Frequently Asked Questions
| Q | Why should I Laminate my business card? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A | If you are looking for a stunning business card that feels rigid and substantial in your hands and the hands of your customers, then laminating your business card is the best option. Laminated business cards are highly durable making them ideal for displaying outdoors where most business cards get soggy after an ounce of moisture. Laminated business cards are available in a Matte finish for a silky smooth appearance or Gloss for an unmatched level of shine and lustre. Make an impact and bring your colours to life with the unparalleled quality and appearance of laminated business cards. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Q | What should I choose, matte laminate or gloss laminate? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A | Gloss laminated business cards produce a bright gloss finish that enriches and deepens the look of full colour card. If you want your business card to stand out from the rest, we recommend choosing gloss laminated cards. Matte laminated business cards produce a soft, silky, smooth finish. If you like to write on your business cards, matte lamination allows you to do that. You cannot write on a gloss laminated card. |
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| Q | What kind of paper should business cards be printed on? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A | Business Cards should be printed on a heavier weighted Card Stock, often called Cover Stock or Pasteboard. Card stock is thicker, more durable, and smoother than normal writing and printing paper which provides clear reproduction of your artwork and colours. Some printers will use different variations of “Text” papers (example: 100lb Gloss Text) to print inexpensive business cards; these paper types are much more comparable to posters, flyers, and normal writing paper. Furthermore, text papers and card stocks use different physical sizes of paper to measure the lbs/1000 sheets (Poundage); so an equal sized piece 100lb card stock and 100lb text paper do not weigh the same despite their numerical similarity, in fact, the card stock is usually 30-40% heavier and/or thicker. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Q | How do different card stock paperweight measurements compare? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A | Different areas of the world use different units of measurement for paperweight and thickness. Calliper, also known as Point rating (pt) measures physical thickness of paper by thousandths of an inch. Poundage (lb) refers to the actual weight of the paper; most often calculated per 1000 sheets and sometimes called the “M weight”. Grams per square meter (g/m2), is another commonly used unit of measurement involving the physical weighing of paper. Unfortunately, there is no 100% accurate method to convert paper from one unit of measurement to another due to variations in density and manufacturing processes. The following table provides approximate conversions from one unit of measurement to another. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Business Card Guy Laminated cards (Gloss or Matte) typically |
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| Q | What does CMYK mean? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A | CMYK refers to the 4 primary colours that are used in a printer to produce colours across the full spectrum. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| C | = Cyan | By mixing these four colours in varying amounts, a high quality printer can accurately reproduce almost any colour. |
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| M | = Magenta | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Y | = Yellow | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| K | = Black | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Q | What does 4/0, 4/1, and 4/4 mean? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A |
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| Q | What is the difference between Varnishing and Laminating? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A | Varnishing refers to a UV (ultraviolet) chemical coating that is applied to provide paper and colours a resistance to fading and colour change when exposed to sunlight. Lamination refers to a physical plastic film that is applied to paper to provide UV protection, water resistance, strength/durability, and enhance colours by producing an extremely glossy and brilliant finish. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Q | What do the words “Bleed” or “Full Bleed” refer to when printing? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A | Bleed is the term used to describe the additional printed area on a piece of artwork that allows for trimming. For example, if you wish to have a 2” x 31/2” business card that is all blue, your artwork file must be printed slightly larger (perhaps 21/8” x 35/8”) to allow room for trimming (cutting) the business card without leaving white or uncoloured edges behind. The result from using a Bleed when printing produces a final product that has a Full Bleed; this simply means that the printed ink flows to the very edges of the final trimmed product leaving no white borders behind. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Q | Why is resolution and image size so important when printing? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A | These two crucial attributes will determine the clarity and sharpness of images, text, and solid colours when printing your artwork. To understand this better, imagine first printing a photo on a balloon and then later inflating that balloon. As the balloon expands, so does the photo. While the balloon inflates, the amount of ink per unit of surface area begins to reduce; the image resolution, often referred to as dpi (dots per inch), is decreasing as the balloon is expanding. The result is an exponential decrease in clarity and sharpness as the balloon gets larger. To avoid this problem, artwork and pictures should be created as file sizes identical to the intended size of the final printed product. Programs such as Adobe Illustrator and Coral Draw have the unique ability to create graphics and artwork as “vectors”. These vector files allow for limitless scalability with no reduction in resolution or clarity. This enables a file as small as a business card to be resized to fit a billboard with no decrease in quality whatsoever; this is why these programs are so widely used when creating artwork intended for print. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Q | What file formats do you accept? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A | We accept a large variety of file formats for your artwork, logo, photos, and graphic designs:
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| Q | What is the difference between Raster and Vector Images? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A | Raster images are pixel-based files; a pixel is one of the single dots that add up to make the total dpi (Dots Per Inch) or resolution of an image file. The problem with a Raster image is that when the original file is enlarged, no more pixels are added to make the bigger image size; the pixels simply get spaced further and further apart from each other and the image resolution and clarity drops. Vector images are different. They use algorithms and mathematical equations to create an image. These formulas allow a Vector image to maintain 100% of its resolution at any size, for this reason, we highly recommend using Vector images when creating your artwork so that any future sizing adjustments will not adversely affect the quality of your product. |
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| Q | Where can I find good quality print ready images? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A |
www.bigstockphoto.com www.istockphoto.com www.shutterstock.com www.fotosearch.com |
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