Comp cards – or sed / zed cards – are important business tools for models. They serve like business cards.

When a model goes on a casting call or audition, he or she leaves a comp card behind with the casting director. The cards can also be passed around like resumes to prospective employers. So how do you create them…?

You could use any number of design suites to put together a layout for comp cards, and one such option would be InDesign. You need to create a document that’s 5.5″ x 8.5″. One side holds a large frame (a headshot), while the other side contains multiple smaller frames (usually 4). Somewhere, you’ll need to make room for stats and contact information.

You can download this fairly standard model comp card template for InDesign to get started. You could also take a look at this alternative one sided model comp card template. It’s a little less conventional, still simple.

Many comp cards look like the templates above, but you could experiment with fancier fonts, backgrounds. Either way, once you have a completed design you can export a pdf file and take it to your local printer. Printing alone will probably be much cheaper than getting them designed and printed by a studio.

However, if you do want an all in one solution you could order model comp cards from Olinda Gibbons Photography.