I've used 4by6 before and found them to be quite good (with one exception). Their prices are great and they are fast. I've also printed post cards through them, and they are also very nice.
Ask for a sample kit. The satin paper/printing is really nice.
on the titanium... i didnt have them done.. but i saw one that was.. it was so expensive that they didnt give em out except to clients that had already completed a project. they were screen printed it looked like.. .. i know of another guy that started a company makeing plastic business cards.. he went broke so i'm not sure if anyone does them anymore
sorry i don't have more info
I am sure you could break the wood cards, but thin laminate with some glue would be pretty flexible.
Wood cards with laser cut logo would be pretty cool, depending on the business (the one we were looking at was for furniture, and we ended up using 4by6 satin cards that look pretty nice, I think).
The wood cards warp after a while, especially once they leave your wallet. I have seen metal ones and always thought they were a bit flashy. A couple of examples of interesting ones I have are one that contains a seed for a plant inside it; you plant the card in soil and it supposedly grows. Another nice one had silver slivers imbedded in the paper so that it glittered in the light. The paper was dark brown and the lettering was also real silver. Personally I would just go for a nice card stock with minimal graphics and one color that is embossed.
a nice compromise between the cheap [4x6.com] and expensive [titanium and wood] would be letterpress. for a small office the price is comparable to offset printing. you can select a nice paper. with 4x6, you must use their paper and you have no control of color because they gang you card up with everyone elses and you can't spec pms color you have to do 4 color process. if you do go the 4x6 route, mbr is right about using satin vs. gloss paper. the satin is much nicer.
the coolest card i've ever seen is bill zanier's card. (zanier is the metal manufacturer that does a lot of the gehry, pei, etc. projects). aluminum, inscribed, with the inscription silkscreened back in. very classy, clean look and it perfectly describes what they do.
what matters is the foundation on which your services rest.............word-of-mouth is a far better investment. keep it simple & avoid distractions; its just contact information.
American Psyco,
they know how to discuss business cards. Its about what type of white paper, which font and subtle stuff like printing method.
Dont go for the fancy materials its so 90s art director stylee. Believe you me, top notch but simple typography rocks. There is room to show the attitude of the business in the choices described above.
I agree that the 'materials' is an old idea, but how many clients know that? They will probably just think 'cool, what the hell is this?'. Ideally, they associate your name with the memory of the card, and you get a great bang for buck.
But I wouldn't do it. Something minimal is tasteful. That silver thing(that JG mentioned), if not too much, is subtle enough not to be obnoxious. You can do a lot with a simple design and the different papers/inks/etc.
But remember, your logo will be much more important than the paper. Make sure you design a nice one, or pay someone to.
I've always found that people bitch about the unusual cards because they often do not fit in cards holders and wallets and that sort of thing. I think the American Psycho reference makes a good point. Standard size, clean design, that's what really counts. And it's not annoying.
mbr,
the client will hopefully hold on to your business card for a couple of years. I'd say that its dangerous to compromise the design of these relatively low cost/impact items. Credibility is cruicial for a designer.
size matters if it dont fit in a wallet then it stinks , the coolest one i think it a simple design printed on mylar or heavy vellum , the little bit of translucency is neato
does anyone have any experience/resources on where to get die-cut business cards? i believe clean design and strong typography are key, but rather than have unusual materials that can potentially be used as a chiv (ie aluminum cards) a simple print card with a cut out logo could look good.
I agree that a "traditional" business card is probably the most appropriate and will have the longest life (ie. you will get sick of a clever idea very quickly). A nice logo, or none at all, a high quality paper and an elegant typography are much more important than trying to be cute with materials, size, etc.
On the other hand, one cool idea I saw in ID a couple of months ago was a business card that was either a laminated translucent plastic or laminated translucent paper with a hair from the person whose business card it is. So, the identity of the person could theoretically be determined either through the information printed on the card, or through the DNA found within.
butterballs - those business cards with the hairs were a project done by IDEO and featured in wired magazine almost several years ago- another such card included a needle and vial to track a persons blood, perforated barcodes to give levels of access to internal websites, and a card with a seed implanted inside which would eventually grow. they were really cool and well designed but i would imagine the cost would prohibit more than a few to be made.
