Getting the business card design size right is the difference between a clean, professional card and a reprint you pay for twice. Most files rejected by printers are not rejected because the design is ugly. They are rejected because the artboard was the wrong size, the bleed was missing, the file was in RGB, or the phone number sat 1 mm from the trim line.
This guide is written as a practical designer-to-printer walkthrough. You will find the standard sizes used across regions, exact pixel dimensions at 300 DPI (with and without bleed), safe margin rules, and the export settings we ask for at PixelBright before a job goes on press.
The short answer: standard business card sizes
- US and Canada: 3.5 x 2 inches (88.9 x 50.8 mm)
- Europe (including UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy): 85 x 55 mm (3.35 x 2.17 in)
- Japan: 91 x 55 mm
- Australia and New Zealand: 90 x 55 mm
- China: 90 x 54 mm
If you are designing for an international audience, the safest compromise is a card that sits inside both the US and European footprint, or simply pick the size used where your client hands out most of their cards. A 3.5 x 2 in card fits every card slot in a North American wallet; an 85 x 55 mm card fits standard European card holders and business card books.
Business card sizes by region and format
| Format | Millimetres | Inches | Where it is used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard US | 88.9 x 50.8 | 3.5 x 2 | USA, Canada |
| Standard EU / UK | 85 x 55 | 3.35 x 2.17 | Most of Europe, Middle East, India |
| Credit card / ISO ID-1 | 85.6 x 53.98 | 3.375 x 2.125 | Plastic cards, loyalty cards, rounded corners |
| Japan (Meishi) | 91 x 55 | 3.58 x 2.17 | Japan |
| Oceania | 90 x 55 | 3.54 x 2.17 | Australia, New Zealand |
| China | 90 x 54 | 3.54 x 2.13 | China, Hong Kong, Taiwan |
| Square | 55 x 55 or 63.5 x 63.5 | 2.17 x 2.17 or 2.5 x 2.5 | Creative studios, retail, hospitality |
| Slim / skinny | 85 x 40 or 88.9 x 25.4 | 3.35 x 1.57 or 3.5 x 1 | Minimal cards, appointment cards |
| Folded (closed size) | 85 x 55 closed / 170 x 55 flat | 3.5 x 2 closed / 7 x 2 flat | Menus, price lists, multilingual cards |
A note on rounded corners
Rounded corners do not change the trim size. A 3.5 x 2 in card with a 3 mm corner radius is still built on a 3.5 x 2 in document. What changes is your safe zone: keep logos and text at least 5 mm away from rounded corners, because the curve eats into the usable area more aggressively than a square corner does.
Business card design size in pixels
Print resolution should be 300 PPI at final size. Anything below 250 PPI starts to look soft, and most printers flag files under 200 PPI automatically. If you work in Photoshop or a raster tool, build your document at these pixel dimensions.
| Size | Trim (300 DPI) | With bleed (300 DPI) | Safe zone (300 DPI) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 x 2 in (US) | 1050 x 600 px | 1125 x 675 px (0.125 in bleed) | 975 x 525 px |
| 85 x 55 mm (EU) | 1004 x 650 px | 1075 x 720 px (3 mm bleed) | 933 x 579 px |
| 91 x 55 mm (JP) | 1075 x 650 px | 1146 x 720 px (3 mm bleed) | 1004 x 579 px |
| 2.5 x 2.5 in (square) | 750 x 750 px | 825 x 825 px (0.125 in bleed) | 675 x 675 px |
Working in points instead? A 3.5 x 2 in card is 252 x 144 pt, and an 85 x 55 mm card is roughly 241 x 156 pt. Vector tools like Illustrator, InDesign and Affinity Publisher handle this natively, which is why they are the better choice for card work.
Bleed, trim and safe margin explained
Cards are printed on large sheets and cut down in stacks. Guillotine blades drift by up to 1 mm. Three zones protect you from that drift.
- Bleed: extra artwork extending past the cut line. Use 3 mm in metric workflows or 0.125 in in imperial workflows. Any background colour, photo or pattern that touches the edge must extend into the bleed.
- Trim line: the final size of the card, for example 85 x 55 mm. This is your document size, not your bleed size.
- Safe zone (margin): an inner boundary of 3 to 5 mm from the trim on each side. All text, logos, QR codes and thin frames live inside it.
Why borders are risky
A thin keyline border around the whole card is the single most common design that looks wrong after cutting. A 1 mm shift makes the border 2 mm on one side and 0 mm on the other, and the eye catches it instantly. If the client insists on a frame, make it at least 4 mm thick so a small shift is invisible, or drop it entirely.
QR codes and NFC cards
QR codes should be at least 20 x 20 mm on a business card, printed in solid black or a dark colour on a light background, with a quiet zone of at least 2 mm around the code. Never place a QR code across a fold or within the safe zone limit. If the card includes an NFC inlay, ask the printer for the inlay position map before you finalise the layout, since the chip area often cannot carry heavy foil or metallic ink.
Colour, ink and typography rules that pass preflight
- Work in CMYK from the start. Converting a finished RGB file at export produces dull, shifted colours, especially with bright blues, oranges and greens.
- Use the printer’s ICC profile. Coated stock in Europe usually means FOGRA39 or FOGRA51; in North America it is typically GRACoL 2013 or SWOP.
- Spot colours: if the brand uses Pantone, keep the swatch as a spot colour and label it clearly. Do not mix a spot version and a CMYK version of the same colour in one file.
