What size is good for my business card?
Well, is there a recommended standard size for your printed business cards? This article will take you through the various international sizes and standards available. We at Mint have come across some strange sizes ourselves that are not in these standards. If you’re a printer, it is not uncommon to outsource finishing services including cutting. It’s important you insist the guillotine machine operator observes the crop marks set on your document (business cards). Our earlier experiences with them show how much they love to estimate sizes.
One of the sizes gaining prominence has been set by ISO. ISO/IEC 7810:2003 is a standardisation meant for identification cards. One of its series (out of four) has been used to cut business cards and especially the round edge business cards. It has also been used with credit cards, loyalty cards and security cards. This is the ID-1 format with a size of 85.60 x 53.98 mm (3.370 x 2.125 in) and rounded corners with a radius of 2.88–3.48 mm.
FYI- the other sizes in the series include:
- ID-000 25 x 15 mm,
- ID-1 60 x 53.98 mm,
- ID-2 105 x 74 mm,
- ID-3 125 x 88 mm;
Business Card Sizes
| Name | Size in inches | Size in millimetres | Size in pixels | Ratio |
| ISO 7810 ID-1 (credit card) | 3.370 x 2.125 in | 85.60 x 53.98 mm | 240.94 x 155.91 px | 1.586 |
| ISO 216 (A8 format) | 2.913 x 2.047 in | 74 x 52 mm | 209.76 x 147.4 px | 1.75 |
| European business card | 3.37 x 2.12 in | 85 x 55 mm | 242.65 x 153.01 px | 1.586 |
| US business card | 3.5 in x 2 in | 89 x 51 mm | 252.28 x 144.57 px | 1.75 |
| Japanese business card | 3.583 x 2.165 in | 91 x 55 mm | 257.95 x 155.91 px | 1.65 |
Table 1.1: Various business cards sizes used around the world
At Mint and for the region at large, we mainly use the US and European sizes with preference to the latter. You can download Adobe Illustrator templates with any of the sizes you require. Click on any of the templates you require below:
