The Fine Print

On a tip from Dan, the Byrdhouse proudly presents:

Printing Basics for Web Developers

Business cards. I'd think you'd agree they're a must for the 21st century business person? And boy, you've probably seen it all: die cuts, foil embosses, scratch 'n sniffs, cards that double as cd-roms... Rest assured, someone will hand you a business card made of plastic this spring.

I'm writing this for the web designers out there; the ones who can immediately tell if a site is css, but stare blankly at the question, "Do you want that full-bleed?" The following are some tips for you, my brave web developer. For brevity's sake, I've left out a bunch of stuff like, "Call your mom when you get the proof." This is a fly-by after all.

 

1. Spot vs. 4-color Processing

Spot color printing is like doing a screen print on a t-shirt. You work with big, blocks of color. If spot printing is your GIF, then 4-color processing is your JPG. It's better for photos. The problem is 4-color printing, like a magazine, is composed of tiny dots. On a shiny brochure, great. For business cards, not so. Spot produces better quality, and quality is what we're after right?

RIGHT?

2. Select a Good Printing Company.

Kinko's is not a good printer. Also, that place where you select the style from a catalog book is a bad choice too. They are about getting the job done and that's it. And while there's nothing wrong with that, I will remind you that quality is the key word. The design could be outstanding but if the printing is poor, it's a sham. Your card speaks worlds about who you are and what you value.

REMEMBER: You're quality, babe.

Ask your print friends for print companies they use. The important thing here is with a good printer, you get attention.  They are going to educate you on printing techniques. They'll tell you when they see a problem. They have time to show you their presses. Ask for a Coke in a bottle and you''ll end up with a tour.

3. Select Your Pantones

Pantones are like web-safe colors for print. Your printer guy has a formula guide you can use. (Be aware, you will eventually desire your own pantone guide.) Your job is to choose colors from the swatches, which the printer can match exactly. You can specify these in your illustrator file by opening the pantone swatch library.

4. Prepare the File

Full-bleed simply means that the color comes all the way to the edge of the card. The honest truth is the printer is going to take your illustrator file and set it up according to how they plan to run it through the press. You've just got to remember to add about 1/16th of an inch extra space to every edge for bleed.

Here's a illustrator template to help you get started:

8up_byrdhouse.ai.zip (21k)

5. Comb the Proof

The printer will show you a proof. This is what your future holds. Hopefully you caught any misspellings before now. Look closely, double and then triple check it. Show it to your associates. When you're confident with everything, point to the stands and say,"Send it to the presses!"

Lightroom designs better business cards.

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Comments

[J. Cole]

As a web guy, thank you! More please!

[GaBuBu]

Translated to Spanish in http://www.nv30.com/mt/ , and stealing your bandwith with the zip file only. Thanks guys!

[Dan Benjamin]

This is phenomenal. Thanks!!!

[Eric Vitiello]

More would definitely be good. I already knew what full bleed was, but your analogy of spot/GIF 4-color/JPG was great. tell me more, tell me more!

[James Craig]

I was so concerned with color on my second-to-last run of cards, that I failed to see the kerning error on the proof. I had checked it on the screen, and I'd checked it on my inkjet at home... The kerning error was in my name, so I only kept them about a day before throwing away the whole run. (grin)

[derrick]

Definetly a great article, I'd like to see more of these.

[roberto]

Great guide.

One to add:
Choose your stock (paper) wisely -- a good printer should be able to hand you book after book of paperstock samples. When you find what you like, ask how well it will hold the ink and how even the color will look on large areas of color (for uncoated stock). They should also be able to point out problem colors that may run/smudge (more of a problem with coated stock) -- and may suggest a varnish to avoid/ counteract such issues.

As was pointed in the article: you want quality - and for it you will pay more.

[seth]

You just need to add the following to the title:

First in a Series:

...right?

[JR Prospal]

As I print guy turned web guy, I'd like to add a couple more tips...

1. If you want a photo-realistic look you can use Photoshop to create stunning, full-bleed images that you can import into the Illustrator template. File resolution should be 300pixels/inch in CMYK mode. Save a copy of your file as a TIF (.tif) to give to the printer.

2. Though supporting local printers is always best, sometimes a tight budget needs a cheap source. Google for "business cards" for discount printers. Printingforless.com is a reputable service.

