Business Cards?

[bjarvis]

I'd like to get a nice set of professional-looking business cards to give to possible square dance contacts. Of course, I should have done this a long time ago rather than waiting until three weeks before the IAGSDC convention... Doh!

Anyone have advice on how to do this, pitfalls in the process or even where to start? In the absence of any prior experience, I was thinking of approaching a couple of gay-owned printed/promotion businesses I know to see what deal can be had.

Comments

[rwgill.livejournal.com]

If you have Word and a laser printer (or good ink-jet for that matter) you can make some decent business cards in a matter of minutes. When the last company I worked for shutdown I made up some "IT guy for hire" cards that I gave to everyone the next day as they were coming by asking for CDs of their e-mail. It snagged me a few gigs while I was trying to get a new job.

It's been years since I used an actual printer for cards. Most have a stock catalog of layouts & images. Even the Staples/Office{Max,Depot} copy center down the street will do a half dozen "standard" layouts within a couple of business days.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I've used the home computer & printer for this in the past, but I'm not fond of the look... I'm looking for something more polished & professional than my poor printer can produce.

I didn't think Staples & friends did such, but I'll pop out to the local shop this afternoon to see what I can find. I'm not optimistic there will be a standard layout I like but it's a start. Thanks!

[rwgill.livejournal.com]

The home solution does come off as a bit cheap. I think it's having to hand perf the cards more than anything else. It does work in a pinch though.

Good luck.

[sfleatherbear.livejournal.com]

I ordered mine from vistaprint.com some years ago. They offer free business cards if you use one of their 250+ standard designs. If you want to upload a picture or edit the layout, font, etc. it will cost a bit. But I got 500 cards for under $30.00.

[jss]

When I printed my personal-consulting business cards in IL and MA (I didn't bother in MN), I went with iPrint.com. When they're on-sale it's a damned good price even for 2-color printing (black and blue on white cardstock).

[tdjohnsn.livejournal.com]

Overnight Prints is quick and reliable and you get printed versus copied cards on gloss stock.

[excessor.livejournal.com]

No glitter.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

You used up the global supply?

[excessor.livejournal.com]

That's cute. Honey, I'm the source of the global supply.

[urbear]

Vistaprint.com if you want conventional cards... they have many combinations of price and features, starting with FREE.

Moo.com's minicards if you want something more funky and memorable. You need to give them a little lead time, since each individual card is custom-printed and the batch is mailed from Englan.

[kent4str.livejournal.com]

Um, you could have asked me.

Last year DCDC got cards from 48HourPrint.com that were really nice, pretty cheap, and very quick. Remember those black cards we gave out? Good - because we've got a lot of them left for this year...

ignoring the hubbies again

[trawnapanda.livejournal.com]

Um, you could have asked me.

Brian DID, with this post.

shirley you recall (WE're never going to let him forget) him asking cuyahogarvr about chicken stock via LJ?

[rfrench.livejournal.com]

First of all, just having any kind of card is going to set you apart from most callers.

For flying, I print mine at home on a nice photo printer using laser-perf card stock. They look really nice, actually, with a beautiful subtle background photo.

The cards I used to use for calling were just B&W Office Depot specials - name, email, phone number, levels called, with a little outline of a dancing couple on them. It doesn't have to be fancy, it just has to get the job done. Sometimes simple and elegant is the best choice.