The most important thing is (of course) the actual design and overall style of the card. Luckily there is no shortage of examples and photo collections of awesome business cards for inspiration. I’ve collected a few here as an example:

http://blogof.francescomugnai.com/2008/05/70-new-amazing-business-sards/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dailypoetics/sets/72057594104389710/

http://www.reencoded.com/2008/05/20/42-awesome-business-card-designs-with-links-to-100s-more/

http://onemansblog.com/2008/10/17/the-massive-business-card-gallery-over-250-amazing-business-cards/

http://designblurb.com/beautiful-business-cards-found-on-flickr/

Initially I was quite tempted by some of the most unusual designs – cut through logos, metal/plastic cards etc. but as this is a private card and my name is not a brand I decided against it. I do whish I was a graphics designer so I could justify a über cool card but alas that’s not the case..

So after a lot of consideration I decided to go for a more traditional card done using the letterpress technique. It represents the older side of printing techniques, which means that these type of cards are getting more and more rare – and therefore they will stand out nicely from the crowd (without being too “artsy”). Unfortunately, my choice leaves me with a problem as these days it is very difficult to find printers that still have the required equipment for letterpress. So far I’ve only located a couple and they are both situated in the US, which is less than optimal for me. So, the search continues for a letterpress printer within the EU..