Choosing the correct material for your business card.
With so many types of business card stock to choose from it is
very difficult to know what is right for you.
Plain, coloured, textured, foiled, plastic etc. . . the choices
can be quite bewildering.
Let's outline a few of the more common types:
Plain & Coated
Plain white/coloured card is exactly what it says on the tin.
Even so, there are very many different qualities and weights. A
cheap card will feel slightly rough to the touch and is not
suitable for business cards. We tend to use this type of board
(pulp board), when requested, to print stock take tickets,
point-of-sale items etc. or any item that needs to be printed as
cost-effectively as possible, and generally used in-house for
various projects.
A calendered card is the next step up and has gone through
compression techniques to end up with a smooth surface. This
type of card is normally around the 200gsm (the weight of one
square metre in grammes) mark. Many of the companies offering
'free business cards' or 'budget cards' will use this stock. To
confuse the situation even more, some of these companies do not
publish their card weights in gsm, but lb's (pounds) per square
whatever! Be careful!
Coated card has been treated at the manufacturing stage and has
a shiny surface which can be gloss or satin, which is less
reflective. More often than not this will be coated on one side
only. Again, this type of board has its uses, as it is fairly
inexpensive. This is often used by people who need to bulk-buy
their cards, e.g. taxi drivers, hairdressers, tradesmen etc.
Quality is often sadly lacking though.
Our preference is for quality art board, which is fully coated
both sides and usually thicker than the cheaper alternatives.
Textured
Textured card used to be very fashionable some years back. One
of the most common (Conqueror laid) is still used widely today.
Because of the texturing (narrow ridges indented in the card)
the card actually feels thicker than it actually is, usually
300gsm. It was/is often used for a more traditional look,
perfect for people in the legal profession, architects etc. One
downside (my personal view only) is that company logos and text
do not look as pin sharp as they would on a 'smooth' board.
Included in the textured section you would also find some
unusual card such as the parchment types etc. Great for
invitations etc.
Laminated
Laminated card is basically a plain uncoated card that has been
printed and then 'sealed' both sides in a very, very thin
plastic laminate. This serves a couple of purposes: it protects
the card (very important if there is a lot of ink coverage as it
also prevents smudging of the ink) and also gives a much more
professional appearance. Even when using air-drying inks, if
there is a lot of ink coverage (as in using a solid colour for
the reverse of the card for instance), then it can actually take
a few days for the ink to completely dry. If you've just
recently had some cards produced try rubbing the ink with your
thumb. You may be surprised at how easy it is to smudge. This is
quite normal. Some colours, blue for instance, can take longer
to dry than others! Sealing, or laminating the card will
overcome this problem.
There are 2 types of laminated card, glossy and matt.
Which to use? Glossy ones are normally used as hi-vis
advertising e.g. taxi companies, tradesmen etc. whereas the matt
laminated are more suitable for corporate use and can be quite
elegant. We use a 350gsm board for our laminated cards. These
are not to be confused with some of the thick 'plasticy' type
cards often seen on the market, which have not been laminated,
but 'encapsulated' This is done by printing (usually using a
cheaper digital process) on very thin card and then inserted
into a pouch of plastic. Ideal for membership cards etc. but not
much else in my view.
A laminated card has that extra quality, look and feel but does
cost more due to the processes involved.
Specialist
Specialist cards can cover such things as hot-foil printed
cards, thick plastic cards such as the credit card types and
business cards even produced on mini CD's that fit a standard CD
drive.
Summing up
I would suggest you tailor the choice of business card to your
type/style of business. If you just need a good quality
businesslike card, favoured by many of our corporate clients,
then choose a 335gsm or 400gsm Ivory board.
If your card needs to look impressive and suggest to your
contacts that you take your company image very seriously, then a
matt laminated card is the perfect solution.
If your company is promoting a particular product, a limousine
service, a landscape gardener or anything where a full colour
photograph would be useful then a good quality art board would
definately suit your needs.