Printing Business Cards

JohnCleary

Mods, if this is in the wrong place, please move it!

OK so I want to get a couple (maybe 200) business cards printed up. Nothing fancy. Now, I want to design it myself, and get them printed out by iSupply. Does anyone know what format I should have them in going into the printers? A .jpg, .doc, .pdf or what?

Thanks in advance guys

Just My View

If you can output "camera ready" go for it.
Also 1200 dpi is required. 300dpi gives poor results.

JohnCleary

Just My View wrote:

If you can output "camera ready" go for it.
Also 1200 dpi is required. 300dpi gives poor results.

OK a real thick moment here... Camera ready? That's just the quality if doing it as a jpg I presume? (Or anything for that matter?)

fintan

sending stuff to a printer can be a real pain in the arse.

I would recommend talking to whoever will be doing the printing and getting them to detail the exact specifications.

BreadBoard

www.vistaprint.co.uk

The Corinthian

The only problem with Vistaprint is the paper weight of the cards they produce - 215g. Given that bog standard paper is 180g, you can imagine that their cards feel cheap and flimsy to say the least.

Cal

The Corinthian wrote:

The only problem with Vistaprint is the paper weight of the cards they produce - 215g. Given that bog standard paper is 180g, you can imagine that their cards feel cheap and flimsy to say the least.

Standard paper is more like 80/90g/m² So 190gm² is a reasonable business card material. Both from specs and from experience. Vistaprint are fine.

Cal.

fintan

I have used vistaprint in the past and they were fine.

paulocon

Was looking at VistaPrint myself - from memory, they provide downloadable template for PhotoShop etc..

miju

have used vista print myself and qaulity is perfect as well as the paper weight , though i would advise getting the gloss finish as opposed to the matt if your going with them

Ruu_Old

fintan wrote:

I have used vistaprint in the past and they were fine.

Yep, same here. Never any issues and the business cards turned out very well.

JohnCleary

Thanks for the info guys. Don't have any pictures to print except a small logo in each corner... Will give vistaprint a good looking over!

heggie

300 dpi if your using images, use 1200 if you HAVE to used rasterized text, but really, you should aim to provide vector based artwork such as a pdf. Regarding stock, I'd never use less than 300gsm for business cards, anything less is flimsy unless laminated. Also, if providing artwork yourself, dont forget to include bleeds if they are necessary.

also, your quantity is a little limited, most likely for cost reasons you'll get them digitally printer instead of the superior lithographic, you may find it harder to source a printer that will do 300gsm or above on digital board.

Metromary

You can get 250 free business cards from Vistaprint if you go via Pigsback. You just pay the postage. Got some and they're fine.

JohnCleary

Metromary wrote:

You can get 250 free business cards from Vistaprint if you go via Pigsback. You just pay the postage. Got some and they're fine.

Got a link?

BreadBoard

You get 250 free anyway, no need for pigsback...

fintan

only thing with the free cards is that it has vista print name and logo on the back, not exactly professional!

BreadBoard

fintan wrote:

only thing with the free cards is that it has vista print name and logo on the back, not exactly professional!

There's an option to pay something like £5 to have it removed.

drdre

i used this company before, the quality was AMAZING.
http://www.eyecatchers.co.uk/

They have some amazing designs