I am looking to design business cards for our members to use as an easy item to carry and hand out to promote the chapter.

If you have examples of business cards from your chapter or another chapter I'd appreciate if you'd post a picture for reference.

 

We had club cards in the 70s. It was the name on top, with the centerpatch and where we could sign our name..."You have just met........"

 

The MoCo has sued plenty of people & businesses for using their logos.

Might want to check with them before spending a penny.

 

HOG / Harley has very specific rules on how you can use their logos. You need to check with them or read the HOG Chapter Guidelines on what you can and what you can not do.

 

Since you are not using their logo for a money making business, I would hope that HD and their lawyers have better things to do.

 

I bought a program for business cards and was surprised to find H-D backgrounds in it.
I'll have to look for the title.

 

Probably means whoever put that program together was in violation.

I deal with this stuff daily. In general, the following are true:

1) You are NEVER allowed to use someone else's logo unless you have explicit permission.

2) Corporations are not interested in going after small time violations such as was described here, particularly since it is non commercial. If you put the HOG logo on a few personal passing-around cards, no one will bother you, even if it is technical violation of copyright law.

3) Logos, when used legally, bring with them extensive rules regarding sizing, colors, placement, allowable typefaces, etc, etc, etc.

The corporate branding people at the MoCo have their hands full dealing with high-volume, off-shore counterfeit stuff.

Does a HOG membership explicitly grant a license to make personal-use business cards with their logo? It very well may. Read the fine print.

But in any case, my advice to the OP is to go ahead, have fun, and don't worry about any of that. As long as you aren't doing anything that would bring embarrassment to the MoCo, there is little chance anyone is going to make a fuss.

As to the design, just keep it simple. Make it as simple as you can, then make it simpler. The most frequent error we see from DIY designers is trying to do too much.

 

I still have a box of HOG business cards I got almost 25 years ago. They were printed with my name and phone number (now long obsolete) on them. I ordered them directly through HOG, or one of their approved vendors at one of the rallies, IIRC. It WAS a long time ago.

 

Maybe the local Dairy Queen could just add your HOG chapter logo to their card.

 

I am a former chapter director as recent as five years ago and know that HOG protects their logo. We had to ask permission to use it on anything and everything and were sometimes turned down. This is the first I have ever heard of business cards. I could see them approving that if done properly, maybe?