Need Help In Creating Double-Sided Business Cards

[Son of Spam]

Hello,

I want to create a two-sided business card:

On one side, I have my logo.

On the other side, I have my contact information.

Unless I've completely missed it, I don't believe there are any Business Card Creator plugins for PDN.

If someone could advise me how to create this, that would be great. I've tried the Avery Business Card template through MS Word, but the image I'm inserting as my logo on one side doesn't fit the card area completely. I've tried manipulating it but it doesn't work: whenever I stretch it on one side, it stretches on the other and then goes out of the boundaries.

Please help because I need to have this done by Monday March 19th, 2012.

Thanks.

[AhmedElyamani]

Hello, Spam son

I don't understand what is Business Card Creator plugins for PDN ,However , i hope you're talking about a rectangle where you put your image and logo and info .

due to google , business cards are rounded rectangles , the size is smaller than a hand ,

1-so we will start with a canvas of width265 and height 150 , which equals 7centimeters x 4centimeters

2-Using the rounded rectangle tool , we'll draw a rounded rectangle to fill the hole canvas , remember to have the draw shape filled selected .

3- think of what colors will fit the best , i choose grey and white , after that select your rectangle using the magic wand , and with the gradient tool use the radial gradient to have your base color done , you have something like this:

4- create a new layer and call it logo

5-get your logo, you sure do have one don't you? , get that logo , put it in the center of our new layer (In my logo it's just a black text) , set the layer opacity to your own liking.

6- go to the main layer again , use magic wand to select the logo .

7- create a new layer above them all using the color bucket tool , fill the selection black

8- set the layer blending mode to reflect

9- use the gradient tool at transparency mode , slide till you reach a good looking shade on your card .

You have this cute simple card now:

of course your own try will be better as you'll give it some time .

Ahmed

[Red ochre]

Hello Son of spam,

I had difficulties like this when I did my business cards using the pop out pre-cut Avery card.

The main problems I had was lining up the images I had into the template without them moving around and not lining up with the cuts in the card.

I think I solved this by playing around with the positioning within Word itself - I would suggest checking that 'picture tools/position' is set to absolute position and lock anchor.

I think I even ended up measuring the card itself with a ruler to get the positions correct - good luck (I did eventually solve it - so don't give up - however it was about 3 years ago so cannot remember exactly and my template is unlikely to be the same size as yours).

I do remember I had more success with designs that were slightly over-sized and without a noticeable border as this gave a bit of room if the edges didn't line up exactly.

I suppose it would be possible to create a template in PDN - getting the measurements from the pre-cut card, but there are a lot of variables to get wrong - dpi and your printer settings (eg borders) could mean a lot of attempts and wasted card!

Sorry I can't help more - looks like you've got a stressful weekend ahead !

@ Ahmed - nice mini tutorial

[pdnnoob]

By two sided, do you mean left and right, or front and back? Left and right is not a problem, but front and back may require some tricky set-up with your printer.

[mindshift]

Paint.NET is for creating and processing images, not words. I can't speak for every computer/printer set up, but PDN always defers to my Epson Photo printer, giving me only the choice of photo-sized prints of wallet, 4x6, 5x7, etc. It seems you already know you need to use Word or some other word processing program to print out business cards. All of the business card sizes in my Word program are 2" tall by 3.5" wide. Measure yours if you believe it is another size.

Using Word's Insert>Picture>From File I can add an image, but if it has a different ratio it won't fit without being stretched or squashed in some manner. By moving the Left Indent, Right Indent, and First Line Indent markers to the business card edges an image can fill the entire card's width; however, there is still a minute area at the top and bottom of the card that cannot be filled. Other word processors may allow color to every edge, but not Word. I suggest you allow a white frame around the image on the Logo side of your business card.

If you produce the image in PDN you can start with a 4 x 7 inch canvas, or larger, then reduce the final image to fit your card. Just keep the Maintain Aspect Ratio button checked. The more detailed the image is the larger the initial canvas should be. The final image you insert must fit the area allowed by the arbitrary margins of Word. If your business cards are centered on their sheet it is much easier to flip the page over to print your information on the reverse of the logo. I recommend you do one card for practice to see if there are any other issues.

[delpart]

Also, try changing the DPI of your logo before pasting/importing into Word. A 300 DPI image and a 96 DPI image look the same in PDN, but when Word, and others grab it, the actual size of the image is used differently. This will prevent you from having to mess with resizing in Word. Basically the logo needs to be constrained in size to the standard format. Roughly 2 inches tall or if its 300 DPI, 600x600 pixels. @96 DPI, less than 200 pixels square ... Depending on which way you need to go is simply a matter of pasting a copy into the correctly formatted starting image size/DPI. EDIT: Only fair warning here is whether or not Word will play nice with your printer with source image DPI being ignored, etc. In some cases the printer drivers have to be kept in mind and page layout set before you can deterime what DPI you need to aim for to get the fit. I've found this to be less of a problem than some, but this is something that will cause you to lose some hair ...

That's about as close of a manip suggestion as I can manage to prevent resizing with tools like Word. No example logo or sizing information given to fully vet what exactly you'd need to do to the image/logo in question here as well. That makes for a lot of guess work.

Edited March 17, 2012 by delpart