Promotional Material - Credit Card Style ?

Kilty_2

Hello,

I need some promotional material printed for myself, starting up in freelance web design.

Was looking at https://www.printing.com (large printing franchise, store very close to me) and they do Budget Credit Cards, double sided. Thought this would be a good idea as I could put a promotional message on one side and use the other like a business card, and it'd be more hard wearing than a normal business card.

Only one problem with this idea, the smallest order they will take for them is 10,000!!, at a cost somewhere between £150 and £200 inc VAT, artwork approval etc.

Does anyone know of a printer that offers a similar service where I can purchase much smaller amounts so I can test both the quality and the effectiveness?

Thanks.

gingerdad

i'd be wary of printing.com esp if your doing your own art work as it's all printed centrally in Manchester and what i have seen unless your going for the offer of the month you can usually buy what they are selling much cheaper else where, though i can't help on the credit card type print, i can reccommend a number of very good printers.

GD

Kilty_2

gingois wrote:

Hi,

I work in a printing.com outlet so maybe I can help?

Could you give me a total price for 1000 of those special offer business cards, inc VAT and the artwork approval service that's reccommended if you do the design yourself?

Website isn't clear and I would just like a price I can use to compare with other printers.

Requested samples via the website, should arrive eventually

Kilty_2

gingerdad wrote:

can reccommend a number of very good printers.

GD

Reccomendations of good printers would be much welcome, going to do a fair bit of shopping around before I order anything.

gingerdad

the two printers i use (spend approx 24k per year between them)

https://www.absolutedigitalprint.com very good for short run, high quality

https://www.wrightsprinters.com very good for longer run stuff

hope these help

Regards

GD

gingois

Kilty wrote:

Could you give me a total price for 1000 of those special offer business cards, inc VAT and the artwork approval service that's reccommended if you do the design yourself?

I certainly can - email me your artwork (suttoncoldfield@printing.com) and I can take you through things.

Cheers

gingois

ps. if you've ordered samples they may be coming thru from your local store... as I said cost wise you might be ebtter dealing directly with them

Kilty_2

I don't currently have artwork Would get it designed by my sister who works in Graphic Design.

Was just after a price to get an idea of how much I'd need to fork over.

BTW I'd edit your email address or you will fall victim to spam bots :eek:

gingois

if the art work was set up right - I / your local store could send you a direct from disc guide - would just need to check and proof your file.

most stores charge a small fee for that - it's only fair as it can take a while if the file is pretty mucky. artworking charges vary form store to store (because the graphic design market varies from place to place...) so if you're going to use your local guys I wouldn't want to tell you how much, and then them give you a different price

you can elect to be a "disc risker" which means that we'll trust you that your file is right and then there are no charges.

gingois

for everyone else here's some quick tips for money saving if you're going to use us (and other printers)

- MS Publisher files are a pain - best avoided if you can, as they will likely incurr some reworking of your artwork

- design to the spec: we get lots of supplied stuff that's the wrong size and again it means we have to redraw things... most printers will give you a specification guide which is easy to understand

- images - 300dpi is what you want. In non technical terms, send us the biggest file you have. the larger the file size, the more raw it is, the more likely we are to be able to use it... and you can't just take it into photoshop and blow it up from 72dpi to 300dpi

- if you're going to spend some money on print, it's more than likely that your speculating to accumalate. so always think about investing in some professional help with the artwork if you don't really have the skills yourself. Think about what you want your print to say - if you can do that then great, if you can't I would dig just a little deeper. there's money saving and then there's money wasting!

Kilty_2

gingois wrote:

if the art work was set up right - I / your local store could send you a direct from disc guide - would just need to check and proof your file.

most stores charge a small fee for that - it's only fair as it can take a while if the file is pretty mucky. artworking charges vary form store to store (because the graphic design market varies from place to place...) so if you're going to use your local guys I wouldn't want to tell you how much, and then them give you a different price

you can elect to be a "disc risker" which means that we'll trust you that your file is right and then there are no charges.

Thank you, I'm awaiting a pack of samples so will maybe get a quote locally once I have them, if I'm impressed .