Alright, let me make this as simple as possible.

The internet is a vast resource that has been available to all of us for some time now although often underused. Let me illustrate this point by giving you some pointers on how you can design a cool modern business card using resources found online.

1. First you have to setup a blank canvas in Photoshop. Create a new file, image size set it to 2.25" x 3.75". Standard business cards are 2x3.5 but you have to make allowances for bleeds which is 0.125" on all 4 sides of your card (do the math). RGB setting is fine at this point but you'll change this when you're almost done for purposes I'll note later. Activate your ruler and drag lines from the ruler to your canvas to mark where the trim lines are. Trim lines are 0.125" from the edges of your card. This is a good indicator of where you should NOT place the text and images of your card.

2. Now you got a blank spread to work with, determine your audience or target market. If this is just a personal card, how do you want people to remember you by? Cool and wild with colors that communicate just that. Or formal and introvert? Once you've decided on these factors, you can start skimming through the generous pile of cool business card designs online and look for the colors and fonts that suit you.

3. Next step is to be able to grab these colors and paste them onto your canvas. Ever heard of Print Screen? If not, look it up. Or better yet, try looking down, there should be a button on your keyboard that says "PrtScn".

4. Now go to photoshop, click Ctrl+N to open a new file, hit enter to get past the popup then hit Ctrl+V to paste the image you just copied with PrtScn. Use the dropper to get the exact shade of the background or fonts. Make sure you uncheck "use only web colors" as this will limit the shades you can use in Photoshop. Once you've found the exact shade, you can now apply it to your canvas by using the paint or the bucket tool.

5. Fonts. Fonts are free and there's tons of them out there. I won't give out the exact urls of the websites as this is part of the exercise. Go to Google and type in free fonts or free font downloads. You should see a ton of fonts readily available for you. Select the one you like best, download to your computer and voila, you can now use it in Photoshop. As for the colors of your fonts, do the same thing you did in number 4 if you don't know the exact color for your fonts yet. TIP: Use at most 2 fonts in your card. I know there's a lot of cool ones but don't get too excited as your card might end up looking like a doodle board, unless that's what you're after.

6. As with free fonts, there are a also tons of free vector images online that you can download, customize and use. If you don't mind paying then you can subscribe to istock.com or corbis.com. If you're after free ones, check out sxc.hu. If you need lines and shapes, use photoshop's line and shape objects.

7. When you're done with the text, colors, images and you're ready to print, change your color settings from RGB to CMYK. This is for the simple reason that monitors display colors in RGB and printers read and print out colors via CMYK color mode. After switching color modes, check your design again and see if you need to retweak anything. If not, then you're good to go.

You may print your cards at home, which I advise you to do just to have a feel of your business card. You can still change it if you want to before sending it out to an online printer and/or printing more copies of it.

And there you have it, a very basic run-through of how-to design your own funky business card online.

Here are some links to get your creative juices flowing again -

GraphicFetish.com

• http://www.graphicfetish.com/inspiring-business-cards-that-break-the-mold/

Creativebits.org

• http://creativebits.org/cool_business_card_designs

Daily Poetics - Flickr

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

Inspiredology.com

• http://inspiredology.com/cool-business-cards/