Color business cards are so easy to create these days. This sparked one of the great debates today in the printing industry. What is the standard amount of color and level of ostentation that is needed in business card designs?

It is no wonder that plenty of people are questioning the advantages and disadvantages of having too much or too little color in proper business card printing.

What I can tell you about this is that it actually depends on your purpose and specific use for such advertising tool. There are different types to suit each purpose. You do not have to follow the prevailing norm about color in your marketing material, as long as the design suits the purpose.

As such, to help you out, here is my advice on the proper level of colorful design depending on the purpose and type of your cards.

• Your advertising business card – For this type, people believe that the more color they have, the better it is. Generally, this is a nice rule of thumb to abide by. Since this type of advertising material are repackaged flyers with a sales representative’s name on it, it is only logical for it to have the loud and colorful design that competes with all other promotional materials.

This type need to stand out and what more can you do but to print them in full color regalia, to the delight of most of your potential consumers. Such that if you are a sales representative, or if you want to advertise your products in your card, you should do not worry too much and let loose your colorful imagination into your advertising materials.

• Your professional business card – For the professional type, the general rule however is more formal. In most corporate environments, loud and colorful ones are always frowned upon. This is because it is usually considered a sign of immaturity to print a loud card. The more formal your card is, the better it is in this case.

Using simple, clean and minimalist designs are usually used in the corporate crowd, with only a few little embellishments, used as a sign of personality. This is the way to go, if you want to be respected and accepted within the circle of corporate culture.

• Your personal business card – Finally for your own personal type (as a freelancer or as an employer) the best level of color and ostentation really depends on your own taste. Opting to have a personal card means that you can really dictate how loud or how formal it would be.

The more colorful your card is, the more it gets attention. The more formal and simple it becomes, the more functional and formal it turns out. It is up to you to decide whatever you want since of course this is your own business advertising tool after all.

Great! Hopefully this should give you a general idea of the proper design conventions of each type of business cards, especially regarding their level of color. Just try to ask yourself what kind of card you want to have, and you already know what kind of design is ideal for that. Good Luck!