cute livejournal layouts jrock livejournal layouts lj layouts livejournal skins Get Noticed With Custom Business Cards

Thanks to the proliferation of affordable and easy-to-use online printing services, business cards are popping up outside the…

Heather Kelly, Macworld.com

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 10:50:22 -0800

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Thanks to the proliferation of affordable and easy-to-use online printing services, business cards are popping up outside the office, freed from the confines of the 9-to-5 workday. Freelancers and job hunters use them stand out in a crowded employment market, and networkers and social butterflies hand them out to anyone from close friends to potential dates.

Online printing sites let you create cards that are fun or informational, personal or professional, elegant or eccentric. And they let you print in very small quantities. But searching the Internet for the right business-card printing service can be frustrating and confusing. Here’s how to cull some of the most-promising ones.

Learn the Lingo

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Before trying to sort out which printing service is right for you, familiarize yourself with some industry lingo. The quality of your cards will vary greatly depending on the type of paper used. A rule of thumb: the thicker or stiffer the paper, the better. There are multiple ways of determining the sturdiness of card stock, but most printing services stick to pounds, points, or g/sm (grams per square meter). Unfortunately, since no one method is used by every printer, comparing paper quality can be tricky.

As a general guideline, your business card should be at least as thick as an index card. The desired card stock is between 60 and 100 pounds. (A pound corresponds to 500 sheets of uncut stock.) The rough equivalent in points, which is based on the paper’s thickness, is 14 to 18 points. In Europe, card stock is mostly measured in g/sm. For business cards, you want paper between 200 and 400 g/sm (get a detailed comparison of paper measurements).

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If math doesn’t appeal to you, try a more hands-on approach. Most printers will send you samples upon request so you can compare for yourself.

Think Outside the Rectangle

The standard business card is 3.5 by 2 inches, but if you’re in a creative field or looking for a personal calling card, a unique shape, size, and texture can help reflect your personality and set you apart from the crowd.

One of the most popular sites offering unusual business card options is hip printer Moo.com. Moo is cleverly integrated with sites like Flickr and is easy and fun to use. Moo prints standard business cards, postcards, greeting cards, and sticker books, but its signature product is the MiniCard–a 1-by-2.75-inch calling card that can also be a canvas for your digital photos or other artwork. You can upload up to 100 different images or have Moo pull them directly from your Bebo, Etsy, Facebook, Flickr, Fotolog, Livejournal, or Vox account.

If you don’t have existing images you want to use, start digging through Moo’s library of free designs from established artists. Drag as many images as you like to the drop box section at the bottom of your browser window. Once you have a good selection, click on Make MiniCards to preview and edit your final product.

Editing in Moo is intuitive, and limited just enough to keep amateur artists from going overboard. If you find the font and placement options confining, you can bypass them by uploading a custom file. MiniCards are US$20 for 100; standard cards are $70 for 200. The paper stock is a sturdy 350 g/sm and all cards have a matte laminate surface, which is the most flattering for photographs.

Another source for offbeat cards is Premiumcards.net. Have you dreamed of having a calling card that can double as a coaster? Premiumcards has a great selection of nontraditional business cards. In addition to round and square coasters, you can select from playing cards, bifold cards, magnetic cards, sticker cards, and numerous variations on the rectangle. All premium cards require a minimum order of 1,000 and prices start at $55.

Unlike Moo, Premiumcards doesn’t offer interactive online design templates; you must upload your own files. The site does have downloadable Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop templates with text, cut, and bleed boundaries to guide you. If you don’t have the proper software or skills, you can pay $30 for design assistance. Give the company’s in-house designers your text, images, and instructions, and they’ll create a customized layout and send you a proof via e-mail.

Stick to a Budget

Non-standard cards can be pricey, and if you need them for freelancing or job hunting, spending the extra money on a fancy design isn’t the best use of your resources. Thankfully, another side effect of digital printing is the glut of deep-discount printers. While many of these shops churn out poorly printed cards on flimsy paper, there are exceptions.

At first glance, Overnightprints.com looks like any other bargain printer site, but its interactive, online design feature is top-notch and the products it makes are surprisingly good. It offers the standard 3.5-by-2-inch card printed on a quality 15-point stock, as well as a host of other printable options such as greeting cards, brochures, and envelopes. You pay a very reasonable $30 for 250 cards.