Archive for August 31, 2010

Unique Business Cards: When to Use Embossing, Spot UV and Foil Stamping

admin / August 31, 2010 / No comments

Business card enhancement features like spot UV, embossing, and foil stamping will transform your card into a symbol of prestige and quality.  But which one is the best? 

Embossed Business Cards

Embossing produces raised parts of your business card by pushing these parts through from the reverse side.  The effect is like a credit card, where the account number is raised on the front and recessed on the back. 

Embossing works relatively well for text, but it does have some key limitations. 

First, you should not have artwork in the embossed areas.  These areas must remain clear or else the artwork and embossing will become jumbled and will look awful. 

Additionally, most printers are not able to precisely line up embossing with ink.  The exact embossed areas could shift 1/16” – 1/8” during the production process.  So for example, if your card has a black background, the embossed areas must be black as well.  You would not be able to have, say, white text embossed because it is not feasible for the embossing to line up with the underlying white text perfectly every time. 

If you want your business card enhancement feature to allow for color that is different from the card’s background color, consider either spot UV or foil stamping.

Spot UV Business Cards

Spot UV is where specific areas of your card are treated with a glossy coating.  This effect does not impact the underlying color, it only makes the treated areas slightly raised and shiny relative to the non-glossy business card stock. 

Typically, spot UV does not have the same alignment problems as embossing.  With today’s technology, spot UV can be precisely lined up against any ink-based design element.  So here, if you had a black background with white text, you could have the text treated with spot UV so that it is shiny, raised, and white. 

Spot UV works only on non-glossy cardstock, as doing spot UV on glossy business cards will not create a visible effect (everything is already glossy).  Silk business cards are the best option for spot UV, because they are non-glossy and extremely durable. 

Foil Stamped Business Cards

Foil stamping is where specific parts of your card are coated with a layer of metallic foil.  It is typically offered in gold, silver, green, red or blue.

The foil stamped areas are not limited to only the card’s background color like embossing.  However, although color can be utilized, you are limited to the foil colors offered by the printer. 

Also, foil stamped business cards are usually subject to the same shifting that could occur with embossed business cards, so it is important not to have any artwork in the stamped areas. 

Which One Should You Use?

Generally speaking, none of these enhancements are available on glossy business cards.  All 3 are most effective on silk business cards, so if you plan on utilizing a silk cardstock, your options are wide open.

Of the 3 options discussed, embossing is typically the least preferred because of the aforementioned color and artwork limitations.  Additionally, embossed business cards are usually the most expensive of the three.

Foil stamping is also relatively expensive, but at least this feature offers more color options.  The downside is that the foil can sometimes flake, peel or appear blotchy.  Additionally, foil stamped business cards tend to become worn at an accelerated rate as they get pulled in and out of a wallet.

Most often, spot UV business cards provide the best bang for your buck.  This option is by far the least expensive of the three, offers the full gamut of color availability, and is not subject to the same flaws as foil and embossing.

Category: free business cards / Tags: , ,

Promote Your Business With Spot UV Business Cards & Cheap Business Cards

admin / August 30, 2010 / No comments

You have many choices when it comes to getting business cards today, more so than at any other time in history.  This is because of the new technology that makes it easier to print up business cards at a flash and send them to you, especially when you use an online printer.  You can choose from spot UV business cards that are bound to attract attention for your marketing or you can also get cheap business cards. 

 

Many people who are just starting out a business will look for a way to get business cards where they do not have to spend a lot of money.  For those who are on a limited budget, getting cheap business cards makes sense.  They do not cost you a lot of money and you can put the necessary information as to contact and the type of business that you offer on these cards.  You can be very successful as an entrepreneur when you use even cheap business cards that you order from an online printer. 

 

If you want to really take it up a notch, you can get spot UV business cards that are more durable.  These business cards are more inclined to attract attention from those to whom you give them to.  One thing that both spot UV business cards as well as cheap business cards have in common is that they are no good if they are just sitting in a drawer at your home.  You have to be willing to give them out to people so that they know that your business or marketing promotion is out there. 

 

There are several ways to hand out spot UV business cards as well as cheap business cards.  For example, you might strike up a conversation with someone in line at the checkout of a grocery store.  If you are in business and selling something, you should always be willing to strike up such a conversation.  You can then hand them your business card so that they can learn more about what it is that you do.  You never know if they will use it or not, but one thing is true and that is that they will not know what it is that you do unless you actually tell them  Writing down a website or number of a business is not a good idea as people tend to lose these items quickly and forget about them.  However, when you hand them a spot UV business cards or even cheap business cards, you can be sure that they will look at them. 

 

If you have a neighborhood store where you frequent, you should ask the owner if you can leave some business cards on the counter.  Many people find services and business through word of mouth.  This is a good way to get promotion and does not have to cost you a lot of money at all, especially if you opt for cheap business cards.  You should place these everywhere someone is likely to see them and pick them up. 

