COLOR BUSINESS CARD PRINTING

Full color business cards make a powerful statement and open up so many design possibilities compared to a standard 1 or 2 spot color card. And most orders are ready in just two days! 

Business cards must be designed as a standard 2" x 3.5" card with crop marks and if applicable, 1/8" bleed.  A 2-sided card should be designed as a 2-page file (page 2 is side 2).  Please refer to our tip sheet for important additional information. 

We are only able to print business cards from files with crop marks or from professional page layout and illustration programs which generate crop marks. Sorry, no Microsoft Office files.

Frequently asked questions

About our full color cards

All of our business cards are printed in full color, either 4/0 or 4/4.  We do not offer spot color printing, so all business cards will be printed on a full color press regardless of the number of colors used in your design.

Accepted file formats for business card printing

Business cards must be designed in a page layout or illustration program that can generate crop marks and bleed. Acceptable programs include:  InDesign, Illustrator (1-sided cards only) or Quark Xpress (version 7 and prior). Sorry, we are unable to print cards from Word or Powerpoint. If designing a card in Photoshop, save it as a 300 dpi CMYK tiff with 1/8" additional bleed, then import it into InDesign for printing.

We suggest saving your file as a press ready pdf prior to sending it to us to avoid the need to collect fonts and support.  When saving your file as a pdf, be sure to include crops and bleed in your file.  See our tip sheet for assistance in completing this step.  

Why we need crop marks and bleed

Our business cards are printed multiple up on large press sheets and machine cut. Without crop marks, it is impossible to accurately trim your cards. You should design your business card file using a professional page layout or illustration program that can generate crop marks, such as InDesign or Illustrator. When saving your file as a pdf, ensure that the pdf includes the crop marks. If you have used InDesign or Illustrator to create your file, we offer a tip sheet on saving pdf files with crops and bleed. 

Bleed refers to extending the background color or graphic 1/8" past the edge of the page.  This allows us to trim your cards without a white edge showing.  Once you save your file as a pdf, we are unable to add the bleed to your file and it will be returned to you for correction. 

Design assistance

If you are unable to create a press ready pdf file with crops and bleed, we are happy to quote design charges to assist with properly preparing or recreating your file. 

Color matching and printed proofs

For the most accurate color matching, always choose spot colors from a Pantone Coated list. Never convert spot colors to CMYK. Photos and graphics should be CMYK, not RGB.

To offer the lowest pricing for business cards, printed press proofs are optional and priced separately. Since we are printing from your press ready pdf file, most clients choose to order business cards without a printed proof.  However, if color is critical, we recommend that you order a printed press proof for $25.00. Please add one day for your printed proof plus the time it takes for your approval.  We are unable to make adjustments or redo's to business card orders due to color matching if a printed proof is not ordered. 

Paper options

Choose 100#, 110# or 130# coated cover in silk (satin) or gloss finish, or uncoated matte in 100# cover. Uncoated cover is best for card designs without heavy ink coverage. 

Turn times

We are proud to offer some of the fastest turn times full color business card printing. Most business card orders are ready in just 48 hours, excluding weekends, from the time we receive your print ready pdf file or your proof approval. We regret that we are unable to offer faster service options for business card orders.