Free Business Card Design Templates

Affordable online business card printing has made it easier than ever for even the smallest of businesses to create compelling business cards that tout brand recognition and encourage first contact. Your company can further reduce costs by taking advantage of free business card templates. Though hiring a business card designer to craft a custom card is the best route to take, if you're trying to beat a budget these free business card template resources might fit the bill - literally.

Pre-design templates

For our purposes, free business card templates refers to pre-designed templates that you can use as-is (with some text changes) or modify (if you have a bit of know-how). Free business card layout templates, which clearly mark pre-press cutlines and bleed lines and are set up in the correct resolution and color formats, are available at PsPrint. PsPrint also offers more than 300 free business card design templates through the company's Design It! service. These templates are available in a broad range of industries, so most companies can find one or several business card designs they can customize into their own business cards. You can even upload your own image and use it as a background for your business cards with PsPrint's Design It! service.

Follow the rules

When you're on the hunt for the perfect pre-designed business card template that fits your brand, take care to double-check that you're free to use the design for commercial purposes without attribution. See if the artwork, images, or layout is released under a Creative Commons or other license and read the rules of that license. For peace of mind, contact the designer directly to verify that it is free to use and keep records. It is highly unlikely that you would ever be sued for using a free business card template advertised as such, but it's best to have all your bases covered in the meantime.

Of course, if your website source makes it clear that the business card template is free for commercial use and modification then you're in good shape. Here are a few other places to find free business card design templates:

PsPrint - PsPrint offers both professional pre-press business card templates for working designers and more than 300 high-quality pre-designed business card templates for the casual designer.

Microsoft - Microsoft's Office website has more than 100 pre-designed business card templates that work with Microsoft Word, Publisher and Open Office Writer.

About - About.com sports a nice collection of links to free business card templates.

Best Design Options - Some very modern, chic business card design templates and some old-school templates. Take your pick!