The card that gets kept.
Digital or offset, one color to full process, on stock that feels like something. The choice is straightforward once you know what each option actually changes.
Digital or offset, by quantity
A business card is the clearest case of the choice that runs across the whole product list. Digital transfers the file straight to the sheet, so a box of a hundred or two hundred is worth running without a plate charge standing in the way. Offset makes a metal plate first, and that plate is what makes a long run cheap per card — once the quantity is high enough, the cost of making the plate is small against the number of cards it prints. Omega runs process and spot color offset and full color digital, on soy-based inks, so it is the quantity that decides the press, not the ink count (digital printing, offset printing).
Stock and finish
The finish changes how a card reads before anyone gets to the type on it. A gloss coating saturates a photograph or a solid color and takes a fingerprint and a light glare in return; a pen skates on it rather than writing. A matte coating is flat, has no glare, and takes a note on the back, at the cost of a slightly quieter color underneath it. Uncoated stock carries no coating at all — texture under a thumb, and often the choice for a card that wants to read as understated rather than shiny. A heavier stock also simply feels more substantial in the hand than the paper a letterhead prints on.
Standard sizes.
Whichever size the card runs at, it still needs bleed past the trim on every side — the bleed & trim calculator turns that trim size into the file setup size before you export.
Know the quantity, stock and finish? Send them along and we’ll price the card.
Request a quote Call (763) 475-1826Good to
know.
Should I choose digital or offset for business cards?
Send the quantity and the rest follows from it. A short run suits digital because there is no plate to make; once the quantity is high enough to spread a plate's cost across, offset gets cheaper per card. If the two are close, we will say so.
Matte, gloss or uncoated — how do I choose a finish?
By what the card has to do rather than by which is “better.” Gloss makes color and photography look saturated; matte is quieter and takes a pen on the back; uncoated has texture and reads as understated. All three run here.
What size should my business card be?
3.5 by 2 inches is the U.S. standard and the size most card holders and wallets are built for. Slim and square are common alternatives for a card that should not sit like every other card in the stack. The design checklist covers margins and bleed before you send a file.
Can you match my logo’s exact color on a card?
Yes — Omega still prints spot colors for company identities and logos: a single ink mixed to the exact color and run from its own plate, rather than built from process dots, so it lands the same on every reprint.
Ready to print
the card?
Send the quantity, stock and finish and we’ll price it. Or call (763) 475-1826 and talk it through.