Following the Nexcards pricing tradition, we’ve doubled the card count (from 250 to 500) and dropped the price by a buck. It’s an undeniable value for those looking for thermographic raised print cards.

It wasn’t too long ago when the typical business card contained the essential text in a certain format with perhaps a small logo placed within, and that was that. With the advent of home publishing programs such as Print Shop and Microsoft Publisher, customers starting using borders in their designs because the programs were crammed with borders of every shape, color and size. They were in the program to use, right?

Today virtually all printing services use the “full bleed” printing technique. This is a borderless printing where backgrounds go right to the edge of the page, with no border whatsoever. This gives a high-end look that has been well accepted by designers and end users alike. This is the default for digital pictures too, although some programs still include borders so users won’t get borderless anxiety.

All professional printing services provide templates for each type of printed media. For business cards, the template is typically 1/16″ to 1/8″ on each side larger than the standard business card of 3.5″ x 2″ size. This is the so-called full bleed edge where “to the edge” design elements would extend to, literally beyond the card. The template also shows in a red dotted line the actual cut line of the card (3.5″ x 2′). Inside of that is another line called the safe zone. All text and needed design elements should be inside of this line. This helps compensate for the problem of shifting cut lines. This is where the stack of cards may move slightly in the cut. So hang that text too close to the edge in your design and it may be chopped off at the trim.

That leaves the problem of what to do with the thin border that sometimes surrounds a card design. The conventional wisdom is to have the customer extend this border width until it meets the safe zone line. If there is text on the border, that text should be on the inner edge of the border away from the edge. This will lessen an uneven appearance if the cut is less than perfect.

If I had my way, I would ban borders altogether. They do nothing for most artwork. It’s just something at-home designers can’t resist, like it’s going to tie all the disparate elements in a nice bow. Baloney! It often looks amateurish and the proof of that is the dearth of borders in professionally designed art. I suggest you follow the full bleed example and take your background right to the edge, border to border.

Business cards can be very effective to build a professional and thoughtful reflection of you and your company. You can make your business cards really appealing to valuable prospects; your business card will depict your core values and your ethical image that you will deliver to them. Wonderfully presented information on quality business cards surely reflects well on your company’s integrity. Well presented business cards with your personal and corporate details can improve the way people see you by the professionalism displayed on the card. Your business card must be excellent quality to reflect good quality.

There are certain unique strategies through which you can make your business card effective and that will enhance your profitability:

Your business card is what you are advertising to other people. Advertising is all about making associations and building interaction. Using your business card is an influential and cost effective way to do that. If you are designing a traditional business card, make sure to use both sides of the card. Give ample information so you can start making hook ups.

Some important details that can helpful to you are:

• Name
• Testimonials
• Information
• Your mission and vision

Make sure it is apparent what you do. If your company has creative name add a tag line or provide a list of services and solutions in the text on your card so that it becomes clear to the client what actually you are catering.

Make an impact and a long-term impression with your quality business card. You desire people to consider you and either keep your card handy or pass it along to a hot prospect. A folded business card will boost your marketing with having four distinct sides and will turn your card into a mini brochure. Exclusive colors and textures give fresh look and attract customers. There are also fascinating shapes and sizes but are careful not to get too large, the magnificence of business cards is that they are small and fit in a wallet.

Business cards are practical because they are an economical way to communicate the exclusive qualities that you are offering. Because they are trouble-free to hold and fit in your probable customers wallet, purse, or pocket and easy to pass to other people who might be seeking the same service that your firm is offering makes it valuable hence increasing your profitability

Make certain key information like your phone number, email and website address is mentioned in your business card. It is also important to have your mailing address or cell phone on the card as well. Providing this basic information on your business card will be helpful for potential customers to interact with you when they need to.

Include your website address significantly on your quality business card. Your website is one of the most successful ways to build an association with probable customers.

It is important to add a logo to your business card. Your logo should be something interesting, something that calls attention to your business and marketing materials. This will help your clients remember you for longer time.

Author Bio:

John Adams is the Chief Editor of www.dowprinting.com – it’s a printing website that provides Quality Business Cards , Brochure Printing and other printing services online.

CMYK is the color spectrum preferred by most commercial printers. Indeed most won’t accept RGB colors at all. Think of a color advertisement in one of the finer magazines. This CMYK image is composed of thousands of tiny dots of color. Get in close with a magnifying glass and you may be able to discern them. These dots of color are Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and black in 100 levels of intensity for any and all combinations of colors. At common reading distances these color dots converge to display the full depth and color of the spectrum.

