Visiting card design in Rajkot.

3 sizes cover almost every card printed in Rajkot. 3.5 by 2 inches, 90 by 54mm, and 85 by 55mm. Whichever you pick, the artwork is made larger than the card. The cutting machine goes through a stack of paper and never lands exactly on the line.

• 3.5 by 2 inches, roughly 89 by 51mm. The most common size in India, and the default at most local printers.
• 90 by 54mm. Slightly larger, common with digital printers, and the size most card holders are built for.
• 85 by 55mm, the ID card shape. Used when the card is also a membership or loyalty card.
• 3mm bleed on all 4 sides. An 89 by 51mm card is supplied as 95 by 57mm artwork.
• The background colour must run right to the edge of that larger artwork.
• A safe margin of at least 4mm inside the cut line. No text, no logo, and no QR code closer than that.
• 300 DPI at final size, CMYK colour, and all type converted to outlines before the file leaves you.
• Crop marks on the PDF, so the printer cuts to your line and does not guess.

Not because the design is bad. Because the file is built for a screen, and a press is not a screen. 5 things go wrong. All 5 are invisible on your laptop. All 5 are obvious on 1,000 printed cards you have already paid for.

1. 01

   No bleed, so a white line appears after cutting.

   A background that stops at the edge of the card leaves a hairline of bare paper. Once the stack is cut, there is no way to fix it.

2. 02

   RGB colours that shift on the press.

   Screens mix light. Presses mix ink. A bright RGB blue or green has no exact ink match. It comes back duller than the version you approved. Ask for CMYK, or a Pantone if it has to be exact.

3. 03

   Low resolution logos.

   A logo pulled off a website is about 72 to 96 DPI. Printed properly it is a quarter of that size. So it gets stretched and the edges go soft. This is why a vector logo file matters more than any other file you own.

4. 04

   Fonts the printer does not have.

   If the type is not converted to outlines, his machine puts something else in its place. The whole layout moves. You find out when the cards arrive.

5. 05

   Black that is not the right black.

   Small text should print in 100% K only. Otherwise it goes fuzzy where the 4 inks do not line up. Large black areas need a rich black mix, or they look grey.

300 GSM art card is the local default and it is fine. 350 to 400 GSM is what a card feels like when somebody notices it. The finish matters more than the thickness. Almost every finish below is available from printers inside the city.

• 300 GSM art card. The standard. Fast, cheap, and available everywhere in Rajkot.
• 350 to 400 GSM. Noticeably stiffer in the hand. Worth the small extra on a card you give to buyers.
• Matt lamination. The most common good finish here. Softens the colour a little and hides fingerprints.
• Gloss lamination. Brighter colour, shows every fingerprint. Better on product heavy cards.
• Velvet or soft touch lamination. Matt, with a suede feel. The most noticed finish for the money.
• Spot UV. Gloss varnish on chosen areas over a matt card. Needs a separate black mask file marking where it goes.
• Gold or silver foil. Needs a separate mask file too. Works best on solid shapes, not thin lines.
• Embossing, debossing, round corner cutting, and edge painting. Available, slower, and worth quoting before you commit.
• Plain and textured boards. Good for writing on. Colours print warmer and flatter than on art card.

Print both sides. On a laminated card the second side adds very little. One card only lists a phone number. The other does a job after you have walked away. What goes on the back is the real decision, and most people never make it.

It works well if the Gujarati is set properly. It works badly if it is typed in whatever font the layout machine had. Gujarati needs more height than English, because the matras sit above and below the line. So it has to be matched by eye, not by number.

• The cleanest layout is English on the front and Gujarati on the back. Nothing gets squeezed.
• If both go on 1 face, the Gujarati needs its own line spacing and usually a slightly larger size.
• Use a proper Gujarati font with correct matras and joined letters. Most default templates get them subtly wrong.
• Convert all Gujarati type to outlines before sending it to the printer, so nothing gets swapped.
• Check the spelling of your own name and address with someone who reads Gujarati daily.
• That is the 1 mistake nobody catches at proof stage, and it gets printed 1,000 times.
• Hindi works the same way. A card in 3 languages almost never works. Pick 2.

A QR code on a visiting card is useful only if it goes somewhere better than your homepage. Print it at 20mm square or larger, dark on light, with empty space around it. Then test the printed card, not the version on your screen.

1. 01

   A WhatsApp chat.

   In Rajkot this is where most enquiries actually happen. A wa.me link with a ready first message removes the awkward opening. The enquiry then arrives with some context.

2. 02

   A vCard, so your details save in 1 tap.

   The visitor gets your name, number, email, and company straight into his contacts. Nobody enjoys retyping a card, and most people never get around to it.

3. 03

   Your Google review link.

   Useful for clinics, showrooms, hotels, and restaurants. Written reviews are also 1 of the things AI assistants read before naming a business.

4. 04

   A specific page, not the homepage.

   A product catalogue page, a booking page, or a list of what you make. Send people to the page that answers the question they had when they took the card.

5. 05

   Print it properly.

   20mm square at least, with a blank border around it. Never white on black, and never over a photo. Scan the printed proof before you approve the run.

It means your printer can open the file, run it, and cut it without asking you a single question. That is a specific list of things. Get it right and the cards arrive correct the first time. Get it wrong and you lose 3 days to WhatsApp messages about a missing font.

• A press ready PDF, exported as PDF/X-1a or PDF/X-4. Not a JPG and not a Word file.
• CMYK colour throughout, with any spot colour named and marked separately.
• 300 DPI at final size, for every picture placed in the file.
• 3mm bleed on all sides, with crop marks.
• All type converted to outlines, or the fonts fully embedded.
• Separate black mask files for spot UV, foil, or embossing, if you are using them.
• A small JPG preview of each side, so you and the printer approve the same thing.
• The editable source file, handed to you, so a reprint in 2 years does not start again.

The design of both sides, the print ready files, the editable source file, and 2 rounds of changes. First draft in 48 hours. It is quoted as 1 fixed job, written down before you pay. Nothing is billed by the hour, and printing is never included.

You pay half as advance (એડવાન્સ) and half on handover. A card is usually the easiest way to see how we work. It is 1 item inside graphic design in Rajkot, which also covers brochures, catalogues, packaging, and hoardings. It is drawn from the same set of files as logo design in Rajkot. How we scope and quote a job is set out under how the work runs, alongside the rest of what we do for businesses in Rajkot. The free AI Visibility Check costs nothing and tells you whether customers can find you at all.