… and I was a photographer so I could use these cards!

Designing business cards for letterpress can be a challenging task. At its essence, any good design will provide a balance between information and style through the use of color, typography, and layout. With letterpress, its especially tough to balance all of these elements since its such a unique process but when you do get it right, you’ll know it.

We recently printed these business cards for Dave Richards, a photographer from Santa Monica, California. The colors on these cards really pop with cyan and black printed on both sides. The logo on the front and text on the back look great when printed together and since we used a thick cotton paper we were able to get a deep impression on both sides even though the designs overlap. Dave was also able to work cyan into the contact information on the front to break up the black text.

One thing to keep in mind when putting your design together is the number of colors (as each color is printed separately), single-sided or duplex printed, the amount of ink coverage, and the paper. When in doubt ask us, we’re happy to help!

Letterpress business cards are becoming increasingly popular because creative people know that the quality and look of letterpress is unmatched by traditional offset printing. One of the reasons why people respond so well to letterpress printing is because of what we like to call the “sentimental factor”, which is that when someone receives something as beautiful and tactile as a letterpress business card they tend to hold on to it.

We recently printed new business cards for Riley Maclean of Kinetic Lens. His design was inspired by the multiple focus spots that pop up when taking a picture which looks really good when pressed into our thick 220# paper. Using a combination of red and burgandy ink as well as a blind deboss, we printed both sides of the card allowing the front with his logo to stand out and not be cluttered by the additional contact information.

Double-sided printing is quite popular because of just that and we recommend using a heavier stock when duplex printing to provide maximum impression with minimal push-through (bruising) on either side. The blind deboss on the front of the card helps to fill the white space and completes the original concept for the logo. All in all we think these cards are pretty cool.

A few posts back we wrote about a new service that we’re offering at Dolce Press, edge painting (“We’re on EDGE”). It is a great way to add a pop of color to a letterpress print and based on the response from our customers we’ve found out that they are as excited about it as we are. We selected these two cards edged in orange and red for photographers Jeff Holt and David Burke as a continuation of our post Photographers ♥ Letterpress.

Here are some pictures of Jeff’s cards which are slimmer than regular cards and were printed on our extra thick cotton stock in orange and gray ink. You can see the stacks of business cards in the background waiting to dry after being painted. We love the combination of gray and orange used in Jeff’s cards.

David’s cards turned out just as great with a vibrant red edge color painted on the same thick paper. The cards are letterpress printed on both sides in a dark gray and red ink. David’s logo, a two-color camera featured on the back of the card gives the cards a unique look.

Getting great feedback from our clients always makes us feel good and validates why we do what we do. Here are some pictures of business cards we printed recently and the feedback we received from the clients:

Got them today, love them.  – Gustavo
See more of gafl’s photos, or visit his flickr profile

I received the cards today and they look amazing.
Thank you so much for doing that in  such a short notice!
Alex Kon @ IQ videography

Letterpress business cards are a great way to get your foot in the door and communicates to your clients that your products/services are top notch. It is quite common for people to use letterpress in other aspects of their business such as holiday cards or promotional material.

Vivian Doan, a well known photography is Montreal, contacted us about letterpress printing inserts for CDs she hands out to clients. We printed the inserts (above) on 110# 100% cotton paper in pink and black ink and the final results were great. These inserts will definately set Vivian’s CDs apart from everyone else.

If you are interested in letterpress business cards, packaging, or promotional material, give us a call and we can walk you through the design process and the important aspects when designing for letterpress. Already have a design? Great! We commonly print projects for other designers and their clients. We are always available by phone (516.353.9284) or email (contact@dolcepress.com).

Have a happy holidays!

Vintage letterpress posters are truly a work of art (we love them) because of the unique combination of graphics and typography. So when Suosdey asked us to print some business cards she had designed we were thrilled with their retro inspired look. The business cards are a great mix of small graphic elements and type faces. We knew that these would make great business cards and surely the pictures don’t lie. The cards were printed on our house stock (100% cotton paper) in black ink.

These business cards are a great example of how well letterpress business cards can reflect you or your company. The luxurious quality of the paper combined with great design and the unique look of letterpress printing will make your business card and you stand out from everyone else. For more of our letterpress business cards check out the custom category of our new portfolio. Nothing like some shameless self promotion … anyway have a great weekend!

When John first contacted us about printing some letterpress business cards for him we were open to his ideas on the cards. But, when he told us he wanted a card with seven colors we had to make sure he wasn’t joking. With letterpress printing the card has to be run through the press for each color in the design, which is why most people limit the colors to two or at most three. But John was insistent that the design stay the same so off to the press we went with a BIG cup of coffee.

It may have taken a while, but once they were done we knew there was something special about these cards. The cards were printed on thick 100% cotton paper with a kiss impression on the back to minimize bruising on the front of the card. The card was printed with black, light green, and dark green inks on both sides and a blind deboss on front. The blind impression was used to mimic a reflection of the John Lauren Photography logo. More pictures of these great cards are below.

If you have any questions about our letterpress business cards, invitations, or stationery give us a call (516) 353-9284 or send us an email. We’re more than happy to discuss your project with you and take you through the letterpress process. Make sure to inquire about our bulk discount on business cards for orders of multiple sets.