Category: business cards cheap / Tags: ,

Choosing an Online Printer to Print Business Cards

admin / August 30, 2010 / No comments

In recent years many online UK business card printing companies have popped up giving you the customer plenty of choice. Most specialise in printing business cards and other similar products like printing leaflets, flyers, compliment slips etc. This article focuses on business cards.

The assumption is that ultimately you as a consumer are looking to purchase professional quality business cards for a reasonable cost. Costs obviously vary from printer to printer but in general the costs are less than high street business cards printing costs. To differentiate between online printers and to make a judgement about what you are getting for your money, you have to look at the overall service provided by the online printer. In assessing the overall service it is important to consider the following five key points.

1)  Business Card Design

Many online printers usually give you two options:

Option one is where you choose from a variety of template business card designs which you can then tailor to your needs. Obviously you are looking for a printer that has a rich variety of business card template designs including blank business card templates which can be modified from ground up. You also need a powerful and easy to use business cards online design tool, which will allow you to design a business card to meet your exacting requirements.

Option two is where you design business cards using your own software and you can submit this design to the printer. Many printers will put restrictions on what you can submit in terms of file types, quality etc.  Essentially you as the customer need to be quite well versed in printing jargon to make sure you can use the printer. Most people are novices to printing.

But there are a few printers who will treat the customer like a novice and provide added knowledge value without charging any extra. As an example they will accept any file type you submit without restrictions and help to create a design that is suitable to be printed and also check the quality of any files submitted in terms of resolution (dpi).

Dpi (dots per inch) or resolution refers to the sharpness of your design. It does not matter how good the printers are, if your business cards design is not sharp enough then the printed card will not appear crisp and clear. Ideally for the best result, you are looking at having a design of at least 300dpi when created in actual printing size.

2)  Business Card Paper Thickness and Options

Thickness (gsm) of the business card is reference to its weight. Anything over 300gsm normally will give the feel of a quality business card. Most printers provide a range of between 270 to 400 gsm. Sometimes a card may feel stiffer but it is not necessarily thicker. The common paper types are matt, silk, gloss and recycled, again all of these give a pretty reasonable end result. 

A common option is a laminated business card. This adds to the thickness and durability of the card giving a superb feel. Don’t confuse lamination with thick encapsulation. Lamination is a thin film of coating on the card, and you will not even know that the card has been laminated by visual inspection. Again some vendors may charge a lot extra for lamination.

3)  Gimmicks

Many vendors offer free business cards. There is no such thing. You will be charged for the postage and packing, and the quicker you need the cards, the more you will be charged. In addition for the reduced cost there will be restrictions on the free business card designs you can use, you may not be allowed to submit your own design, and you may also be required to put the logo of the printing company on the back of your printed business card which markets the printing company.

Instead of going for the free business cards, choose an online vendor who does cheap business card printing. The price will roughly be the same for either option but with the cheap business cards option, you may not be required to place the logo of the printer on the back of your card – much more professional business cards.  Besides why do free marketing for the printer when there is no free business card printing.

4)  Quality of Printing

Most online business card printers will have pretty much professional printing equipment and do full colour printing (CMYK) that will give an overall quality print finish. The printing falls into two categories of lithographic printing or digital printing. The words lithographic or digital are simply references to the technology of the printing machines and the printing processes used to print the cards. Lithographic printing is an older method of printing and gives a very clear and crisp result. Digital printing is a newer method and depending on the quality of digital printers used, the results may vary. The best digital printers produce a printed quality as crisp and clear as the best lithographic printers, and better results than some of the older lithographic printers.

Again the quality of print does depend on the quality of business cards design – artwork as mentioned earlier.

5)  Colour

One pitfall of dealing with online printers is that because of low prices they rarely provide a printed business card proof. Some printers will provide you with an email proof of design which you can use to establish the overall look and feel of the card design which for most customers is sufficient. But for customers who do have very specific colour requirements’ working online does have its shortcomings and it can never replace a printed proof for the purposes of colour matching. The following gives a brief explanation why.

If you want a very close colour match between colours on the business card designs you see on the computer monitor and the printed business cards speak to the printer. Depending on the type of monitor you use and the colours involved, there could be a huge difference between how the colour looks on the monitor (RGB MODE) and how the printed colour (CMYK MODE) looks when printed from the printer or when printed using your home of office printer. Also the type of paper used affects how the printed colours look.

One reason this happens is quite simply because of the physics of the situation. Monitor colours (RGB: Red-Green-Blue) appear more brighter because the colours are reflected, whereas the same printed CMYK colours would appear duller because the colours are absorbed on the paper which is also why using different types of paper which absorb colour differently can affect how the printed colour looks.

If you want very close matches the best way to proceed is to send a paper copy of the card with colours on it to the printer. The printer can then try to find the closest matching CMYK colour. If the printer can’t find an appropriate CMYK colour code, he may recommend using another printing set of colours called Pantone (Spot) colours. Pantone colour printing is normally more expensive than CMYK colour printing, but the accuracy to colour match is also better. The printer will also factor the business card material in the decision process.

Category: business cards print / Tags: , ,
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