UK business card size: 85 x 55 mm, and the other size you will meet
The short answer is 85 x 55 mm. The longer one is that a second size turns up the moment a chip is involved, and the two are close enough to be confused and far enough apart to matter to a printer.
The standard UK business card is 85 x 55 mm. It is the size most UK printers trim to, and the size our printed cards are made at. The other size you will meet is 85.6 x 54 mm: the bank-card format, and the size of an NFC card, including our touchpoints.
The standard UK business card size
85 x 55 mm, landscape or portrait, is the usual UK business card size. It is a convention rather than a formal standard, which is why it pays to check a printer's template before you design to it. Our QR code business cards are printed at exactly this size.
Business card size in pixels
If you are designing on a screen, set the canvas in pixels at 300 dots per inch, the resolution printers ask for. The arithmetic is the size in millimetres, divided by 25.4, times 300.
- UK business card, 85 x 55 mm: 1004 x 650 pixels at 300 dpi.
- Bank-card format, 85.6 x 54 mm: 1011 x 638 pixels at 300 dpi.
- US business card, 3.5 x 2 inches: 1050 x 600 pixels at 300 dpi.
If your printer asks for bleed, add it to every edge before you convert: at 300 dpi, each millimetre is about 12 pixels.
The other size: 85.6 x 54 mm, the bank-card format
This is the ID-1 format in ISO/IEC 7810, the standard behind bank cards, driving licences and most ID cards (strictly 85.60 x 53.98 mm). NFC business cards are usually made in it, with the chip laminated inside, and our touchpoints are this size.
Against a UK business card it is 0.6 mm wider and 1 mm shorter. That is invisible in the hand, and it matters in two places: a wallet or card-holder slot made for bank cards takes the bank-card format exactly, and a printer's template for one size will not fit the other.
UK and US business card sizes compared
- UK: 85 x 55 mm.
- US: 3.5 x 2 inches, which is 88.9 x 50.8 mm: longer and shallower than a UK card.
- Bank-card format (ISO/IEC 7810 ID-1): 85.6 x 54 mm.
If you order from a site that designs for the American market, check which size its template is before you send artwork.
How big should the QR code be on a business card?
Big enough to read from where the card is held. On the bank-card format we have printed a code 18.4 mm across and scanned it from 400 mm with a real phone, and that is the one size we have tested off a print. How big does a QR code need to be? has the rest, including the clear margin that has to stay around the code.
What to send a printer
- Artwork at the trimmed size, at 300 dpi.
- Colours in CMYK, which is what a press prints in.
- Bleed only if they ask for it. Many printers want a few millimetres beyond the trim on every edge; our printed range is set up without bleed. Check which your printer wants rather than guessing.
- Text and the QR code kept a few millimetres inside the edge, so nothing important sits on the cut.
Or design it in our Design Studio, which sets the size, the safe area and the code for you and shows the card at its real size before anything is printed.
Paper, plastic or a touchpoint
Paper is the cheapest per card and the right thing to give away in quantity: our QR code business cards are 85 x 55 mm, with a code that opens your live profile. A touchpoint is the 85.6 x 54 mm card with an NFC chip as well as the QR, paid once, and it can be tapped as well as scanned: see NFC business cards.
Questions
What size is a business card in the UK?
85 x 55 mm is the usual UK size, in landscape or portrait.
What is 85 x 55 mm in pixels?
1004 x 650 pixels at 300 dpi, before any bleed.
Is a business card the same size as a bank card?
Close, but not the same: a UK business card is 85 x 55 mm and a bank card is 85.6 x 54 mm. NFC cards use the bank-card size.
What size is a US business card?
3.5 x 2 inches, which is 88.9 x 50.8 mm.
What resolution should a business card design be?
300 dpi at the printed size. Lower than that and small text and the QR code can print soft.