Even in today’s digitally-driven economy, business cards still play a valuable role in helping business owners expand their network and create new opportunities to grow their businesses.
There are many ways to make cards, from paying a graphic designer to using print-on-demand services like VistaPrint. In this guide, we’re going to show you the quickest, most affordable, and easiest way of all:
Making a professional business card on Canva without hiring a designer.
Why Use Canva to Create Business Cards?
There are three reasons in particular why Canva is one of the best online platforms for creating business cards:
1. Affordability
Hire a professional designer, and you’ll spend at least $100 on fees, print costs, and shipping.
Alternatively, you can design a business card for free on Canva and pay as little as $15 to get it printed with free shipping.
2. Customization
Services like VistaPrint may have templates you can use, but they offer fewer customizable features than Canva’s templates, giving you more freedom and control over your final design.
3. Save Time With Brand Kits
Sign up for a 30-day free trial of Canva Pro, and you can save your business’ colors, fonts, and even logos in a ready-made brand kit that you can deploy on any design, saving you the time it would take to add them manually to each design.
How to Design a Business Card in Canva
Step 1: Signup or Login
If you already have a Canva account, go right ahead and sign in. If you don’t, you can create a free account in seconds by using either of the Sign Up buttons on the home page. If you need a helping hand with that, we wrote some instructions on how to sign up in our guide to creating Instagram posts on Canva.
Step 2: Choose the Business Card Layout
Use the search bar on the Canva homepage to search for business cards.
Canva will offer several niche-specific business card templates (such as those with a food-related theme). If none suit you, select the generic ‘business card’ option to bring up a library containing 11,000 pre-made business card designs.
Step 3: Select a Business Card Template
Here, you can either scroll through the designs to find the one you like best or use the filters on the left-hand side to find templates that best suit your business.
For example, suppose you’re opening a gym. In that case, you’ll find cards designed for that exact purpose, just as you could if you were starting an event planning business, a marketing consultancy, or any other type of business.
Clicking on your preferred template will open it up in the Canva editor, ready for you to customize it.
Step 4: Choose Your Images and Design Elements
Using the Elements tab in the left-hand menu, you can change your business card’s graphics, images, or other design assets.
To delete any elements in your design that you don’t want, click them and tap the trash can icon.
You can then use the search function to find design elements that best suit your business and click on any you like to add to your design.
Changing the colors of your design elements is as easy as selecting the element and then clicking the colored box in the top menu to open up the color palette to choose a color that reflects your brand.
Other options include the ability to flip, crop, and even animate your elements.
If you’re making a double-sided business card, remember to customize both the front page and the second page of your design. Again, you can remove, add, or customize any element on this page using the same features outlined above.
On both pages, you can select your elements and use the dots in each corner to resize and reposition your elements.
Step 5: Modify Text and Fonts
You’ll have an impressive business card design when you’re done, but it still needs your company name and contact information.
To add them, select any text box to change the wording, and use the options in the top menu to change your text’s font, size, position, and color.
What font size should I use for my business card?
Technically, you can use any size font for your business cards as long as it’s easy to read. For the best results, we recommend going no lower than 9pt.
Can I import my own fonts to Canva?
If you sign up for Canva Pro, you can use the Brand Kit feature to import your own fonts and use them for your business cards and all of your Canva-created designs.
Step 6: Change Your Background
Finally, you have a few options if you want a different background for your business cards.
You can change the color by using the color palette.
Add images from the photo library.
And you can find pre-made backgrounds by going to Elements – Graphics.
Step 7: Download or Print Your Business Card
Last, it’s time to print your custom business card.
If you prefer to arrange your own printing, you can download your finished business card design by going to Share – Download and selecting PDF Print.
If you’d rather save time and money, you can print directly from Canva by clicking on the Print Business Cards button.
Make sure you have both sides of your card selected, then choose your paper type, finish, and quantity.
Clicking the ‘Continue’ button brings you to a final screen where you can download a PDF preview of your business card and automatically fix any errors that may prevent it from looking good once printed.
With all that done, proceed to the checkout, and your new business cards will be on their way.
Canva Business Card FAQs
How Much Does It Cost to Print Business Cards on Canva?
Canva’s printing costs start from $15 for 50 cards with free standard delivery.
How long does it take to make a business card in Canva?
Using Canva’s drag-and-drop interface, creating a business card takes at most 20-30 minutes.
What size is a Canva business card?
All Canva’s business cards measure 3.5″ x 2″.
Related: How big should a business card be?