Alas, this is impossible in most situations. We use a very large volume printer facility that is almost entirely automated. Once in the system (and this happens very quickly from the time the order is sent in) there is no room for changes of any type. This “no interference” policy keeps the line constantly moving through the prep and printing stages to the benefit of everyone.

The estimate described on each card choice for turn-around processing is based on experience and is pretty accurate. But it is an estimate, not a guarantee. In 95% of the orders we can hit this date or a day or two before.

What we can control is the shipping method because this does not involve tampering with the assembly line. If it would help you, we can upgrade your shipping from ground to 2 day or even overnight. We can get costs of the various options and let you know. Please let us know of your need before you order, not after the job is in production.

If you want your glossy business cards or matte business cards fast let us know before you order. We can expedite processing and shipping as long as you don’t need extra services such as UV spot, etc. We process these though an alternate source that does have some flexibility in expediting a particular order. That, combined with faster shipping, may well meet your deadline.

If you’re in a hurry, don’t forget our Design-It-Online Express Business Cards. Here you can get your finished business cards delivered in just a few days after you complete your design. Now that’s fast!

There are 2 primary ways to facilitate a business card fold: perforation and scoring.

A perforation is a series of small holes on a sheet of paper so that a section can tear easily over a straight line.  This is a common attribute of event tickets, business reply cards, notebook paper, and hundreds of other items regularly used in our society.

A score, on the other hand, is a crease applied to a sheet made of a heavy stock paper to eliminate cracking and to facilitate a straight and accurate fold.  Pick up any greeting card, and you will see scoring.

Folded business cards are typically printed on a 4” x 3.5” card stock.  The 4” side is folded in half along the scored or perforated line, leaving you with a standard 2” x 3.5” business card when folded.  Scoring or perforation typically works best on silk business cards and glossy business cards.

The main benefit of this type of business card is that it offers additional “marketing space” for your card.  In other words, instead of the standard 2 sides (front and back), you now have 4 sides to work with – double the marketing space.  You could leverage this additional space for any number of creative purposes – for example, including a map to your business, your company mission, or even an appointment card.

The other benefit is that folded business cards are extremely unique, and as such will help your business cards stand out from the masses.  Unique business cards are more likely to be retained by customers and clients, even if just for novelty reasons.

Folded silk business cards also allow for additional enhancements, like spot UV, foil stamping, and embossing, any of which will serve to dramatically embellish your folded business card’s uniqueness and stickiness even more.

So there you have it – a quick and dirty overview of folded business cards.  To sum it up, the folding is usually done on silk business cards or glossy business cards, utilizing either perforation or scoring.

Till next time…

So, what exactly is a silk business card?  Well, the silky coating is accomplished via silk-lamination, and this laminate coating is completely unnoticeable and invisible unless you try to tear the card.  It is this lamination which gives silk business cards their uniqueness. 

For one, it makes the cards more durable.  The laminate coating makes the cards a little more difficult to tear, and helps minimize the possibility of corners and edges getting frayed.  Additionally, the silk lamination is completely writable, meaning you can write on the card with pens, pencils, and markers with ease. 

Another key attribute of silk cards is that they are non-glossy, which eliminates the common problems associated with glossy business cards such as fingerprinting, streaks, smudges, and the cards sticking together.  Non-shiny silk lamination eliminates these types of problems.

Additionally, the non-shiny look is more upscale and elegant.  Many people correctly perceive glossy UV business cards to be a relatively low end business card product.  The non-shiny look seems to be “in” these days, which positively influences people’s perception of quality. 

Finally, the durability and composition of the silk cardstock make it the best choice for business card enhancement features like spot UV, embossing, and foil stamping. 

Spot UV business cards in particular offer a unique look, as the areas treated with the spot UV are slightly raised and shiny compared to the non-shiny silk cardstock.  Thus, the treated areas “jump off the page” and provide a striking visual impact.  It would not be possible to produce spot UV business cards on an inherently glossy cardstock.

Embossing also works better on silk business cards.  Embossing is the process of raising certain design elements by virtue of them getting “pushed through” from the backside.  The net effect is similar to the account number on a standard credit card, where the numbers are raised on the front and recessed on the back.  As you can probably guess, embossing is a delicate process that puts much stress on the cardstock, and thus is a more appropriate enhancement feature for durable business cards like silk.

To sum it all up, silk business cards are laminated, durable, writable, non-glossy, and support enhancement features.  Outside of metal business cards or plastic business cards, silk cards are generally considered the highest-end business cardstock in the market today.  They have an elegant look and feel, and do not have the same inconveniences as glossy business cards.