Good article, Kevin.

[steve]

Can I re-emphasize what Seth said about the resolution by just adding this fact:
Taking a cool image from a Google search and pasting it into a 300dpi image in Photoshop and scaling it up DOES NOT MAKE THE IMAGE PRINT RESOLUTION!

(same holds true with PowerPoint and other not-so-great Microsoft Programs)

[Jon]

A note about Pantone guides: make sure to look at a relatively new Pantone swatch book. The swatches will fade after a year or two, depending on how the swatch book was treated. This isn't a huge deal unless your color needs to be super specific, but sometimes the fade can be dramatic and you'll get back a product that doesn't look exactly the way you want it. A good printer will have an up-to-date book, but kinkos probably won't.

[Lorin Rivers]

If you have a ton of cards to print, or think you will you might save money by printing "shells" or biz card "stationery". With printing, the majority of cost is in setup -- up-front cost. There's not much difference between 2000 and 500.

Then, you can come back and overprint the details on the shells.

[rocketjam]

Here's a couple of more points from a prepress guy. You can get very nice 4-color (even with the dots) if you can print with a fine enought screen (133 lpi or higher). Whether you can do this is dependent on the stock you are running on and to a somewhat lesser degree, the press.

The rule of thumb on resolution is ppi should equal 2 times the halftone screen resolution, i.e. if printing with 150 line screen then you would want 300 pixels/inch.

Also, a sixteenth of an inch would be an absolute minimum for bleed. Most printers would prefer an eighth to a quarter inch.

As pointed out, proof before you submit it to the printer. Corrections from the printer after proofing can get expensive.

Good tips about choosing a printer. You can definitely get a tour and a lot of good advice/tips/help from a good printer!

[yi]

you forgot possibly one the most important things of all: JUST SAY NO TO LINEN CARD STOCK. no no no.

[Brad]

A good place for business cards via web is 4by4.com.

They have full bleed, your choice of matte, satin, or gloss at reasonable prices.

[yi]

uh, but 4by6 uses 4 color process printing

[T'Dawg]

They do good work yes but Brad is right...tisk tisk didn't you learn anything. *snicker* I am not print guru and I must appreciated this blog, more...more!

[Manuel]

jakprints.com. 1000 full bleed 4-color cards on nice thick stock for $85. I've seen em and they look great.

[Lily]

those are great prints! *thinking to make a business like that...hmm...*

[starvingartist]

but I though linen card stock was coming back in style :)

[Dan August]

Here's my additional advice:

1) Phat paper. Make sure you use paper weight of at least 300 grams per squaremeter (don't how it translates to American squarefeet). Thick paper says quality like nothing else.

2) Have one colour in 100%. If you want to use 4-colour print have at least one of the colours in 100%. Then this colour won't use screens, and it makes it look more like a spot colour.

3) Add colour to black areas. If you have a larger area of black using a colour definition of 100% black is not enough. Add an extra 40-50% cyan on top off it.

4) Aggregate for print. If you can manage to find a couple or more other small businesses, who wants a new batch of business cards, you can save money by aggregating the print jobs. If you use this strategy 4-colour print is recommended unless all businesses use the same spot colour, which is unlikely.

5) Information design. There is a lot of information design in a small business card. Use your head, when you design it and remember that the receiver -- not you -- is the user.

----
And we should probably consider putting all this good advice in the comments into one website. Maybe as a wizard or a check list?

[Dan August]

Don't know what just happened, but I wrote the comment above, not starvingartist.
It's not that I mind sharing the credit, but maybe starvingartist won't subscribe to my views.

[Bjørn Are Solstad]

My goodness. THAT was really a useful article. I'm kinda shocked. I had gotten so used to all the blah, blah blogs. And suddenly something useful popped up.

Link saved.

[John Athayde]

As a print designer who moved to web and does both, it's nice to see people understanding the process. It's similar in a way that you have web designers tilt their nose up when a print designer doesn't understand the difference between em, pt, and px for fonts in css.

Yummy. Good stuff Mr. Byrd.

[Benn Glazier]

It's an old school kinda thing, but raised ink on a card is deemed one of the ultimate signs of class.

I have two business cards that I use (one company owns ther other and I need to represent both), and one has embossing and foil, the other has raised ink. Texture is key.

Some great comments already posted too!