Monthly Archives: July 2011

Choosing an Online Printer to Print Business Cards

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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.

Learning About Business Letter Patterns

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Usually business letters are considered indispensible for expert communication. They are necessary to refurbish identified and unidentified recipients on specific information, advertise, invite responses and keep record of communications inside and outside of a constitution. Composing a business letters is not actually an easy job, though. The language, intent and audience have to be recognized so that the meaning is communicated in the way it is wanted. Ideologies and outputting plays a big role also in making an impact with the readers. To speed this process, it is necessary to use business letters patterns.

Business letters patterns are extravagant, especially for people who need a greater professional appearance, are not content with the existing ones, wanted to create a branded image and quality or don’t want to waste time on formats. A lot of companies are exclusively in making standard and personalized business letters patterns for all potential purposes such as offering employment, writing resignation, announcing the launch of a product and informing of new schemes and others. These impressions can be quickly transformed thru the computer. These are really useful when a letter has to be projected instantly.

They may alter in the structure and characteristic, which can be personal, formal, informal or indifferent. But, the basic setup still the same having basic amenities that are nice to adopt. The trends of these business letters also changes almost every year. The patterns competent today has almost everything paralleled to the left side. Business letters patterns also adopt rules which are conform to alignment, spacing, address format, margins, body text and salutation.

Patterns are instantly available thru online for free data transferring on several websites. They are endorsed by Acrobat Reader or Microsoft Office and can quickly be transformed by adding or changing text and logos. Other patterns are ready thru in paid all-in-one packages or by subscription, and in other cases can be personalized by dealers. The users must need to verify the quality of patterns in contrast to their demands. Impressions can either be developed or gathered from added sources so people can focus on more meaningful things rather writing a letters.

Because of the quick availability of business letters patterns, people don’t need to waste time on composing letters from scrape.

Things to Remember When Taking Business Card Ideas to the Printers

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So you have decided to make a business card but you don’t know how to start. Don’t fret you are not alone. Many entrepreneurs that are just starting out their business begin thinking of making their own business cards as their business contacts grown. They also will probably know next to little on how to get about business card printing. To help you decide on what to tell a business card printing company read on through the steps below. This article is designed to not let you look stupid as you order up you business cards.

Your design or their design? The first thing you need to decide upon is the business card design. In this respect you have three options. You can use an existing business card templates, hire a professional designer or design one yourself. If you decide on using an existing business card template you can save a lot of time. All you need to do is choose a design. Most business card printing companies have templates that you can already choose from. They may even have templates designed by expert graphic artists. This is the easy and safe option if you are new to business card printing. So go to the printers and ask if they have a few templates to choose from.

The next option is to hire a professional. This gives you a little control over the design. You can tell the graphic artist how your business card should look like, and the image that you want to portray. After that he/she should do all the work in designing. You have to keep checking on the creative process though since designers may take matters into their own hands. Inform the printer for them to send the pertinent details on standard dimensions and resolutions to your artist so that they can work easily together and save time.

Another option is to design it yourself. If you are a pretty great artist, and a whiz at graphics design software then by all means create a design for yourself. This gives you total control over the design. Simply tell your printer that you will be submitting you own design. Just get the details of what file types and settings they may prefer to receive.

The paper of the business card. The common types of paper used in the business card are glossy, recycled, matt and silk. Go visit you local business card printing company look at these materials and see if they are right for you. You may also want to laminate your business card to make it more durable. Usually a publisher has examples of these works for you to browse.

The thickness is also the issue. The thickness of a paper is measures in units of “gsm.” A thickness of about 300gsm and over will give the feel of a respectable business card. Printers will usually have a range of options from as low as 270gsm and as high as 400gsm. It really depends on your budget if you want a thicker one or not. Just specify what you want when you go to your printer.

Qualities of the printer itself. In terms of the quality of the printer itself you have two options. Digital printing which is the newer method, and lithographic printing which is the older more traditional one. Lithographic printing provides a clear and distinct printing finish. Basically, the design is physically forced into the paper. Digital printing of course refers to the digital printers you see nowadays. These can vary in quality depending on what brand and model the printing company uses. Ask the company if they have these options.

Those should be the main points you should know when taking your business card ideas to the printers. You will not look stupid anymore when you face them. Don’t forget though to always ask if you don’t understand what they are talking about. Enjoy your business card printing experience.