I celebrate Christmas, and it is truly my favorite time of the year.  But hey, this blog is about business cards, right?  So I thought I would combine the two topics and list 10 things you could do with your custom business cards this holiday season…

1. Include a business card with your holiday business correspondence (for example, put your business card in any Christmas cards you send to your clients).
2. Distribute your card at any and all holiday functions you happen to attend.
3. Use your glossy business cards as gift labels.
4. Print silk business cards with coupon codes in order to facilitate a holiday promotion.
5. Find places within your local mall to distribute your business cards.  You may even be able to partner with a few stores to put a stack of your cards on the checkout counter.  All malls are packed with people this time of year, so think about ways to tap into this mass of humanity.
6. If you are in a business that encourages holiday gift-giving to clients, a nice touch is to give out a small box of candies – about the diameter of a standard business card, just enough to fit a few pieces of chocolate – and use a graphic of your custom business cards as the lid.
7. If you have metal business cards, think about transforming them into Christmas tree ornaments and hand them out to clients as holiday gifts.
8. Going to a family function?  Why not descretley pass out your card to everyone in attendance? 
9. Expand your silk business cards to the size of a holiday greeting card, and mail them to clients. 
10. Use your glossy business cards as kindling to get the ‘ole Yule Log started! (ha, ha…I just had to end with some humor).

So there you have it, an imprompteu list of things to do with your custom business cards this holiday season.  Whether you have glossy business cards, silk business cards, or metal business cards, I hope you found this blog post both enjoyable and useful. 

Happy Holidays!

If you want custom business cards with a black background, take the time upfront to get the correct color mixture in your black. Otherwise, you might end up with a gray card instead of a black one. Or, you might see blotches, blemishes, streaks, dust spots, or any number of annoying imperfections.

Most printers utilize the standard 4-color CMYK printing process, so we’ll go ahead and focus on that for the purposes of this blog post. C stands for cyan, M for magenta, Y for yellow and K for black, and by combining these 4 colors in a variety of ways, thousands of colors are possible.

If your custom business card has a black background, the key is to create a “rich black” that has other colors mixed into it. If your black (K) is set to 100%, oversaturation could occur and this is what usually causes problems (particularly on glossy business cards or spot UV business cards).

As you may know, color printing is often more of an art than a science, and the creation of a “rich black” is no exception. There are dozens of possible combinations that produce a rich black. However, in my experience the “best” rich black mixture is C=40%, M=20%, Y=30%, K=100%.

A couple of things to keep in mind when working with rich black and black colored business card backgrounds. First, it is best to use rich black only for your design background, or for objects at least 5 millimeters thick.

Second, if you use Adobe Photoshop, avoid using the fill command when selecting black because this will add 100% of all process colors to the image (100% = oversaturation = bad).

Finally, the “rules” for black colored custom business cards may be different when utilizing digital presses…so stick to a nice offset printing company like NexCards!

They say a pound of prevention is worth an ounce of cure, and the same goes for business card printing. The bottom line is that black colored business cards require special care and feeding. Avoid the temptation to think that any old black will print out just fine. Trust me, it’s much better to take the time on the front end to ensure your black background is of the rich black variety, than to feel the shock and dismay when your black business cards arrive at your door….gray (yuck!).

So without further ado, here are the top 10 idiotic things to do with your business card during your 4th of July holiday excursions.

1. Light a business card on fire like a poor-man’s sparkler. Your friends will be so impressed (avoid doing this with gasoline on your hands).
2. If you have a pool, attempt to use your business card as a raft (not recommended for humans).
3. Need help getting the charcoal grill going? Silk business cards make great kindling.
4. Keep the kids busy by having an Easter Egg hunt, using your business cards instead of eggs (feel free to dye your business cards if you REALLY want to get into the Easter spirit). Bunny costume = optional.
5. Wear your business card like a name tag so your friends and family won’t forget who you are.
6. Use your plastic business card like a Frisbee. Fun for the whole family!
7. Build a house of cards (no bigger than 3 bedroom / 2 bath)
8. No need to spend money on a spatula. Strap one of your metal business cards to the end of a stick, and flip those burgers with ease (not recommended for veggie burgers).
9. Get 52 business cards and use them like playing cards. Since they are all identical, everybody’s a winner!
10. Use your business card as toilet paper (not recommended for diarrhea…also avoid using coated products like glossy business cards…unless you want a techno-color ass.).

That’s all folks. I hope you enjoyed my lame attempt at humor and that at least a couple of those made you smile. I’ll be back next week with more tips and tidbits to help you optimize the value of your business card and generate an immediate positive first impression.

Happy Independence Day!