Business Card Composer Dan East

Business Card Composer

Review by Dan East

biz Business Card Composer is many things for anyone who wants to create a business card for nearly any purpose. For the novice, youÕll be delighted by the easy interface and wide range of images, formats and layouts to choose from; additionally, graphic designers will find inspiration and a ton of great looking (although now a little dated) Apple products clip art as well as a generous variety of backgrounds, icons and other goodies. Great for a quick card when you need it or to make that Òcalling cardÓ to insure a good first impression.

Right from the start, this is an easy application to get into and play with. The AddressBook integration allows for easy first attempts from your own contacts by making the selection or using drag 'n drop. You can enjoy the WSIWIG (what you see is what you get) changes to the styles by scrolling through the menu bar options and images. Once you select the style and specific format, the data presents itself with little tweaking required.

Regardless of the style that suits your tastes, be that 3D, traditional, futuristic, classic or whatever, there is so much to choose from and you can import your own images as well. In fact, your iPhoto library is a built in option right from the interface and that product image, portrait or scenery can be implemented into your new card.

BCC supports transparency and anti-alias so the images and text look outstanding when printed on the RIGHT paper. In fact, having said that, I would recommend using a very good grade of satin or semi-gloss/glossy ink jet paper to get the most out of your cards appearance, then use a straight cutter or take them to a local KinkoÕs/Sir Speedy/OfficeMax type place since some of the ready-made papers arenÕt nearly as precise and saturated as a quality photo paper, especially if you plan to use photos and/or 3D images in your card.

While I have no real gripes about this product, I did find that adding some personal touches makes all the difference to the final and finished card. The text and images will snap to and align with the other objects in your card so getting it all placed is quick and easy. Business Card Composer is also great for creating a personal card for a home business or just to recreate your business card with a cell phone number or iChat information.

When you consider the cost of professional card creation services, page layout applications and even your local copy center, this program may provide all of that and more. The assistant is simple and walks you through every step, or go solo and place your images and information as you see fit. It is that easy. BeLight has included nearly every inkjet readymade business card stock available in the page format library as well as the ability to upload for out source printing, It even supports odd sizes, styles and formats so that you can really have a unique statement from your new card. BeLight Software has themselves one really well thought out, useful and effective card creation tool here.

Given the fun-factor of Business Card Composer, this is one that is worth the demo download, at the very least. Once you realize how easy it can be to create extremely high quality, professional and effective business cards, you wonÕt go back to traditional page layout for everyday use.