Sorry, just flipped through the Mar/Apr 2004 issue of ID and the "hair laminated between two pieces of translucent paper" idea is not in the issue. I must have either made it up in my head based on another idea in the magazine or seen it somewhere else. But it would be cool, albeit expensive.
i doubt most of us can afford business cards on wood, metal or any other material besides paper. the price for a decent offset card in the 500 unit range will run you about 70 cents per card. if you were to do it on another material, i would think that cost would increase by at least 5 fold. this comment excludes going to a place like 4x6.com which is much cheaper, but the quality is not good.
Anyone who flashed their titanium business card is:
a) an arse hole
b) pretentious
Why would you want to fork out the extra for special materials? Business Cards have evolved through the ages, the clue as to what they should be made from is in the name.
To have cards out of wood or titanium is a waste. The cards are to communicate information, anything beyond this becomes a marketing gimmick.
The quality of 4by6 is good! Honestly, my cards are nicer than 99% of those that I see printed elsewhere. I've looked at a lot of different cards, too. Ironically, we've even received compliments from other printers on the quality. The only reason I'd ever have it printed through regular means would be if I wanted some snazzy finish on it.
Just had to stick up for them.
Another option to look at is mylar. I always wanted some mylar cards!
shit... forget the hair idea, I'm going bald as it is... I don't need to be giving out any hair. I like the cards that are slightly skinnier than normal. Metal Business cards seems a bit over the top unless your a titanium sales rep or something.
BOTS I'm neither an ass hole nor pretentious, I'd fork out the extra bucks because we are trying to convey to our clients that we are not like every other design firm, we take care to design everything in our buildings down to the smallest detail, therefore what better way to communicate that idea than by paralleling our design with our marketing.
mbr, 4by6.com is a valid option if you don't want/need to control color and are happy with 4 color process and coated paper. there's a big difference between specing 4 color process and specing spot colors. personally, i like to have a say in the paper and ink that's used. i also don't like business cards on coated sheets. it's just a bit cold for me.
There is nothing wrong in paralleling our design with our marketing. However there is a fine line with the relatively conservative construction industry and their reactions to marketing gimmicks from trusted professionals.
As I am a corporate Architect we would not be so brash as to stir things up with flash business cards. Ours are embossed on burgundy card - serious, sombre, contemporary. Also a bit on the dull side.
if you are trying to convey to your clients that you are not like every other design firm, why are you on here soliciting ideas, effectively asking for design?
"we are currently redesigning our business cards, any one have unique business cards"
We have a design solution already, I'm just curious what other people's solutions are, I'm also trying to find out if anyone has done something similar. We are having a tough time trying to find someone that can create our design at a semi affordable price. If we can't get someone affordable then we will have to rethink our idea... and I'm not asking for designs, just ideas...someone may write something that will spark an idea in my head or give someone else inspiration. lets try and keep this post positive please.....
like I said we have a design already and I'll be more than happy to share it with any one thats interested.... jhopkins what does your business card look like?
i hire a half armenian half korean woman to hand knitt all my business cards out of wool, i never give them out to clients cause they are each their own work of art, instead i quickly let the client glance at the cards and see how much they can remember
if they don't call me back i know they are too stupid to memorize my phone number
it tends to work well although it seems to me there are a lot of stupid people out there cause as of yet I have gotten no phone calls
no I don't work at shOp nor am I looking for praise for designing a hip business card. Just curious as to what others are doing in our field. I hear Walmart is having a great sale on massengill, you should give it a try! :)
Too many of our clients are carrying around those pocket-sized card scanners lately. They take our card, scan it, and toss it.
At one point several years ago we had cards with a cut-out in them, but clients complained that they couldn't scan those. Cards with unusual thicknesses don't work in most of those machines either. Some cheap card readers can't read light text on a dark field either.
