One of the first questions, that graphic designers usually ask of themselves when embarking on a business card design, is whether or not to orientate their design as landscape (horizontally) or portrait (vertically).

Some designers tend to prefer one way or the other, all the time.

On occasion, the decision is easily made, given the dimensions and shape of the clients logo, or simply the clients natural preference.

But I say, ask not what your business card design can do for you, but rather what you can do for your business card design, and if the design calls for it, the client wants it, and it works, then why not both?

Both? But surely, having landscape on one side and portrait on the other flies in the face of every last design principle you ever had drummed into you at art school?

My favourite design principle that was drummed into me, was, “Never forget to constantly push the boundaries, and completely ignore all the rules if you have to.”

So, if you are making use of the awesome double sided cards from Moo, then this is the perfect time to use such a design.

Here below is the design that I created for new brand, Yummy Mummy, The Cupcake Foundry, which uses alternating designs on either side. As you will see below, the detail side of the card, makes use of a portrait design, and the image side is a landscape layout.

If you consider, that no one is physically able to look at both sides of a business card at the same time (unless they have two – and why would they?) then this makes this set up perfectly plausible.

What do you think of the concept, and of the design?

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Thank you for reading!