Purists will say you can’t feng shui your car, your clothes or your looks, but that’s not exactly true. While feng shui is the study of the environment and its effects on the occupants of a building, it can also be used as a method for designing, too.ย One of the areas where feng shui can be the most effective is the business card.
A well designed business card is a mini-billboard. It can advertise for you, be carried and referred to, and it also makes an impression.ย If someone likes your card, they’ll hold onto it longer. If it’s unpleasant or cheap-looking, it will often head to the trash.
Today more than ever, business and business people need every edge to get ahead.ย One of the first steps is to give your business cards a good look.ย They could look dated, tired, or maybe they don’t have the correct information or there’s a typo. There could also be images or colors that are in conflict, if so, this might be a good time to give your cards a redesign.
Use these 7 tips for designing business cards that work for you and provide a good representation of your company — and help boost your income!
1. Promote your growth. Trees are representative of growth and movement. Most business cards are “felled trees.” That is, they’re a rectangle (tree) shape, yet they are printed on the horizontal. Try placing your card design on the vertical. This is called the “chai” shape and it’s considered to bring money luck and much good fortune and riches. It also represents upward growth.
2. Use complimentary colors. As a rule certain colors and images don’t go together, such as black and yellow, yellow and green, red and blue or metallic colors, green and metal colors. Complimentary colors include blue and white, blue and black with metallic colors, red and yellow, green and brown with red, yellow and beige with metal colors.
3. Logos should move forward. Any logo that looks like it’s moving right to left will be going backwards. All movement in the logo should appear moving from left to right. This indicates forward growth and not heading backward. Even swirls and spirals should look and spiral to the right.
4. Stick with traditional shapes. Yes, an odd shaped or unusual business card will stand out…but not in a good way. Make sure you stick with traditional sizes because these will be saved and can be referred to again. Odd shaped cards and unique cards are often discarded.
5. Use plenty of white space. Having white space on your card brings yang energy to the card and enlivens it. It also enables you to write in any additional information that you want such as a private email address or phone number.
6. Double check the logo. It’s important that if your logo has points that none of the points are aimed at your name as this is harmful poison arrows. A business person had a starburst effect for a logo and had a difficult time attracting business and on top of it was a needling kind of person, much like her logo. Make sure your name isn’t directly below your logo or you will be under the weight of your company.
7. Incorporate colors and shapes relevant to your business.
- Black, blue, purple – the shapes is wave-like and businesses include, musician, shipping, counseling, driving, marketing, therapist, coach, restaurant, healing.
- Green, brown – the shape is rectangular and is good for hotels, health, florists, nurseries, footwear, athletes, dancers
- Yellow, beige, orange – the shape is square and relates to mining, real estate, psychics, nursing, education, charities.
- Red, burgundy, deep purple – the shape is triangular and relates to feng shui, PR, journalism, photography, eye specialties, heart doctors, restaurants, entertainment, bars and clubs.
- White, gray, gold – the shape is circular or arching and relates to jewelry, sales, computers, technology, surgery, medical, dental, insurance, and airlines.
- Multicolored or rainbow – excellent for getting recognition and being noticed!
8. Look for a business card printer that will allow you to make your own business cards. This gives you the greatest control over your designs and allows you to pick and choose from design elements with the widest array of options to choose from.ย Having the choice of design elements will help you create a business card that not only is good for business, but has good feng shui too. Be sure to check out printers such as Zazzle.com.