But color fidelity alone will not produce good results on a printed work. The resolution must be of a certain number so the resulting imagery is smooth and crisp. Most commercial printers have agreed on 300 dpi (dots per square inch). So if these color dots (actually squares) are too spread out, the eye does not discern solid color or smooth text and images. We get a fair amount of artwork that is 75pdi, a common web resolution. That works OK in that medium but is woefully inadequate for commercial printing, whether digital or offset. Simply ramping up resolution on our end involves interpolation, a manipulation of the pixels where the program attempts to fill in the missing dots. This works satisfactorily on small incremental increases, say 275dpi to 300dpi. Nothing can be done after the fact to make a 75pdi file into an acceptable press quality work.

So, remember to pay attention to resolution throughout the designing stages. Any image brought into your piece should also be 300 dpi. Beware of large size increases of imported photos or other images such as logos. Most bitmap and other common image types don’t take kindly to this, even though it may still look OK on your monitor. So keep re-sizing to a minimum.

You can set your resolution in your graphic software. If you can’t, that software is probably not going to give you a result that will print well.

Here you can find Nexcards specifications.

Here’s a brief overview of the Nexcards design shop. Along the left column you’ll find the Text tool, the landscape/vertical orientation switch,  the upload image tool, and then four drawing tools. Along the top, we have a background section to dial in the perfect color or image. To the right is a new section where you can choose to show the layout guide, the grid for lining up text and even a layers option. this groups foreground, backgrounds, text, etc so you can instantly remove from view any “layer” you choose. It’s downright Photoshop!

We welcome your feedback on the new and improved design pad.  You don’t need any specialized training to product impressive work. Give it a try. We think you’ll find it rewarding and fun!

Black cards with light text are becoming very popular. Users routinely choose 100% black (K)  which looks pretty dark on a monitor. And although it may be adequate, it prints with a somewhat greyish cast. Conversely, some clients choose a Photoshop default black which is a combination of CMYK color percentages. This will print quite black BUT it has disadvantages. First, because the total ink is very heavy, it may not dry properly. In addition, cutting to trim may produce flaking at the edges.

This is why we recommend C=60, M=40, Y=40 K=100. It’s dark black but uses a moderate amount of ink.  This is the background that we provided for you in our design studio Images file.

Foiling has long been a highly desirable effect that causes certain areas to “pop” with a highly reflective shine. We have all seen foil on certain deluxe red holiday wrapping paper. Common aluminum foil is of course, a silver foil that we are all familiar with.

Before Akuafoil, this technique had print limitations. Usually, only one color could be chosen per card. The foil could shift a bit at application so it was not recommended for a design element integrated close to or within another element.  And large foiled areas were not encouraged.

Akuafoil is not bound by previous foil stamping limitations. We can match in foil any CMYK color presented. Multiple colors can be done on one side or both sides of a card. Large areas are not a problem with Akuafoil. It can even be combined with spot UV, another popular shining technique.

Nexcards.com is currently accepting Akuafoil jobs on business cards. Add real eye-popping pizzazz to your business cards. Simply choose “Akuafoil Business Cards” in our print shop or click AKUAFOIL . We will do the effect on postcards by special request.

First is a 20pt frosted plastic. It’s just like our original Poly frost card but twice as thick. Now we have added clear plastic to our catalog. This looks best with a clean uncluttered design with plenty of clear white space (white will show as clear in the final product). Text should be dark and please avoid small elements as these won’t show well.

We also have white PVC 20pt plastic as an option. This is the only plastic card that we allow two sided designs. Here white will show as white just like on our regular cards stock. This new series comes standard with rounded corners. You want that because 20pt plastic has sharp edges.  It’s why your credit cards are always rounded at the corners.

Here’s a couple tips to make sure your time is well spent. In the Design Studio (click “Custom Design” or “Template Design”), there is a handy and easy Help section (just click on Help above the card just to the left of “Preview”). This one page help section is a wonder of information where you can find out what that particular button is for.

Also, if you plan to design a card and then log out before buying, you must click “Add to cart and continue” at the bottom of the page after you save your design. Do that and you can pick up your design later where you left off.

Cheers and happy designing!

You can use our HELP section present in the design studio.