- Rich black for large areas: C60 M40 Y40 K100 gives a deep black. Keep total ink coverage under 300 percent.
- Plain black K100 for small text. Rich black on 7 pt type causes registration fuzz.
- Minimum type size: 6 pt absolute floor, 7 to 8 pt recommended for phone numbers and emails.
- Minimum line weight: 0.25 pt. Hairlines set to 0 pt disappear or print inconsistently.
- Reverse type: white text on a dark background needs to be slightly heavier, and avoid light-weight serifs below 8 pt.
Export settings for a print-ready file
Follow this sequence and your file will pass almost any printer’s automated preflight.
- Set the document to the trim size with 3 mm or 0.125 in bleed on all four sides.
- Place all images at 300 PPI effective resolution, meaning after scaling in the layout.
- Convert or outline fonts, or embed them fully. Outlining is the safest option when sending to an unknown printer.
- Export as PDF/X-1a:2001 for a flattened CMYK-only file, or PDF/X-4 if the printer supports live transparency and spot colours.
- Include crop marks with a 3 mm offset. Do not include registration marks, colour bars or page info unless requested.
- Turn off downsampling below 300 PPI and avoid JPEG compression above medium quality.
- Deliver front and back as separate pages in one PDF, both in the same orientation, page 1 front and page 2 back.
- Add a separate spot layer named clearly for any finishing: spot UV, foil, emboss or die cut, drawn in 100 percent of a named spot colour set to overprint.
- Open the exported PDF and check the output preview, ink limits and separations before sending.
Common rejection reasons and how to fix them
| Rejection reason | What the printer sees | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Low resolution | Logo or photo below 200 PPI at final size | Request vector logo (AI, EPS, SVG) or a 300 PPI raster at print size |
| RGB colour space | sRGB images or RGB swatches inside the PDF | Convert document and links to CMYK with the correct ICC profile |
| No bleed | Background stops exactly at the trim line | Extend artwork 3 mm past trim and re-export with bleed enabled |
| Text too close to trim | Content under 2 mm from the cut line | Pull all text into a 4 mm safe zone |
| Wrong document size | Trim box set to the bleed size, or a random size like 3.6 x 2.1 in | Set trim box to exact card size, bleed box 3 mm larger on each side |
| Missing fonts | Font not embedded, substituted glyphs | Embed or outline all type before export |
| Ink coverage too high | Total area coverage above 320 percent, risk of set-off | Rebuild blacks using a controlled rich black recipe |
| Transparency and overprint conflicts | White objects set to overprint, disappearing elements | Check overprint preview, remove overprint from white and light objects |
| Single-page front and back | Both sides side by side on one page | Split into two pages at exact trim size |
Final pre-send checklist
- Trim size matches the printer’s spec sheet exactly
- 3 mm or 0.125 in bleed on all four sides, artwork actually extends into it
- All text inside a 4 mm safe margin, further from rounded corners
- CMYK only, or CMYK plus clearly named spot colours
- Images 300 PPI effective, logos vector where possible
- Fonts embedded or outlined
- Small text in K100, large solids in controlled rich black
- Two pages, front then back, same orientation
- Exported as PDF/X-1a or PDF/X-4 with crop marks offset 3 mm
- Proof PDF opened and visually checked at 400 percent zoom
If you want a second pair of eyes before the job goes to press, the PixelBright team runs a full preflight on card artwork and returns an annotated report, so you know exactly what to fix before the printer does.
FAQ
Are business cards 2 x 3 inches?
Close, but not quite. The standard North American business card is 2 x 3.5 inches, not 2 x 3. A 2 x 3 in card is a non-standard size that will sit loose in most card holders and may cost more to produce because it does not fit standard cutting layouts.
Are business cards A7 size?
No. A7 is 74 x 105 mm, which is significantly larger than a business card. The metric business card standard is 85 x 55 mm. A7 is closer to a small invitation or a compact flyer format.
How many business cards fit on 8.5 x 11 inch paper?
Ten standard 3.5 x 2 in cards fit on a letter sheet in a 2 x 5 grid, which is why most desktop card templates are built that way. On A4 (210 x 297 mm) you fit ten 85 x 55 mm cards with room for cutting marks. Note that sheet-fed home printing usually cannot produce full bleed, so leave a white margin or trim with a guillotine.
Is 4 x 6 a standard business card size?
No, 4 x 6 in is a postcard size, not a business card size. It is a good choice for direct mail, rack cards or appointment reminders, but it will not fit a wallet or a card holder. There is more on it in A Guide to Standard Business Card Sizes.
What resolution should a business card be?
300 PPI at final print size. For a 3.5 x 2 in card that means 1050 x 600 pixels at trim, or 1125 x 675 pixels including 0.125 in bleed. Vector artwork is resolution independent and always preferred for logos and type.
Should I design in Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign?
Illustrator or InDesign for anything type-heavy, because they keep vector text crisp and handle bleed, spot colours and multi-page export cleanly. Photoshop is fine for photographic card backgrounds, but build at 300 PPI and keep text in a vector tool where you can.
How much bleed does a business card need?
3 mm per side in metric workflows and 0.125 in per side in imperial workflows. Some printers request 5 mm for specialty stocks or letterpress, so always check the spec sheet first.
Can I use the same file for European and US card sizes?
Not directly. The aspect ratios differ (1.75 for 3.5 x 2 in, about 1.55 for 85 x 55 mm), so a straight resize distorts the layout. Build a master layout with generous margins and then adapt each version so the safe zone rules still hold.