Business Card Design Program - “Business Card Designer”

This review of the business card design program Business Card Designer is meant to assist anyone thinking of investing in a business card program. It points out both the good and the bad aspects of the program in order to assist you to make an informed choice.

Look and feel
The layout and design of the interface is simple and very easy to use. Overall, it’s a simple but attractive look.

Templates
11 professional templates, 4 plain text templates and 4 shape templates. This adds up to less than 20 templates, which is extremely limiting. The templates themselves are very basic. There are also 40 background templates.

Level of technical know how required
No complicated technical stuff in using this program. A basic knowledge of word and such is all you need to use it reasonably well. Help files are available. A wizard is available for quick jobs and you can save different profiles (name, address, phone number and so on). This means you don’t have to keep entering your details every time you are designing a new card.

Formats
AMF business card designer (ndb) format is the main format. Other formats to export to are png, jpg, bitmap, tiff, wimndows enhanced metafile (emf) and gif. This is pretty adequate for most needs. Resolution is up to 1200 dpi.

Trial version functionality and restrictions
There is a 15 day limitation on trial version Business Card Designer. A watermark is also present on printing and saving.

Print sheet stock and layout options
Apli, Avery, Canson, data Becker, Decadry, Formtec, Herlitz, Herma, IdeaArt, Maaco, MicroApplication, PaperDirect and Sigel paper can be used with Business Card Designer. This is a good range of print stock options. There are over 500 predefined card stock options.

Printing options are customizable and there is a preview window that allows you to see the layout before printing.

Graphic design capability
Business Card Designer allows drawing of basic shapes such as squares, circles and rectangles. Has an import feature allowing importing of graphics. Allowed formats are jpg, bmp, gif, png, emf and tif. There is a handy preview window available for importing graphics. Transparency, gradients and shadows can be applied to graphics.

Value for money
The price of Business Card Designer is standard for a business card design program. Good value for money, except for the limitation with templates.

System Requirements
Windows Vista, XP, 2000
128 MB RAM
64 MB hard disk space
VGA or better monitor (1024x768 resolution or greater recommended)
Windows-compatible inkjet or laser printer
Internet connection during install to download updates

Overall Score out of five