Raised Ink Business Cards

The printing process for full color and for raised ink business cards are drastically different. You will need to make a choice between the two types of cards, and which will best fit your business needs and persona. It is very important that you make the right impression with your business card, from the moment you hand it out. Your card will be one of the first, if not the first, contacts you have as a professional with potential customers. You will want to be fully confident that the impression you are making is the right one for your needs.

Raised ink business cards have been popular, and considered a standard high quality method of printing business cards for over 50 years. They have until recently been offered only in one color. Extra colors add to the difficulty of the printing procedure.

However, the audience was out there for the added color, and demanded it since there are always times, depending on your business and personality, when you may want that something extra. Where an audience exists, a product is created. So now it is that you have available to you the option for raised ink business cards with your choice of color or colors.

Thermography is the name of the process used to created raised ink business cards, and other printed products. Thermography is used in conjunction with a conventional offset printing press. The paper is heated and while the ink is still wet, a powdered polymer is dusted over that wet ink and melted. This causes the raised effect. The most noticeable difference between flat printing and raised ink business card printing is in the visible gloss and texture on the raised ink business cards. Anyone who holds such a business card in their hand will feel the lettering above the card stock. This raised ink feeling is thought to give a memorable higher quality feeling to what would normally be a flat printed surface.

If you would rather go with black and white — black ink and white card stock — and only need a business card to maintain a relatively simple business identity, maybe you don’t yet need to commit to a long-term brand identity or you are working on a tight budget but still need a quality raised business card, you could be the type of person or company that will do best with a simple raised ink business card. The presentation will usually be straightforward, often containing only business essentials. This is a big difference from a full color business card which typically will have a photo-realistic image or other full color imagery, taking advantage of the vast array of available color options.

Most people who order raised ink business cards using predominantly black ink will opt for a more basic design choice. The combination of black and maybe one accent color has proven to be the preference of many more traditional professionals because the two together offer an elegant simplicity. Black and gold, or, for example, black paired with burgundy highlights, will convey an air of refinement, while black and a brighter, more vibrant and less conventional color, such as red, will add a modern and daring touch to a classic design choice. This will speak to an intriguing business personality comprised of a mix of the expected with an out-of-the-box flair.

One way to determine if raised ink business cards are right for you, even before you decide on color or no color, is to think carefully about the exact image you want to project. Lawyers, doctors, and real estate agents, for example, tend to prefer raised ink business cards because they set a clearly defined tone of standard professionalism. Selecting the right paper stock will certainly enhance the final look of your raised ink business card. A thought: linen stock tends to make raised ink business card printing stand out even more.

The quality of raised ink business cards is often not really dependent on the ink printing, but rather the quality of the stock the cards are printed on. A thick card stock usually feels more expensive. If you need your cards as soon as possible, maybe even yesterday, raised ink cards can be your best bet. There will be no sacrifice in quality and their particular printing process can allow for thousands of high quality cards to printed in a very short period of time. Raised ink business cards also tend to look more expensive, when they are done right. Digital printed full color cards can be output in the same amount of time, but you may end up sacrificing image quality and card life for the time issue.

Raised ink business cards are by far your most inexpensive option, yet they remain one of your classiest options while never letting go of the beauty of simplicity. They stand out from the crowd, whether you have added color or stayed with the more traditional black and white presentation. Many believe that raised print business cards carry a more professional appearance, no matter your business. Once a printing plate has been set up, the difference in cost to produce a handful, or thousands of raised ink business cards, is marginal, and this is the beauty of it, especially in today’s tough economic times. Whether you need just a few or a thousand raised print business cards, your cost isn’t predominantly driven that number. If you want full color cards and need them fast, you may sacrifice some quality with digital printing, even if you can have your cards in 48 hours or less.

Explore and then happily dare to exploit all the many creative possibilities of owning raised ink business cards. The raised ink will grab attention, highlight your logo, boldly proclaim your standing in the business community, and introduce an entirely unique third dimension into your most immediate business tool—your business card. Whether they are the more traditional black ink on white stock, or a multi-colored ink on an exciting new type of card stock, your new raised ink business cards will tell the professional circle in which you operate that you are on the move upward . . . and not afraid to tell everyone about your success.

Be bold. Get raised ink business cards to represent you and your product or service.