Posts Tagged ‘templates’

This free Xara post card template includes 4×6 inch and 5×7 inch sized flyer designs illustrating the safe area, bleed, and margins. Xara Xtreme (affiliate link) is my choice for creating custom graphics for print or online. Download the 7K zipped post card template here by right clicking the link and selecting “save target as” to retrieve the Xara file.

You may want to view custom full color flyer examples on my main website. Meanwhile, here’s a screenshot of the template shown smaller than actual size.

The template includes a CMYK palette in the lower right corner to help you get started, and unlike the business card template download, the 4×6 and 5×7 designs are exact overall size because they do not require trim after printing.

This tutorial features illustrated tips and tricks for business card design using Xara Xtreme, and a link to download a predesigned template that I created to save you time and money. You may try a free 30-day trial of Xara Xtreme from their site to get started.

The first illustration (not actual size) shows the entire template with two landscape views of a standard (US) 3.5″ x 2.0″ business card for the front and back, and an alternate vertical portrait view which may be used for either the front or advertising on the card back.

The colored blocks in the upper right set a basic CMYK palette in Xara that I set up to help you get started. The 3 template views with guide lines show the “safe area” in green and the outer “bleed area” in yellow. Both areas may contain background color or photographs, but text must only be used inside the safe area otherwise it could be blurry when printed.

Next is a full size illustration of one landscape view of the business card template. The guide lines are shown in more detail. The artwork dimensions will actually be 3.625″ x 2.125″ because printers may want some extra bleed area for trimming each side of the card. The outer border is .187″ wide on all 4 sides.

The next illustration shows the sequence of menu commands in Xara Xtreme for changing views from screen colors as normally shown on your illuminated computer monitor to simulated print colors as the design will actually appear once printed on card stock. From the menu select window/show print colors/simulate print colors.

The final illustration shows the menu sequence to change to printed view, and if you compare the shade of green here to the screen view above, you can see a significant difference. Keep in mind that printed colors will almost always appear slightly duller and darker than what you see on your monitor.

Dowload the free business card template for Xara Xtreme by right clicking here. Visit my main site to view full color business cards designed with Xara Xtreme. You are welcome to comment or email me if you have any questions, also.