New to Typophile? Accounts are free, and easy to set up.
Business card thickness
Posted by Letterpress1964 in
14 Dec 2012 — 3:16am
14 Dec 2012 — 3:16am
Hi everybody
Just wondered what you guys think about business card thickness for LETTERPRESS / FOIL cards.
Would you prefer extra thick cards, for instance Colorplan 540/700gsm - or do you think the ‘standard’ thickness of 300-400gsm as commonly supplied by all the online digital and litho printers (Vistaprint etc) is thick enough and that the “letterpress effect” (debossing/impression) is sufficient to make your card stand out from the crowd?
I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts on this :)
- David
User login
Support our Sponsors
14 Dec 2012 — 8:48am
I'm afraid we Americans are a bit thick when it comes to the metric system. Standard US business cards are 110# to 130# cover stock (equivalent to 300-350 gsm). For normal letterpress printing this should be sufficient. For foil stamping I might prefer the 540-700 gsm (in the US, a 200#-250# cover, or duplex) stock.
Of course, a 540-700 gsm stock will stand out from the crowd just by virtue of its heft, even if it's printed digitally or offset.
14 Dec 2012 — 1:19pm
A 700 gsm card isn't even a card; it's a business brick.
I think even for letterpressed cards, 300 gsm is plenty thick, unless you're punching the type really hard on both sides. But thicker could work. You might even print on binder's board if you want something really thick.
14 Dec 2012 — 3:10pm
We run #100 pound and that's heavy for our area. They don't make 'em like they used to.
14 Dec 2012 — 9:20pm
I'm personally opposed to such sensationalism/fetishism. That said, if heft itself makes sense in the context of the business/card, sure.
hhp
15 Dec 2012 — 5:34am
Hey: one of the beauties of letterpress is the range of stock weights that it can handle. Revel in it!
28 Dec 2012 — 2:28am
Joshua Langman: "I think even for letterpressed cards, 300 gsm is plenty thick, unless you're punching the type really hard on both sides. But thicker could work. You might even print on binder's board if you want something really thick."
Hi Joshua
I agree some brands of 300/350g card are very nice - and I'm personally not a big fan of the excessive impression style.
But if it's only 'standard' thickness and light impression why go to the extra trouble and expense of sourcing letterpress cards? - most people wouldn't notice the difference from the cheap digital/litho cards from Vistaprint etc.
We find nearly all of our letterpress enquiries are for extra thick card - and they usually settle for 540g - at this weight even without heavy impression it's pretty obvious they aren't cheap/ordinary business cards. We find that people who are proud of their profession/business want to have a card that sets them apart from the competition.
Kind regards - David
http://www.deeplyimpressed.co.uk/
28 Dec 2012 — 5:25am
Because people can feel it (and I don't mean just by be running their fingers over it) even if they don't realize they can see it. Just like we still need more text fonts even though laymen can't tell the difference.
If sensationalism is the only way to make it matter, then it is in fact dead.
As I've said before, culture and business are more opposed than not.
hhp