How to Prepare an Illustrator File for a Business Card Creating your own business card in Adobe Illustrator is a great way to save money that would otherwise be spent on a graphic designer or at the printers for preparation work. However, most printers will not accept a simple 2-inch by 3.5-inch Illustrator file. Most printers require special crop marks or templates for your file. Making sure you follow your specific printers' instructions is the only way to guarantee you won't have any surprise costs.
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1 Phone the printing company and ask if it has specific templates it uses for business cards. Some printers have their own templates that you can download from their website. If the printer does not have any special requests, download a general template to use.
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2 Open Illustrator and load the template. Click "View > Show > Guides" to turn on the guides appropriate to your card. There should be two sets of guidelines following the interior perimeter of your clipboard. The inner guide denotes the "safety lines." Place all your important data inside them to insure nothing gets accidentally cut off at the printers. The second set of guidelines are the "cut lines." Unless you are paying extra for a "bleed," which means your image goes to the edge of the card, you will have to keep all your artwork inside the cut lines.
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3 Turn on CMYK color mode by clicking on "File > Document Color Mode > CMYK". CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key/Black) is a four-color print process used on most printing presses. Your printer will not be able to print your card unless CMYK color mode is active.
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4 Design your business card. When finished, convert your text to outlines by clicking "File > Select All" and then "Type > Create Outlines." This insures your printer has no problems with missing fonts. If you want your card to have text and images on both sides, you will have to make two different files.
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5 Save the file as a ".ai" file type or a ".eps" file type, according to your printer's requirements. Most printers accept both. Try a test print at home to make sure it looks the way you want. When satisfied, give the design to your printer.
More Resources Business Card Printing printing.html
http://www.samedayprinting.com/business-card-