At the time it was mainly large institutional clients who were telling us that if they couldn't scan our card we would never get into their database,
But these days it seems this laziness has spread to every residential client with $200 to spend on a card reading gadget.
i'll have my kid scribble my info on an index card and hand that out...gotta exploit the child labor!!! "200 business cards by 6:30 or no dinner....wa pish!!!"
hey AKA the mini CD card is annoying because you can't get it into computers with a side-loading CD-ROM (laptops especially). They only work in computers with a CD tray that shoots out so it's rather impractical unless you know what kind of computer your potential client owns.
I wouldn't stray too far from convention. So the shape should fit in the normal size, or smaller. I had one client (and they were pretty successful, having done the CD/CA for Meier and a few other big ones, in LA) give me this massive square card! About the size of two cards. Ridiculous! I had no where to put it and eventually just tossed it.
Business cards are more than a vehicle for communicating your contact info, they are an extension of your brand. As a leave behind object they are a vital link between the impression you made and the percetion or memory of a first meeting. They are a surrogate for you. To ignore the impact they can have tells a prospect or client that you don't care enough to look at even the smallest details.
Will Bruder in AZ used to have a three card system with the same info screen printed on each - recycled paper, galvanized, and copper. Each was used for particular purpose. They had a direct relationship to his work and his attitude toward materials. Very nice.
hip business cards for architects
we are currently redesigning our business cards, any one have unique business cards?
titanium
who printed them for you and how much do they cost...
I've used 4by6 before and found them to be quite good (with one exception). Their prices are great and they are fast. I've also printed post cards through them, and they are also very nice.
Ask for a sample kit. The satin paper/printing is really nice.
has anyone had metal business cards printed before?
Laser cut basswood
You can get wood cards. I can't recall the name of the company, but you could get a bunch of different types of woods.
Anything but paper = expensive
woodn't (ha get it wood n't) the wood be very fragile and tend to break easily?
on the titanium... i didnt have them done.. but i saw one that was.. it was so expensive that they didnt give em out except to clients that had already completed a project. they were screen printed it looked like.. .. i know of another guy that started a company makeing plastic business cards.. he went broke so i'm not sure if anyone does them anymore
sorry i don't have more info
I am sure you could break the wood cards, but thin laminate with some glue would be pretty flexible.
Wood cards with laser cut logo would be pretty cool, depending on the business (the one we were looking at was for furniture, and we ended up using 4by6 satin cards that look pretty nice, I think).
The wood cards warp after a while, especially once they leave your wallet. I have seen metal ones and always thought they were a bit flashy. A couple of examples of interesting ones I have are one that contains a seed for a plant inside it; you plant the card in soil and it supposedly grows. Another nice one had silver slivers imbedded in the paper so that it glittered in the light. The paper was dark brown and the lettering was also real silver. Personally I would just go for a nice card stock with minimal graphics and one color that is embossed.
a nice compromise between the cheap [4x6.com] and expensive [titanium and wood] would be letterpress. for a small office the price is comparable to offset printing. you can select a nice paper. with 4x6, you must use their paper and you have no control of color because they gang you card up with everyone elses and you can't spec pms color you have to do 4 color process. if you do go the 4x6 route, mbr is right about using satin vs. gloss paper. the satin is much nicer.
the coolest card i've ever seen is bill zanier's card. (zanier is the metal manufacturer that does a lot of the gehry, pei, etc. projects). aluminum, inscribed, with the inscription silkscreened back in. very classy, clean look and it perfectly describes what they do.
how about paper or card? That's flexible and won't break. Its cheap too.
what matters is the foundation on which your services rest.............word-of-mouth is a far better investment. keep it simple & avoid distractions; its just contact information.
American Psyco,
they know how to discuss business cards. Its about what type of white paper, which font and subtle stuff like printing method.
Dont go for the fancy materials its so 90s art director stylee. Believe you me, top notch but simple typography rocks. There is room to show the attitude of the business in the choices described above.
