7 Business Card Mistakes Sydney Small Businesses Keep Making (And How to Fix Them)
We have been printing business cards for Sydney businesses for years. We have seen brilliant designs printed on the wrong stock. We have seen great stock ruined by low-resolution logos. We have seen the same avoidable mistakes again and again, and every one of them either delays an order or wastes money.
Here are the seven most common business card mistakes — and exactly how to fix each one.
1. Submitting a Low-Resolution File
The most common mistake by far. A logo that looks perfect on your screen can print soft, blurry or pixelated if it is not at the right resolution. Print requires 300 dots per inch (DPI) at the final print size. Most images from websites, social media or low-resolution exports will be at 72 or 96 DPI, which is completely unsuitable for print.
Fix: Export your artwork at 300 DPI minimum. If you only have a low-resolution logo, ask us — we offer in-house design support and can recreate your logo as a vector file that scales perfectly at any size.
2. Using RGB Colours Instead of CMYK
Screens display colour using RGB (Red, Green, Blue) light. Printers use CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) ink. When an RGB file is converted to CMYK at print time, colours often shift — sometimes dramatically. That vibrant orange on your screen might print closer to brown.
Fix: Set up your design file in CMYK from the start, or convert it before you submit. If you are using a designer, specify CMYK output. Our team can check your files before printing.
3. No Bleed
Bleed is the extra 3mm of background colour or image that extends beyond the trim edge of your card. Without it, white edges or thin lines can appear along the sides of your card after trimming.
Fix: Set up your file with 3mm bleed on all sides. Your design software (InDesign, Illustrator, Canva Pro) will have a bleed setting in the document setup.
4. Too Much Text
A business card is not a brochure. It is a prompt — a trigger for the person receiving it to follow up with you. Cramming every service, every social handle, every phone number and your tagline onto a 90x55mm card creates visual noise and makes nothing memorable.
Fix: Include only the essentials: name, title, one phone number, one email, website and logo. If you need to communicate more, that is what brochures and DL flyers are for.
5. Choosing the Wrong Stock for Your Industry
A plastic surgeon handing out a cheap, thin standard card sends the wrong signal. A friendly local tradie handing out a premium embossed card might feel out of step with their customers. Card selection is part of your brand communication.
Fix: Match your stock to your customer’s expectations. See our blog on plastic vs laminated cards for a detailed breakdown, or call our team and we will recommend the right stock for your industry.
6. Skipping Proofreading
This sounds obvious, but the number of cards we see with a wrong phone number, a misspelled job title or an outdated website URL is significant. Once printed, they cannot be undone.
Fix: Before you approve any proof, read it out loud, check every digit of every phone number against your phone, and click every URL. Then get someone else to check it too.
7. Ordering Too Few
Ordering 50 cards costs almost the same as ordering 250 once you account for setup. Running out of cards at a trade show or expo is an opportunity cost you cannot get back.
Fix: Order a realistic supply. For most small businesses handing out cards regularly, 250 to 500 cards per staff member per year is a reasonable starting point. Bulk orders reduce the cost per card significantly.
Need help getting your business card artwork right? Our team offers in-house design support, and you get 20 percent off design work when you print with ABC Print Shop.