In many cases, business cards and stationary are a person’s first impression of a company, organization, and even an individual. Before even the first word is read on these documents, the feel, tone, and appearance will be an immediate impact on the reader.

Business Card Design

Standard Size: 2” by 3.5” (Vertical or Horizontal Orientation)

Stationary & Letterhead Design

Standard Size: 8.5” by 11” (Vertical Orientation. A4 paper size for European audiences. For more in European paper standards, read: International Standard Paper Sizes )

InDesign vs. Illustrator

An educated designer will unerstand their tools and have a clear perspective on the roles each have and know when, and why each are used.

Adobe InDesign

InDesign is a Desktop Publishing Application best suited for multi-page publication design. Indesign’s feature set accomodates Master Page Layouts, Bleeds, Columns, and Style Sheets for Typographic consistency and control.

For more, read: Adobe’s Product Overview of InDesign

Adobe Illustrator

Illustrator is a Vector Based Drawing Application best used for single page illustrations and layouts. Illustrator’s feature set is geared for artist’s working on a single ‘Artboard’ and offers complex drawing and shape tools, typogrpahic manipulation, and tracing tools.

For more, read: Adobe’s Product Overview of Illustrator

To add mulit-page layout ability in Illustrator, see: Hot Door MulitPage Plugin

Class Reading: Pages 128 – 131 & 114-115

Suggested Reading: Business Cards 2, More Ways of Saying Hello.

Suggested Reading: Letterhead & Logo Design, #9

Double Sided Printing Tips

There are two printers to use the School Design Lab, both can print 2 sided. The Epson inkjet printers can print a variety of sizes and a wide variety of paper types. The HP ColorJet 3700 is a LaserJet Printer, and can print Letter size sheets (8.5” x 11”). The HP ColorJet is a networked printer and can accessed from any machine in the Design Lab. The Epson Printers can only be used from the computer they are attached to.

General Guidelines

Printing 2 sided is error prone.

• Be sure to try a practice print before you run your specialty paper into the Printers. (Print via Tray 1 when using the HP to use your own paper)

• Lay your practice print on the light table to view both sides of the sheet. Adjust your layout accordingly, before printing on your specialty paper.

• Allow for a forgiving design and Bleeds. Designs that do not have type close to the edges of your card will reduce errors and the need for pica-perfect layouts when printing. Design with a wide enough bleed to compensate for any shifting in print position.

• When Cutting, do not cut all the way past your trim marks. This will not allow you to use the corresponding mark on the other edge of the card.

Double Sided Printing with the HP ColorJet 3700

The HP Printer in the Lab prints 2 sided with one pass through the printer.

1: File > Print

2: Choose: Printer > HP ColorJet 3700

• Verify Number of Copies (1), and Page Range (1-2)

3: Select ‘Setup’ from the Menu at Left

• Verify Page Size (Letter)

• Verify Page Orientation (Landscape for Sample Template)

• Verify Scale (%100)

4: Choose: ‘Printer…’

• From the New Dialog Box, select “Layout’

• Verify Pages Per Sheet (1)

• Border: None

• Two Sided: Choose Short Sided Binding to keep front and back page orientation the same.,

(Long sided binding will print the second page upside down)

• Select Print from Pop Up Dialog Box to Apply 2 sided Printing.

• Select Print from Print Box to Print Pages 2 sided the the HP ColorJet 3700

Double Sided Printing with the Epson Printers

To print on both sides of a sheet with Epson Printers, You will need to set up file to be printed twice. When laying out your file to print, use a similar layout as supplied in the Sample File above.

Be sure to maximize the number of cards you can print on each sheet, whether it be Letter or Tabloid size. Be sure to include crop marks for each card to assist you in trimming.