Business Cards That Don’t Stink
I know what you’re thinking, “Hey Alex, how do I get business cards that don’t stink?” Well, first you’ll want to design them in Photoshop, using a high DPI (300 or so), preferably in a vector format, should you want to resize that beautiful logo you just made for your burgeoning business. Now, I can’t make vector art (I haven’t had the time to learn), so you can get away with a 300 DPI version of whatever your logo is. I cheat a bit and use elements of type combined in a novel way to generate my logo, which makes it “vector” in a way. However, the “wicked worn look” has to be redone at each resolution. Anyways.
You have two options. First, you can have your card printed out by a good printshop. I used Overnight Prints when I first tried business cards (they weren’t really for a business, but for practice, etc.), but I have heard really great things about 4by6.com. 4by6 sends you a free sample of their different paper finishes. This way, you can judge if you want double sided glossy, single sided glossy, or a matte finish on your business cards. I’d go this route if you want simply want nice cards. We’re working on this for Mykala right now (professional-level choreographers such as herself need professional-level cards).
However, if you want to go over the top with fantastic, blow ‘em away business cards, then it’s not a matter of photoshop wizardry… oh no, you’re going to have to emboss them. There is precisely one shop I know of who does this, and boy are they committed to quality. Here’s SimpleBit’s business card, which was printed by this shop. The name of the place is Dependable Letterpress.
I specialize in fine, digital letterpress printing, catering to graphic designers and design professionals. I like to approach a job with a collaborative frame of mind and an artisan’s sensibility. I choose to strictly be a job printer so I can focus on printing efficiently and at extremely high standards.
I haven’t gotten a quote from them, nor will I do so any time soon, as I’ll need a legitimate reason down the road (say, a dental practice ;) to merit superfine quality business cards. Hopefully, though, this will inspire someone to try out the letterpress method. People will keep your business card just because it is so great. (Oh, and don’t forget the paper).
Comments
Richard Roche
we used vistaprint when i designed some business cards for someone. the quality was professional, although not as good as an embossed one would look. also, if you find a place where they do raised ink, i would love to have that option for certain things.
vectors aren’t that hard to learn alex, with your photoshop background knowledge i think you could pick up the basics real quick. just make sure to focus on learning the ins and outs of the pen tool, the pathfinder window, and if you have illustrator CS2 or higher, the “live trace” function could save tons of time.