Business Card Template
Free, print-ready templates for every size and option of our business cards, with the bleed, trim and safe area marked, and the folds, cut lines and page labels where your product has them.
About this template
A UK business card is 85 x 55mm, and your artwork file should be 91 x 61mm: the card plus 3mm of bleed on every side. Keep text and logos at least 5mm inside the trim, which leaves a safe area of 75 x 45mm.
The template has two pages. Page 1 is the front of the card and page 2 is the back. For a single-sided card, supply page 1 only. For a portrait card, turn the page round: the sizes stay the same.
Run any background colour or photo out to the red bleed edge, so no white line shows if the cut moves slightly. Keep names, phone numbers and email addresses inside the blue dashed line, because anything outside it can be trimmed off or look cramped against the edge.
Download the PDF to open in Illustrator, InDesign or Affinity, or the SVG to use in Canva or Inkscape. When you have finished, delete or hide the guide layer and export a single PDF with the front and back as separate pages. Upload it on the business cards page, where our automatic check confirms the size and bleed before you see a proof. For the size in every unit, see our UK business card size guide.
Business card (85 x 55mm)
| Trim size | 85 x 55mm |
|---|---|
| Artwork with bleed | 91 x 61mm |
| Bleed | 3mm |
| Safe area | 5mm inside the trim |
| Pages | 2 |
| Formats | PDF, SVG |
Page 1 is the front and page 2 the back; for single-sided cards supply page 1 only. Each page is 91 x 61mm with 3mm bleed. Keep text and logos 5mm inside the trim.
Size for Canva, Word and other apps
The artwork size is the trim size plus the bleed on every side. Use it as the custom size (in millimetres) when you set up a design without our file, and keep text inside the safe area.
| Template | Trim size | Artwork with bleed (custom size) | Bleed | Safe area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business card (85 x 55mm) | 85 x 55mm | 91 x 61mm | 3mm | 5mm inside the trim |
What's in the file
| Mark | Colour and line | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Bleed edge | Red, thin solid line round the edge of the 91 x 61mm page | Backgrounds run to here. This 3mm strip is trimmed off. |
| Trim line | Black, solid line at 85 x 55mm, with short black centre marks in the bleed | Where the card is cut. |
| Safe area | Blue, short dashes, 5mm inside the trim | Keep all text and logos inside this line. |
| Page label | Grey text, "Front" or "Back" | Which side of the card the page is. |
| Label block | Black and red text near the bottom edge | Template name, page number, legend and the reminder to delete the guides. |
The guides are on their own layer, named "Guides - Delete or hide this guide layer before export".
Product notes
- Sizes: trim 85 x 55mm; artwork 91 x 61mm with 3mm bleed; safe area 5mm inside the trim.
- Pixels at 300dpi: 1004 x 650px at trim size, or 1075 x 720px with bleed. Photos and logos should be at least this sharp at the size you place them.
- Pages: one PDF, with the front as page 1 and the back as page 2. The cards are 400gsm silk, with a choice of no finish, matt lamination or soft-touch lamination; the template is the same for all three.
- Borders: avoid a thin frame round the edge. Trimming can move very slightly, which makes a narrow border look uneven. On anything smaller than A4, use a border at least 20mm wide or leave it out.
- Small text: 6pt is the smallest size we recommend, and lines should be at least 0.25pt.
Using it in Word
Word can't add bleed, so make the page the full artwork size instead. Set a custom page size of 91 x 61mm, set all margins to zero, stretch any background to the page edge, and keep text at least 8mm from every edge (3mm bleed plus the 5mm safe area). Add a second page for the back, then use Save as PDF. Don't use Word's label layouts with ten cards on an A4 sheet: those are for home printing, and we need one card per page.
Using it in Canva
Create a custom-size design at 85 x 55mm and turn on Show print bleed, then upload our SVG as a guide image and stretch it to fill the page. Delete it before you download as PDF Print. Our Canva printing guide covers the export settings.
Questions
What size should a business card file be?
Make the file 91 x 61mm. That is the 85 x 55mm card plus 3mm of bleed on each side, which is trimmed off after printing. Keep text and logos 5mm inside the 85 x 55mm trim. If your program can set bleed separately, a page of 85 x 55mm with 3mm bleed in the export is fine too: our file check accepts either.
Is there a business card template for Word?
You can use this template's measurements in Word now. Set a custom page size of 91 x 61mm with zero margins, run backgrounds to the page edge and keep text 8mm from every edge. Put the back of the card on page 2, then use Save as PDF. Keep the PDF to one card per page, not a sheet of cards.
How do I set up both sides of the card?
The template has two pages: page 1 is the front and page 2 is the back. Design each side on its own page and export them together as one two-page PDF. For a single-sided card, send page 1 only. The on-screen proof shows both sides, so check that the front and back are the right way round before you pay.
Can I make a portrait business card with this template?
Yes. Turn the page round so it is 61mm wide and 91mm tall, and design in portrait. The bleed, trim and safe area stay the same, just rotated. Our file check reads the size either way. Make sure the front and back are both portrait, or that you have meant one side to be landscape.