Thursday 26 August 2010

It's all about the material!

Hello all!

For some, choosing a material for their business card might not bear a second thought. For others, it's an important part of the design process in making sure that their card gives the right impression or makes the desired impact. There's nothing worse than receiving a floppy, poorly made business card is there? It doesn't really make a good impression! Here at Goodprint, we take great pride in offering a wide range of high quality materials and our standard material for printing business cards is a thick 400gsm silk art board. The feedback we receive from our customers about the quality of our paper is phenomenal.

Our business card materials

So as aforementioned, our standard card is 400gsm silk art board, but don't be fooled by the word standard meaning 'normal'! This card is still thicker than many of our competitors' stock and it's guaranteed to impress with its sleek and crisp appearance. The best thing about this card is that it looks great with matt lamination, great with gloss lamination and even looks great without lamination!

For our greener customers, there's the Greencoat Digital Velvet. This is 350gsm paper that is 80% recycled. One may assume that recycled paper lacks the aesthetics of the other stock, but in reality the quality is astounding. It's soft, smooth and velvety to the touch and is a very popular option with many of our customers.

If you wish to add an air of warmth to your design, you may want to consider the 350gsm Accent Natural. This paper is cream in colour, so it may actually slightly affect the colours in your design. In my opinion, this card works excellently for the minimalist. A few lines of text written in a swish font can look incredibly suave on the cream material.

Up next is one of the more artistic substrates. The hammered texture of our 300gsm Accent Fresco Gesso is a very popular choice with artists, illustrators and designers. The appearance of the paper is very similar to watercolour paper, featuring the same hammered effect to add another dimension to your design. Due to the raised texture, this is the only one of our business card materials that we do not offer lamination on.

I've saved my personal favourite until last. It's a 350gsm sheet and it's called Conqueror Concept Gold Dust. It's a beautiful material that shimmers and sparkles as you move it. The natural colour has a gold tint as suggested in the name. We don't recommend that you use this paper for dark backgrounds as it drastically reduces the shimmer. Lamination will also reduce the effect of the sparkle. A duck egg blue background, tangerine text and a couple of rounded corners is my favourite way to utilise the special look and feel of this material.

I hope this helps you choose your material wisely in the future. It may not seem important at first, but if you choose something that separates you from the rest, you're already one up on then.

Here's a brilliant example of what I mean - Youtube - American Psycho Business Card Scene A true classic.

Thanks!

Nick

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