Graphic Design Business Cards

Online do-it-yourself graphic arts is on the rise for many reasons, but two are primary:

1. By doing your own graphics design, you can save 30% to 50% on the final cost of your printed materials.
2. The average person has become computer aware to the point that most people can do their own design and end up with a very professional result.

With this in mind, many large trade printing companies are making the software required to do on line graphics available to their printing customers and resellers. With this growth, there is also considerable capital expenditure going into, not only the software, but other requirements like appealing backgrounds. The backgrounds are sized and laid out according to the printed media they support, and are categorized for the wide number of businesses or trades they represent.

For example, we recently went to one of the DIY Graphics sites and reviewed the available backgrounds for business cards. There were 25 separate categories of backgrounds for business cards with anywhere from 20 to 100 individual backgrounds in each category. Following are examples of the categories:

• Abstracts - Colorful tie-died backgrounds that fit nicely into more creative professions like writing or designs
• Animals - Variety of pets and farm animals for grooming or pet retail businesses
• Babies - Ideal for announcing a new addition to the family or advertising handmade baby wear.
• Beauty - Appealing backgrounds for stylists, skin specialists, nail technicians and more.
• Business - A broad category of many backgrounds that range from office settings to business people shaking hands to creative representations of a single world of business.
• Colorful - This category provides bright and contrasting colors with the goal of catching the eye. This category would apply to paint businesses, art stores, art schools and more.
• Construction - Specific to the construction industry, this category offers many backgrounds showing different phases of construction, including design, earth moving, building, etc.
• Fashion - Trendy and colorful, these are great for fashion design or retail.
• Floral - Flower arrangements, flower gardens and more that are ideal for the floral business.
• Food - Mouth watering and focused on restaurants, cooking schools, chefs or catering.
• Jewelry - Great backgrounds for the jewelry retail, jewelry consignment, or jewelry design.
• Landmarks - Used to professionally promote tourism, politics or initiatives of many kinds.
• Scenery - Several options for these, including therapy, relaxation skills, meditation, etc.
• Law and Justice - Designed for attorneys, judges and government offices.
• Medical - These are directed towards doctors, nurses, hospital administration, medical supplies and more.
• Nature - Great backgrounds for environmental businesses, recycling, all natural products, etc.
• Real Estate - Apply to residential or commercial real estate.
• Sport - For sports teams, coaches, trainers, schools, training camps, etc.
• Technology - Can be used for people involved in internet marketing, hi tech sells, web sites, search engine optimization and more.
• Transportation - Wide variety of cars, trucks, vintage cars, futuristic cars which could be used for car salesmen, mechanics, parts houses, etc.
• Travel - Exotic locations, sunsets, palm trees, around the swimming pool and more. Great backgrounds for travel agents, tour guides or any other tourism types of businesses.
• Wedding - Bride and Grooms in many different settings before the wedding, during the wedding, after the wedding, leaving the wedding, etc. Good for wedding planners, conference centers, hotels and more.

The above are just a few examples of the many categories and backgrounds available to the do-it-yourself graphic artist for business cards. The main message to convey is that there are not many trades, businesses, vocations or events that DIY Graphic Artist could not find an appropriate, professional background for.