I agree that the 'materials' is an old idea, but how many clients know that? They will probably just think 'cool, what the hell is this?'. Ideally, they associate your name with the memory of the card, and you get a great bang for buck.
But I wouldn't do it. Something minimal is tasteful. That silver thing(that JG mentioned), if not too much, is subtle enough not to be obnoxious. You can do a lot with a simple design and the different papers/inks/etc.
But remember, your logo will be much more important than the paper. Make sure you design a nice one, or pay someone to.
I've always found that people bitch about the unusual cards because they often do not fit in cards holders and wallets and that sort of thing. I think the American Psycho reference makes a good point. Standard size, clean design, that's what really counts. And it's not annoying.
mbr,
the client will hopefully hold on to your business card for a couple of years. I'd say that its dangerous to compromise the design of these relatively low cost/impact items. Credibility is cruicial for a designer.
size matters if it dont fit in a wallet then it stinks , the coolest one i think it a simple design printed on mylar or heavy vellum , the little bit of translucency is neato
does anyone have any experience/resources on where to get die-cut business cards? i believe clean design and strong typography are key, but rather than have unusual materials that can potentially be used as a chiv (ie aluminum cards) a simple print card with a cut out logo could look good.
I agree that a "traditional" business card is probably the most appropriate and will have the longest life (ie. you will get sick of a clever idea very quickly). A nice logo, or none at all, a high quality paper and an elegant typography are much more important than trying to be cute with materials, size, etc.
On the other hand, one cool idea I saw in ID a couple of months ago was a business card that was either a laminated translucent plastic or laminated translucent paper with a hair from the person whose business card it is. So, the identity of the person could theoretically be determined either through the information printed on the card, or through the DNA found within.
butterballs - those business cards with the hairs were a project done by IDEO and featured in wired magazine almost several years ago- another such card included a needle and vial to track a persons blood, perforated barcodes to give levels of access to internal websites, and a card with a seed implanted inside which would eventually grow. they were really cool and well designed but i would imagine the cost would prohibit more than a few to be made.
Sorry, just flipped through the Mar/Apr 2004 issue of ID and the "hair laminated between two pieces of translucent paper" idea is not in the issue. I must have either made it up in my head based on another idea in the magazine or seen it somewhere else. But it would be cool, albeit expensive.
i doubt most of us can afford business cards on wood, metal or any other material besides paper. the price for a decent offset card in the 500 unit range will run you about 70 cents per card. if you were to do it on another material, i would think that cost would increase by at least 5 fold. this comment excludes going to a place like 4x6.com which is much cheaper, but the quality is not good.
Metal Business cards link....
http://www.metalcards.com/metalcards/mcpricing.html
Looking the pricing here it seems to be double what normal business cards cost.....according to e's figures.
reality check.
Anyone who flashed their titanium business card is:
a) an arse hole
b) pretentious
Why would you want to fork out the extra for special materials? Business Cards have evolved through the ages, the clue as to what they should be made from is in the name.
To have cards out of wood or titanium is a waste. The cards are to communicate information, anything beyond this becomes a marketing gimmick.
The quality of 4by6 is good! Honestly, my cards are nicer than 99% of those that I see printed elsewhere. I've looked at a lot of different cards, too. Ironically, we've even received compliments from other printers on the quality. The only reason I'd ever have it printed through regular means would be if I wanted some snazzy finish on it.
Just had to stick up for them.
Another option to look at is mylar. I always wanted some mylar cards!
shit... forget the hair idea, I'm going bald as it is... I don't need to be giving out any hair. I like the cards that are slightly skinnier than normal. Metal Business cards seems a bit over the top unless your a titanium sales rep or something.
BOTS I'm neither an ass hole nor pretentious, I'd fork out the extra bucks because we are trying to convey to our clients that we are not like every other design firm, we take care to design everything in our buildings down to the smallest detail, therefore what better way to communicate that idea than by paralleling our design with our marketing.
our firm is a bit over the top, so its sort of fitting...
mbr, 4by6.com is a valid option if you don't want/need to control color and are happy with 4 color process and coated paper. there's a big difference between specing 4 color process and specing spot colors. personally, i like to have a say in the paper and ink that's used. i also don't like business cards on coated sheets. it's just a bit cold for me.
