Find out the standard business card dimensions
Conforming to the standard business card dimensions is important if you want your card to look professional, be easy to store and convenient to carry around.
Below is an image to better help you understand the card’s dimension:
The standard business card size in the United States is 3.5 inches by 2.0 inches (91 x 59 mm). However, there are different sections within a business card that you need to be aware of:
- Standard business card dimension – 3.5 by 2.0 inches. This is the actual size of the trimmed business card.
- The safe design area – 3.25 by 1.75 inches. This is where all your vital information should be (name, contact information, company name, logo, etc). The cutting process may vary so make sure that all your information is inside the safe area, otherwise part of the information might get trimmed off.
- Bleed – is an extra 1/8 of an inch added to the actual dimension of the card. It acts as a ‘safety margin’ for designs that may extend beyond the actual measurement. Anything printed on the bleed portion gets cropped off.
Therefore, inclusive of the bleed, the original dimension of your business card should be 3.625 by 2.125 inches.
If you want a vertical business card, instead of a horizontal one, you can just interchange the measurement; a final, trimmed vertical business card should be 2.0 by 3.5 inches.
Throughout the years, business card owners and makers alike have stuck to the ISO (International Organization of Standardization) measurement. Here is a list of the most common types of business cards with their respective measurements:
- A8 sized (ISO 216) – an A8 sized business card has a dimension of 2.913 by 2.047 inches (74 x 52 mm).
- Credit card sized (ISO/IEC 7810 ID-I) – business cards of this type have a standard dimension of 3.370 x 2.125 inches (85.60 × 53.98 mm)
Some other ISO business card dimensions around the world:
- 3.346 inches by 2.165 inches (85 x 55 mm) – This is the standard business card measurement followed in the countries of Switzerland, Netherlands, Spain and Germany. This is the most common business card dimension followed in the Europe.
- 3.54 inches by 2.165 inches (90 x 55 mm) – This is the standard dimension of business cards in Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, Denmark and Australia.
- 3.582 by inches by 2.165 inches (91 x 55 mm) – Japan follows the abovementioned business card dimension
- 3.543 by 2.125 inches (90 by 54 mm) – Hongkong, Singapore and China follow this dimension for their business cards
At present, a lot of custom business card dimensions are also readily available. Some of the most common non-ISO dimensions available are listed below:
- Horizontal Document-Trim size – 3.43 by 1.93 inches ( 87x 49mm)
- Vertical Document-Trim size – 1.93 by 3.43 inches (49x 87mm)
- Horizontal Full-Bleed size – 3.54 by 2.05 inches (90 x 52mm )
- Vertical Full-Bleed size – 2.05 by 3.54 inches (52 x 90mm)
If you’re having your business card made and you have no idea as to what dimension to use, then you need not worry as the printing company, by default, will have your card trimmed according to the standard business card dimension used in your country.