Setting up a small business presents a familiar conundrum: On the one hand, you want to project a professional image. On the other, you don't always have the resources to contract a design house to come up with a brand identity and design business cards for your fledgling enterprise. Utility SpringPublisher ($24, feature-limited free demo) offers one possible solution: Customizable templates.

SpringPublisher comes with several templates, and also plugs into an online template gallery with plenty of other options. Each template from the online gallery costs a few credits (usually 3 or 4), and the paid version comes with 100 credits, which should be plenty for a single project even if you're making several alternative designs.

Templates usually include business card designs, and sometimes add letterhead design as well. The templates are nice, but they do feel like templates, with generic "one size fits all" designs.

Once you've picked a template, you can customize its text, as well as some of the colors and graphics. SpringPublisher includes basic graphic tools, such as geometric shapes. It also plugs into Google Maps, letting you add a map showing how to get to your business with just a few clicks.

One of SpringPublisher's most interesting features is the QR code option: These square codes have been popping up everywhere recently, and SpringPublisher lets you add one to your business card, as well.

With a QR code on your card, smartphone users could point their phone's camera at your card and instantly add your contact information to their address book. SpringPublisher includes a powerful QR code editor that lets you select a level of error correction, and overlay decorative images on top of the QR code.

As you place the image on top of the QR code, SpringPublisher shows live feedback on how readable the QR code is. This makes it easy to move or resize the graphic while keeping the QR code working as intended. The live preview image also works for text: Start filling in your contact information, and the QR code will morph with every letter you type. Very cool to watch.

Apart from its solid QR code and Google Maps support, SpringPublisher doesn't bring a lot of innovation to the table. Still, if you are looking for a low-cost way to design a nice business card and letterhead with a QR code, SpringPublisher can get the job done.