How to Create a Business Card in Affinity Designer

In today’s tutorial, we will be creating a business card in Affinity Designer. This card design is for a fictitious bakery called Majestic Cupcakes.

Before you get started: Go to the following links to download the fonts used in this tutorial.

• Great Vibes Font
• Source Sans Pro Font

To download the font, click Download Family. After the font finishes downloading, go to the file or folder. When you locate the folder, open it. Then, double click on the name of the font and click Install. Once you install the font, open Affinity Designer.

Also, download the social icons I created for the business card.

Step 1

The first step in creating a business card in Affinity Designer is to set up a new document. Give the document the following properties. If you want to use millimeters instead of inches, then it will be 89mm x 51mm for an American size business card. 

Step 2

When designing you cards or anything for print, make sure your design elements come to the line surround the artboard (the bleed area). This ensures that no clear areas appear once your design is printed.

Step 3

Now, go to the Layers Panel. Right click on the artboard and select Duplicate.

Step 4

Next, label the original artboard Front of Card. Then, label the duplicate artboard Back of Card.

Step 5

Zoom out by pressing the CTRL key and rolling the ball of your mouse down. Or, press Z on the keyboard and zoom in/out from the tools panel.

Step 6

Make sure the Back of Card artboard is selected in the Layers Panel. Press Shift on the keyboard and drag (with the mouse) the artboard to the right of the other artboard.

Front of Card

Step 7

Now, Select the Front of Card artboard. Next, grab the Rectangle tool and draw a rectangle to the left side of the card (make sure you extend the rectangle into the bleed area). Then, give the rectangle the following fill color C: 27, M: 23, Y:100, K: 0.

Step 8

Grab the Rectangle tool again and draw a rectangle in the center of the card. Set its fill color to black (C: 0, M: 0, Y: 0, K: 100).

Step 9

With the Rectangle tool still selected, draw another rectangle on the right side of the card to cover the rest of the space. Give it the same fill color as the rectangle on the left side of the card.

Step 10

Grab the Rectangle tool and draw a rectangle on the center rectangle of the card.

Step 11

Now, select this rectangle. Then, go to the Context Toolbar and select Convert to Curves.

Step 12

Grab the Rounded Rectangle tool and place it over top of the first rectangle (do not make them touch).

Step 13

Next, select the rectangle that you converted to curves. Grab the Node tool from the Tools Panel.

Step 14

Take the Node tool and select the bottom-left node of the rectangle. Hold Shift and drag the node slightly to the right.

Step 15

Now, select the bottom right node of the rectangle and do the same thing. Only this time, move the right node slightly to the left.

Step 16

After that, go to the Shapes tool and select Segment. Draw it over top of the rounded rectangle, but don’t make them touch.

Step 17

Set the Lower Line of the segment to 50%. Drag the middle part (at the top) of the segment up some to stretch the segment. Set the fill color to C: 84, M: 31, Y: 100, K: 20.

Step 18

With the segment still selected, press CTRL + J on your keyboard to duplicate the segment. Or, right click on the segment and select Duplicate.

Step 19

Grab the Ellipse tool and place it on top of the segment in the center. With the ellipse selected, press CTRL + C on the keyboard to copy it (or right click on it and select Copy). Paste it off to the side of the artboard.

Step 20

Next, select both the ellipse and the segment (select one and press Shift to then select the other shape). Go to the Pathfinder Panel and select Subtract.

Step 21

Go to the Layers Panel and delete the original segment. Select it and press Delete.

Step 22

Grab the ellipse you copied earlier and paste or drag it at the top of the cut-out segment piece.

Step 23

Now, select both the ellipse and the cut-out piece. Go to the Alignment Panel and select Align Center (in the Align Horizontally section).

Step 24

After that, select all the cupcake elements and group them together by pressing CTRL + G.

Step 25

Hold Shift and make the cupcake smaller from the top right side.

Step 26

Select both the cupcake group and the black rectangle. Go to the Alignment Panel. Select Align Center (in the Align Horizontally section). Then, select Align Middle (in the Align Vertically section).

Step 27

Ungroup the cupcake by pressing CTRL + Shift + G. Or, right click the group and select Ungroup.

Step 28

Grab the rectangle tool and draw 5 skinny rectangles on top of the bottom curve of the cupcake (the golden part). Make sure you extend the rectangles slightly past the curve shape.

Step 29

Next, select the 5 rectangles and the curve part. Go to the Pathfinder Panel and select Divide.

Step 30

Now, delete all the green rectangle pieces.

Step 31

Then, select all the cupcake elements and group (CTRL + G) them.

Step 32

In the Layers Panel, label the group Cupcake.

Note: Make sure your cupcake is aligned in the center of the black rectangle.

Now, let’s move on to the back of card artboard to finish creating our business card in Affinity Designer.

Back of Card

Step 1

First, select the Back of Card artboard.

Step 2

Second, grab the Rectangle tool and draw a rectangle on the left part of the card. Set the fill color of the rectangle to the gold (C: 27, M: 23, Y:100, K: 0) color you used before.

Step 3

With the Rectangle tool still active, draw a rectangle on the right part of the card. Set the fill color to black (C: 0, M: 0, Y: 0, K: 100).

Step 4

Copy the cupcake from the Front of Card artboard and paste it on the Back of Card artboard on the right side. Then, resize it. Hold CTRL + Shift to do this so that the cupcake keeps its proportions.

Step 5

Next, go to the Tools Panel and select the Artistic Text Tool. Type Majestic.

Step 6

Select the text. Press CTRL + J to duplicate it. Drag it beneath the original & delete the current text. Type Cupcakes.

Step 7

Align both text to the center of the black rectangle. Select both text and select the back rectangle. Go to the Align Panel and select Align Center.

Step 8

After that, set the Font Size of the word Majestic to 30pt.

Step 9

Then, set the Font Size of the word Cupcakes to 25pt.

Step 10

Select both pieces of text. Go to the Font Family and select the Great Vibes font.

Step 11

Use the icons you downloaded and align them on the card. Next, open the icons in Affinity Designer. Then, copy them onto the Back of Card artboard.

Step 12

Use the Artistic Text Tool to add the rest of the text as seen in the previous picture. Go to the Font Family and set the rest of the text to the Source Sans Pro font.

Step 13

Finally, select all the text. Right-click and select Convert to Curves. This allows the font style to remain the same no matter where you open the file.

Congratulations! This tutorial is complete. You have created a business card in Affinity Designer. For more Affinity Designer tutorials, check out this tutorial on how to create an envelope icon.

Bonus:

To finish out the presentation of your business card, go to Mockups-designs to select the business card mockup you want to use. The mockup files are PSD files, but they can still be opened and edited inside of Affinity Designer.

*** Group all the elements from the Front of Card artboard together. Then, group all the elements from the Back of Card together. Next, you copy and paste them into the mockups. ***

Step 1

First, download the mockup you want to use.

Step 2

Next, find the file on your computer and open it in Affinity Designer.

Step 3

Then, go to File > Place and select your business card designs.

Step 4

After that, you would place and rearrange your designs in the placeholder sections that are listed in the Layers Panel.