Business Card Software – Juicy Business Cards

This review of the business card software Juicy Business Cards version 1.5 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 as to which program is best for you.

Look and feel
The interface is by far the most colourful and user friendly one I have come across. It looks so simple and fun that I am very sure even kids would be very happy using it, which is probably the point as it is so basic.

The overall theme seems to be “choose a great background and put some nice letters on top of it and voila… your card is ready!”

Templates
There is a reasonable variety of business card templates to choose from. The backgrounds are without exception very colourful and professional looking. Not much clipart here – which is a good thing to me.

Level of technical know how required
No technical know-how required at all. Basic word skills are enough.

Formats
.jbc is the default saving format.Jpg, jpeg, png, tif, bmp, tga, pcx formats are supported for importing images.

Trial version functionality and restrictions
The trial version does not allow you to save any work. How annoying! Why not a watermark or something like that? Plus the popup that comes up and prompts you to buy the license every time you try to save. How annoying!

Print sheet stock and layout options
APLI, Avery, Agipa, Boeder, Formtec, Herma, May+Spies, NCR, Pimaco and Sigel Paper stock are supported.

Card layout and size are fully customizable.

Graphic design capability
You can import logos and photos in various formats (Jpg, jpeg, png, tif, bmp, tga, pcx) and change backgrounds as well as change background properties (hue, brightness, saturation). Other than that there isn’t much else, not even drawing basic shapes like circles and squares. Obviously this is a big negative.

System Requirements
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 95/98/Me, Windows NT4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP
CPU: Pentium processor minimum.
Memory: 256M or more for Windows 95/98/ME, 256M or more for Windows NT4.0/2000
Free hard drive space: 10 M for trial version and 100M for Pro version

Value for money
The program costs US$29.95 and while Juicy Business Cards is not the most sophisticated business card software around, it’s a colorful and fun package. I did not find it “pretentious” in that it certainly does not make huge promises which it can’t deliver on. What you see is what you get. What it lacks in complexity and graphic design capability it makes up for in looks and practicality.

If you don’t need a highly capable program as far as graphic design goes and simply want great looking business cards in minutes, this is the program for you.

Overall Score out of five