A great way to have a unique business card design is to go vintage or retro.
But what makes a business card design appear as vintage or retro?
Below are three key ingredients to retro business card design and also ten shining examples of retro cards.
Three Retro Design Tricks
1. Font
Nowadays designers use sleek, sans serif fonts on most card designs. These are the same fonts used online and on mass transit signage because they are easy to read. Whenever a design uses a serif font, block type, or other particular type styles, the design begins to look more like 1950s advertising than a current business card. In many of the samples below, the designer will use a combination of random old school fonts to build the retro feel.
2. Wording
An old-timey, anachronistic word choice is another way to clue viewers in to a card's throwback design. Look for antiquated phrasing and almost "hokey" sounding wording in some of the cards below.
3. Images
Many vintage or retro business card designs feature a photograph, illustration or graphic design element that is distinctly from another era. In the gallery below, you can see all the unique ways in which designer incorporate retro imagery into the business card layout.
Without further ado, here are ten examples of vintage and retro business card designs that all use the font treatments, word play, and old images as discussed above.
Here's an example of a card design where the old font makes the card feel retro. Image via theinspirationblog.net.
On this card it's the ecru colored paper, design elements like the brackets and other icons and the font, all contributing to the card's vintage feel. Image via cardflare.com.
I like how the front of this card is ordinary and the back is an amazing vintage image. Image via cardonizer.com.
This card has a sense of humor. The different type styles and type arrangements, plus the old-timey wrestler with a larger than life moustache make it vintage and hilarious! Image via bestbusinesscards.net.
Something about this card design makes it look like a print ad from the 1980s. It may be the red, black and yellow color scheme and the Seurat-inspired pixelation. Image via cardflare.com.
Anytime a business card becomes 3D, with a hole punch and a red ribbon for instance, it becomes a lot more interesting. This card looks like an old luggage tag. Image via dzinepress.com.
The word prize is featured in what I would classify as "block type." To me this typeface looks like it's from the 1960s or 70s. The winning-prize ticket concept is also a lovely idea! Image via cardonizer.com.
This is another really humorous card. The red, white and blue design looks like it was "stamped" onto the card. I love the alternating polka dots and how they are even larger in the top left corner. Image via inspirationblog.net.
I guess anytime I see the word "nuclear" I am instantly taken back to the 1950s. The combination of old school fonts and the official-looking design elements make this one feel retro. Image via cardflare.com.
See the typeface for the words, "Hi I'm…" in the top left hand corner? How 1950s is that typogrpahy? The arrow design, and the block type for the phone number also give this a vintage feeling. Image via creattica.com.
Featured photo credit: dok1