Jason K
There is nothing wrong in paralleling our design with our marketing. However there is a fine line with the relatively conservative construction industry and their reactions to marketing gimmicks from trusted professionals.
As I am a corporate Architect we would not be so brash as to stir things up with flash business cards. Ours are embossed on burgundy card - serious, sombre, contemporary. Also a bit on the dull side.
if you are trying to convey to your clients that you are not like every other design firm, why are you on here soliciting ideas, effectively asking for design?
"we are currently redesigning our business cards, any one have unique business cards"
We have a design solution already, I'm just curious what other people's solutions are, I'm also trying to find out if anyone has done something similar. We are having a tough time trying to find someone that can create our design at a semi affordable price. If we can't get someone affordable then we will have to rethink our idea... and I'm not asking for designs, just ideas...someone may write something that will spark an idea in my head or give someone else inspiration. lets try and keep this post positive please.....
designs are ideas, especially if you are a bit over the top.
sorry if i wasn't being positive enough for you.
like I said we have a design already and I'll be more than happy to share it with any one thats interested.... jhopkins what does your business card look like?
it looks like shit.
any one gone the digital route..i.e. the mini cd's shaped as a card holding about 100 megs of info
but i also don't think i have to market myself to be different. you must work @ shOp.
i hire a half armenian half korean woman to hand knitt all my business cards out of wool, i never give them out to clients cause they are each their own work of art, instead i quickly let the client glance at the cards and see how much they can remember
if they don't call me back i know they are too stupid to memorize my phone number
it tends to work well although it seems to me there are a lot of stupid people out there cause as of yet I have gotten no phone calls
sorry, that was a cheap shot.
i have been told i have sand in my vagina today. congrats on developing a very hip business card. you deserve it.
no I don't work at shOp nor am I looking for praise for designing a hip business card. Just curious as to what others are doing in our field. I hear Walmart is having a great sale on massengill, you should give it a try! :)
archit84 Thanks for the laugh!!!
Too many of our clients are carrying around those pocket-sized card scanners lately. They take our card, scan it, and toss it.
At one point several years ago we had cards with a cut-out in them, but clients complained that they couldn't scan those. Cards with unusual thicknesses don't work in most of those machines either. Some cheap card readers can't read light text on a dark field either.
At the time it was mainly large institutional clients who were telling us that if they couldn't scan our card we would never get into their database,
But these days it seems this laziness has spread to every residential client with $200 to spend on a card reading gadget.
nothing says quality like cards printed on an Epson ink-jet printer and then hand cut.
i'll have my kid scribble my info on an index card and hand that out...gotta exploit the child labor!!! "200 business cards by 6:30 or no dinner....wa pish!!!"
good on e jason K
hey AKA the mini CD card is annoying because you can't get it into computers with a side-loading CD-ROM (laptops especially). They only work in computers with a CD tray that shoots out so it's rather impractical unless you know what kind of computer your potential client owns.
I wouldn't stray too far from convention. So the shape should fit in the normal size, or smaller. I had one client (and they were pretty successful, having done the CD/CA for Meier and a few other big ones, in LA) give me this massive square card! About the size of two cards. Ridiculous! I had no where to put it and eventually just tossed it.
The standard size fits nicely in a wallet, too.
Business cards are more than a vehicle for communicating your contact info, they are an extension of your brand. As a leave behind object they are a vital link between the impression you made and the percetion or memory of a first meeting. They are a surrogate for you. To ignore the impact they can have tells a prospect or client that you don't care enough to look at even the smallest details.
Will Bruder in AZ used to have a three card system with the same info screen printed on each - recycled paper, galvanized, and copper. Each was used for particular purpose. They had a direct relationship to his work and his attitude toward materials. Very nice.
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.