Exchanging business cards is a rudimentary form of networking
(the people, not the server kind). However, to get the most out of
the exchange, you need a card that attracts attention and reflects
the image or values you want to project.
Unfortunately, OpenOffice.org Writer's tool for producing
business cards does such a poor job of realizing both these goals
that it is better avoided. However, if you know where to look,
Writer also includes other tools that make designing business cards
as easy as possible.
When you first click File -> New -> Business Cards, you
may have a flash of hope that most of your work will be done for.
However, click the Business Cards tab, and disappointment sets in.
The five templates offered include only text and a few dingbats,
and are as about exciting and distinguished as prime time
television. Use any of them, and the image that you'll project will
be unprofessional. Besides, unless you work for a company that's so
big that you have no need to worry about image, like Macdonald's or
IBM, you want your card to stand out -- and using a template from
any off-the-net piece of software isn't going to help you do that.
Even using the AutoText options isn't going to help.
Preparing to design
My suggestion is to avoid the Business Cards selection
altogether, and click instead on File -> New -> Labels. You
won't really miss the business cards' use of fields, or their
format options, and can avoid the irritation of working around
them.
In the Labels tab in the Labels window, make sure that the
format is set to Sheet, then choose the Brand and Type for the
sheet layout. This choice is usually hit or miss unless you have a
particular brand on hand, but Avery Letter Size 5371 and Avery A4
L7413 are your best choices. Note that you are not necessarily
going to use the designated sheet for printing your business cards
-- it's just a template so that you can print multiple cards from
the same page.
Then go to the Options tab, and make sure that Synchronize
contents is selected. This option will allow you to add the design
to only one card on the sheet, then populate the rest of the cards
with the design.
When you are finished, click the New Document button. You'll see
a Synchronize Labels button floating in the window, but ignore it
for now.
Go to Tools -> Options -> OpenOffice.org Writer ->
Grid, and select Visible Grid to give you guidelines for your
design. You should also adjust the horizontal and vertical grid to
1-4 points, so that the grid is useful in the small space of a
business card. Finally, select View -> Toolbars -> Drawing so
that you can add graphical text, which will be easier to use than
regular text in your design.
As you will soon find, you are limited to adding material only
to the first card in the upper left corner of the document. For
this reason, you can select View -> Zoom to get a larger view of
the first card until you are ready to populate the other cards with
your design.
Design considerations
Business card layouts are an exercise in minimalist design. With
only six square inches in which to work, you have no space to
waste.
For this reason, I suggest keeping the text on the front of the
card to the minimum: your name, your company's name, and your main
email address and telephone, and, perhaps, a company or personal
slogan. If people really need more, you can always put it on the
back of the card (see below).
In this minimalist setting, you'll find that the basic
principles of design really come to your attention. You'll want
contrast between your text and its background -- that is, dark text
on a light background, or light text on a dark background.
Possibly, you will have room for a third main color -- but not
more. Your selection of colors may be determined by your company's,
but if your company's colors were professionally selected, they
probably provide a ready made contrast anyway. You can apply the
background by placing a rectangle of the proper color over the
entire card.
You'll want to place related items close together, which means
that the card will have one to three blocks of text: all the
information together; your name and company in one block and your
contact information in another, and possibly a third for a slogan.
Chances are, you'll also want to give related text the same
alignment, providing a visual clue for readers of your cards.
In your limited space, you also want to keep the design simple,
using only one typeface, or possibly two. If your company doesn't
already have a specific font that it uses in its advertising, a
sans serif or slab
serif will generally maximize readability on the card. Whatever
font you use, make sure that its size is at least 8 points, and 10
or 12 if possible. Remember, too, that, the smaller the font size,
the more space you need between lines for readability.
These are simple principles, but they are regularly ignored by
beginning designers. A surprising number of amateurs, for instance,
think that putting one piece of contact information in each corner
of the card is stylish. The truth is, such a design is only
cluttered and hard to read.
For visual content, an already-designed company logo, or one of
your digital photos are good choices -- either ensures originality
and avoids any potential licensing problems. Another alternative is
the Open
Clip Art Library, or perhaps free-licensed photos from Flickr
or another photo-sharing site. If you have trouble deciding on an
image, a texture -- a closeup of rock or fabric, for example, often
gives an interesting background. If necessary, you can use either
OpenOffice.org Draw or the GIMP to edit the visual to suit.
Nowadays, an increasing number of cards are two-sided. This
practice has the advantage of allowing the front to focus on
creating a visual impression with a minimum of text. The back can
be a reversal of the front's foreground and background, and contain
more detailed contact information than the front. Another use of
the back can be a form that allows recipients to quickly record
where they met you and any actions they promised to undertake as
the result of the meeting. Create a separate page for the back,
using the same technique as for the front.
These are the basic considerations for designing your card. The
rest is a matter of trial and error, of adding elements to the card
and resizing and moving them about. When you have added the lines
in each text block using the Text tool on the Draw toolbar, you can
select Format -> Group -> Group to move all the lines of the
block around together.
Don't be surprised if getting a satisfactory design takes all
evening, or even a couple of days of work. Any design, especially a
minimalist one, is more effort than it looks.
Producing your cards
When you are finished the design, click the floating Synchronize
Labels button. In a few seconds, the design on the first card will
be replicated on all the others.
Whether you should print your cards yourself depends on the
hardware you have on hand. The ideal tools are a color laser print
with duplex (two-sided) printing, although you might get by with an
inkjet and -- assuming your blood pressure is healthy enough to
withstand some frustrations -- manually feeding sheets of cards
back into the printer for two-sided jobs.
For paper, avoid the actual sheets of cards sold by label
makers. If you compare these sheets with professional cards, they
are far too thin to look professional even for a moment. They also
tend to show perforations on their edges. Invest in a heavier card
stock instead.
If you can afford to spend a couple of hundred dollars for
printing, then consider using a professional printer. To prepare
your work for the printer, select File -> Export as PDF.
As you can see, even though Writer's Business Card leaves a lot
to be desired, you can sidestep its limitations to produce
professional cards. The hardest part is the design -- and, even
there, Writer has the tools to complement your ingenuity and
effort.
Show All
Hide All
a few times to see your entire
publication.
, and then drag the selection box
around the content of your business card.
that appears.
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