Comments on: Portrait business cards, what do you think?

By: Rachel

Rachel — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:16:23 +0000

Portrait cards can get a second glance – everything helps! – Portrait is nicer for space and in our case easier to read – I wonder though, can card readers recoginze the data on a portrait card?

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 02:18:06 +0000

I really like portrait business cards, our last cards were portrait and they were great… I think it really depends on what the information and probably more important the logo that will be used is all about… Some logos and chunks of copy just aren’t meant pt be portrait…

By: Andrew Keir

Andrew Keir — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 13:07:43 +0000

Amanda,

In my experience portrait cards are certainly less common. I’ve also found when presenting portrait business card designs to clients that they’re less popular than landscape orientation cards.

Perhaps I’m just terrible at designing portrait cards? ;)

Speaking of long domain names, do you think thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com gets much type-in-traffic? Ha.

By: Amanda Vlahakis

Amanda Vlahakis — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 11:59:41 +0000

Are they? I never really noticed, I just checked through my portfolio and quite a lot of mine are portrait actually.

If they are less popular, the obvious reason is that it forces the designer to have the logo smaller within the design, in addition there can be space issues if the client has a long domain name – which then makes contact details ‘wide’.

When I see a long domain name I feel sad inside, lol :)

By: Gene

Gene — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:56:51 +0000

Personally, I like portrait business cards and I don’t see why people wouldn’t want to go with them. Also these are really nice business cards, especially the Sakura Bloom one.

By: Andrew Keir

Andrew Keir — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 10:34:35 +0000

Stuart,
Consistency is as good a reason as any to use a portrait card. Unity is an important factor in design and should compliment your work well.

Feel free to send me your card If you’d like me to post it here.

By: Stuart

Stuart — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 10:15:02 +0000

I’m in the process of designing my card for letterpress production, at the last minute I realized that my card was portrait and that this cuts against the grain somewhat. I am an artist and not a graphic designer so that could explain my lack of attention to this detail!

However the reason I was so blinkered in my use of a portrait layout, is that it’s relevant, even essential to the image (my logo). It also offers some consistency with regard to context as in my work I almost always work in this format.

Thanks for the insight and confidence to go on and print in portrait!
Stuart.

By: Andrew Keir

Andrew Keir — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 05:14:19 +0000

Thanks to Amar for taking the time to send me his business card, as shown above.

By: Andrew Keir

Andrew Keir — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 21:42:12 +0000

Amar,

Sorry to take so long to reply. Busy moving house the last week. If you could send it to contact @ andrewkeir.com that would be fine, I’m looking forward to seeing it.

By: Amar Sanghera

Amar Sanghera — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 01:11:30 +0000

No problem, I’m expecting a new batch of cards to be delivered soon, where would you like me to send the card?

By: Andrew Keir

Andrew Keir — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:35:59 +0000

Melissa,
Flipping the card is an interesting observation.

Amar,
Thanks for your in depth reply, I’d be interested in seeing your business cards if you’d care to send me a picture.

By: Amar Sanghera

Amar Sanghera — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 15:37:21 +0000

Great article Andrew.

I do agree with all the comments left above, however I would say it is worth considering who the business card is for. It is important to not only have a business card which stands out, but also a business card which is appropriate.

Portrait business cards are not for everyone and they do certainly stand out. Portrait cards should not simply be the same as landscape cards but in different dimensions, the different dimensions must be used more effectively to exploit the new layout.

From what I have noticed in my experience and from your article, it does seem to me portrait cards are used by people in fields in or closely linked to marketing, communication and certainly design.

Summing up, I like portrait business cards, I believe they are certainly more effective, but only if used effectively. It’s not just about turning the card around, but making use of the new layout.

I have what is in my opinion a well designed and creative business card which does get a great response and if anything, the response is a bit too good as people sometimes find the creativity is too much and often I can lose simpler and easier marketing and creative opportunities.

Kindest regards,

Amar

By: Melissa

Melissa — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:50:08 +0000

I’ve had a portrait style biz card for a few years and I always get great compliments on it. It’s also two sided, and people flip it right over, which I don’t remember people doing when I had a horizontal card…

By: Andrew Keir

Andrew Keir — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:57:18 +0000

Mathdelane,

That’s the thing that’s always at the back of my mind also, 100 business cards in a folder with 1 odd portrait card.

By: Mathdelane

Mathdelane — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:56:16 +0000

Although these may look amazing and some are even stunning to some extent, I think business cards are somewhat expected to be minimalist in design and somewhat conservative looking.

I can see that portrait cards standout from a deck of business cards, but it may look like an odd-one out. Don’t you think?

If I had a card folder etc. and I saw one different, it might throw it away thinking that it was a badge detached from something I’d bought, unless the person who gave it was someone I knew well and it was easily recognizable.

These are really great looking business cards though. Thanks for sharing.