What Type of Business Card Should I Get: The Ultimate Card Guide
Every brand package I offer comes with a business card design! This means clients often have questions about what they should order.
But, where to even start? How thick should it be? Should you splurge on spot gloss, gold foil, or letterpress? Where should you order from?
I do recommend ordering free sample packs from each of the below companies!
Where should I order my business cards?
There are a few options, but ultimately, this will come down to budget. Below are a few popular options.
Moo Business Cards
(link above gets you 25% off your first order)
I, personally, order my business cards from Moo.com (for personal projects or hobbies, I use Vistaprint). I think they have high quality cards, great shipping speed, kind customer service, and a dedication to increasing sustainability (and a recycled cotton card!) They are, unfortunately, one of the most expensive out there. I prefer quality over quantity, however, and enjoy the seamless experience their site offers. They also offer sales constantly, so if you subscribe to their mailing list, you should see a 30% sale come by every so often.
Vistaprint
(link above gives you $20 off!)
Three-ish years ago, I would never have recommended Vistaprint. They had low quality, cheap business cards, and a horrible website. While their website is still pretty awful and tries its absolute hardest to upsell you at every chance, they have improved their product immensely. No longer are the cards flimsy and incorrect in color, but they’ve improved their process where I feel comfortable using them as an option. They are the cheapest you can get while still being very decent quality. I have gotten promotional cards and notepads through Vistaprint, because you can’t beat the price.
GotPrint
My colleague Neon Cardigan swears by GotPrint. They’re cheaper than Moo and have lots of great options! Something I love about GotPrint is that they have several amazing shapes. You don’t have to stick to a rectangle or a square - they have circles and leaves and half circles an shapes galore!
Local Printing
Of course, you can always check your local printers. In Atlanta, I haven’t truly found someone that makes the process easy enough and cost-effective enough, but you might be in an area where you know someone personally and can ask about their pricing.
I’ve heard of finishes. Should I add these to my card?
This, again, depends on your budget! If the above screenshot doesn’t give you enough of an indicator of how specialty increases price, then certainly the prices of gloss and metallics will.
While spot gloss, letterpress, and metallic / foils look amazing on business cards, they do drive up the price. My old O+CO Studio cards have always been thick with spot gloss, and have always garnered a reaction when I hand them out. I often hear “ooooo, great card” and “Wow, this is so smooth!” They are certainly memorable and make a lasting impression. However, I don’t hand out too many since my business is very digital.
Here are the starting prices at Moo.com, and the breakdown of pricing for gold foil:
You can see that the cards start at 84 cents a card, which is pretty pricey. However, the price gets better as quantities go up, but they still can’t compete with Vistaprint or Gotprint with cost.
Special Finishes
Gold / Silver Foil:
Note there is a difference between foil and metallic. Metallic ink is typically used for labels and stickers, such as on Lightning Labels or Stickermule. This is achieved by placing normal color down on metallic paper. Foil is an actual effect from ink itself, using a foil effect on top of a normal paper.
Most cards use the second method, including Moo.com and Vistaprint.
Great for: brands that already use a silver or gold in their branding, a high-end look, or a mystic look.
Spot Gloss or Raised Spot Gloss
The difference in those two is that spot gloss is only glossy to the eye and not the touch, and raised spot gloss offers a feel of the graphic to the touch.
Letterpress / Debossing
Letterpress is a traditional way of printing that “imprints” a design into the card paper itself. Somewhat hard to find, letterpress can be found locally or through Moo.com.
What about paper weight or style?
As if special finishes aren’t enough, we also have paper weight and style to consider!
Here’s a great article about the weight of paper and what all the numbers mean. You’ll see card thicknesses referenced as pts or lbs, and that article helps to explain!
Generally, 12pt is a standard thickness business card, the kind you might find as a baseline. They’re flimsy but they work! 35pt on the other hand is a very, very thick card, un-bendable and could be hard to fit into a wallet. That should give you an idea of scale!
As far as finish and paper type, you’ve got a few options:
Glossy - a glossy card that reflects light. Hard to write on.
Matte / unfinished - a card that is the natural paper or with a smooth coating. Easier to write on and feels more nautral.
Linen / Fiber / Craft / Plastic - some places offer nontraditional materials, such as linen, kraft, or plastic. These change it up from the standard paper cards.
Cotton / Recycled - some places offer recycled cards, which we love! You can choose from recycled paper or recycled t-shirts that are cotton-based.
Truthfully, this all comes down to preference. The best way to learn more about card styles is to order a free sample pack from a few vendors, and actually feel all the cards.
There you have it! Everything you need to know about business cards. Now, be confident in your decision and order away!
