Business cards

Small format, unforgiving tolerances: a 1 mm shift is visible on a card in a way it never is on a poster. Here is the reliable recipe.

Set up

Region	Trim size	Preset
Europe and most of the world	85 x 55 mm	Business card (EU)
US and Canada	88.9 x 50.8 mm (3.5 x 2 in)	Business card (US)

Use 3 mm bleed and a 4 mm safe margin: on a card this small, keep text well away from the cut. Create one frame per side in the Setup tab.

Design notes

• Backgrounds and edge graphics must reach the frame edge (the bleed edge).
• Body text at 7 to 8 pt minimum; hairlines at 0.25 pt or thicker.
• Small text in pure black: it converts to crisp single-plate K100 automatically.
• Check logos with the DPI checker at a 600 target if they are raster.

Export

Select both side frames in the PDF tab, order By page number / name (name them "card front" and "card back"), and export a single two-page PDF. Most card printers want exactly that. Use 600 DPI since cards are read at close range.

Rounded corners and shaped cards

For rounded or die-cut cards, enable the dieline with your corner radius and the plate name your shop uses (usually CutContour). The line is drawn as a spot color with overprint, so it never knocks out your artwork.