It was about time that I got some new business cards to hand out. I had ordered from VistaPrint twice before and still have around 400 old cards in boxes on my desk at home but they either use the free template or they pointed to a more specific domain (WineCellarPhotography.com). So, to be more up to date, I decided to order new cards.
My objective was to keep the design simple. Past designs had more information than was needed and, I believe, hurt the effectiveness of the card.
100lb Premium Matte Paper vs Glossy Finish
I ordered 2 sets of cards. The first was printed on 100lb Premium Matte Paper. I wanted the more substantial card to convey professionalism. The order, with custom logo, matte paper added up to $50 pre shipping. Something about the premium paper resulted in the card appearing muted. The blacks are more like a dark gray and the reverse side is an even lighter shade of gray. They don't look bad, but they don't look like what I designed.
Because of the disappointment of the first order I spent another $18 to order a box of glossy cards to compare. My previous experience with glossy was that the blacks came out as true blacks. Despite the lower quality paper, the cards did come out looking like my original design.
Here is a comparison of the two, you'll see how much darker the glossy card is compared to the matte.
glossy finish is on the left and premium 100 lb paper is on the right
Summary
So, in conclusion, I will probably get the glossy cards from now on if I intend to have any amount of color on the card. I think that the improved visual first impression outweighs the paper quality benefits.
As for the VistaPrint experience, they delivered the products to me on time and the flexibility I have in creating my own cards is ideal for future card creation.
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were the glossy cards printed with the gloss on both sides?
