .inx files

Help > Updates > Adobe InDesign CS 3.0.1 April 2005 Update > Continue

Download one of these pre-formatted templates and open it in InDesign:

Right Click > Save As

2" x 3.5" Standard Business Card Template

4" x 3.5" Folded Business Card Template - FRONT (Outside)
4" x 3.5" Folded Business Card Template - BACK (Inside)

4" x 6" Postcard Template

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Step Two

Verify that you have guides turned on. You should see lines around the outside of your template.

View > Grids & Guides > Show Guides

The outermost lines are called cut/trim lines. The cut lines show where your design will be cut away from the much larger sheet of paper it was printed on. This ensures color all the way to the very edge of your cards. This method is called full bleed.

Your background colors/design MUST extend past the cut lines!

The innermost lines are called the safety lines. Anything outside these lines run the risk of being cut off. Although the cutting machines are very accurate, staying inside of this area ensures that important text/graphics won't be chopped off. It also helps make your card more readable. Keep all your non-background text, logos, pictures, etc. inside of these lines.

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Step Three

Now you are ready to begin designing your business card. It's up to you to decide what you want the card to look like. Start experimenting and using the different tools to get the look you want. With nearly unlimited amounts of colors to choose from, anything is possible.

When selecting colors in the color palette tab, make sure to select CMYK colors.

Window > Color

Arrow button > CMYK

Looking for something to give you that creative boost?

Have a look at these InDesign resources sites for methods and design ideas:

Stock Photos:

Fonts:

Corporate Logos:

Brands of the World

Example of a finished design:

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Useful Tips

Save Often! You never know when your computer may crash or lock up. While you are working on your file, save as a .INDD.

The Inkjet Test: Throughout the design process I suggest printing your creations on your inkjet printer directly from InDesign. Use glossy photo paper if you have it. This will give you a good idea how your card will look as far as sizing goes. If your text looks small when printed on your inkjet, it will be too small when printed by our presses.

To run the inkjet test click File > Print.

I suggest using the highest resolution print option (photographic quality) that is available on your printer. No adjustments to sizing or placement will be needed. The design should print on the paper at the actual size of 2.1" x 3.6" for standard cards, 4.1" x 3.6" for folded cards.

Remember the full bleed process will trim your cards down to normal size.

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Step Four

Review Step 2 again. This will ensure that your design is 100% ready for press, and will help us process your order faster.

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Step Five

Once the design is complete, save as .INDD one last time.

Saving your file will allow you to open and make changes to your design when you decide to reorder cards at a later date. Be sure to keep this file in a safe place on your computer.

File > Save As > Save as type: InDesign Document (*.indd)

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Step Six

After saving as a .INDD file, it's time to export your final design to "press quality" PDF for printing. This is the file you will be uploading to us.

File > Adobe PDF Presets > [Press Quality]

Select Save Destination > Choose a Unique Filename > Save

Click Compression > 350 ppi > Export