Business Card Stock – What’s Right for You?

Here are a few hints and help for choosing the right business card stock for your business card printing needs. There are many varieties of business card paper out there and many manufacturers too. It may be a little overwhelming to decide what you need. So here is a little help and some things to think about when deciding which business card paper to choose.

Firstly, there are some basic features of the paper you must decide on that will help you in deciding. Please read business card paper for more information.

Inkjet versus laser jet printers
The two basic printer types for printing are ink-jet and laser jet printers. If you already have a printer you may want to check which type it is, if you don’t already know, and ensure that you buy the correct paper for it.

Generally speaking, laser jet printers produce a better print quality and sharper colours than inkjet printers. They are also faster at printing. In addition, laser jets are cheaper in the long run. Over time the cost of buying toner for a laser jet printer is much lower, although the initial cost of buying the printer will be much higher than an ink jet printer.

Apart from this you would also want to know what thickness of paper the printer supports. Some printers get jammed if thick paper stock is used.

Magnetic versus non-magnetic paper
You can read more on on magnetic business card paper here. The most important thing to remember is that you can only use an ink jet printer to print on magnetic paper. Laser jet printers cannot print on magnetic paper.

Business card software compatibility
Be sure to check what paper stock your software supports. This will save you a lot of time trying to tweak things yourself in order to get the alignment right. Read this review of business card programs to learn more and check on various programs and the business card paper they support.

Apart from checking what business card stock brands your software supports you need to be sure of the different types of stock supported for each brand. Avery, for instance, has many different types of paper stock and although a lot of programs support Avery stock, they don’t all support all varieties of Avery paper.

You can usually check by going to the printing dialogue in the program, which should then give you the different options available.

Colour choices
When choosing ink or graphic design colours for colored paper remember that the paper color affects the color of the ink. Other factors that might affect the ultimate colour of your work include the color of the stock, whether it is flat printing or thermography, size and weight of the paper, lighting conditions and ink coverage.

Textured versus non-textured paper
If you are printing on textured paper using an inkjet printer is advisable. The ink is spread well on the paper and gets between the dips and cracks in the texture. With a laser jet printer you will not get good results as the toner often does not get into these dips and cracks in the paper. It will therefore smudge as you print or simply leave gaps on the paper with no colour on them.

Oval-shaped business cards?
I found this unique business card stock at Paper Direct. The cards are precut into an oval shape ready for printing on. Depending on the type of business you are in, this could be a great idea.

In conclusion
Printing your business card on low-quality stock can adversely affect the way your business is perceived by its clients so you need to balance the cost with the quality of card that you can make. Your cards can do more to harm your business rather than promote it if you do a bad job of designing the card or print on low quality business card stock.
Avery Business Card Stock
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