Japan Printing

160 Broadway, Ground Floor New York, NY
Phone: (212) 406-2905

How to Choose The Right Finish

August 5, 2014 / Uncategorized / 0 Comments
vertical-unique-business-cards

People often forget that business cards can be quite diverse in their effects and finishes. Some obvious characteristics would be raised or flat ink, and maybe the thickness of the paper. However, the actual finish of the card is something that is often ignored. A good way to describe a business cards finish would be the way it feels when you touch it. Although this may not be the textbook definition, I’ve found that this is a very effective way to convey the idea of finish. For example, a gloss finish feels smooth and almost aqueous. A textured finish means that you can feel texture on the surface of the paper. There are more finishes such as matte and linen among others.

Now that we know what a finish is, the question becomes which of them is the right one for you? This is a tough question to answer. The reason I say that is because its not as simple as picking the one that you like the best. Your personal preference may not be appropriate for the industry that you are in. For example, let imagine you’re a law professional. Lets say that you really love gloss coated business cards, and you decide to order them for your law practice. You may eventually realize that gloss coated business cards look a little out of place for your profession, especially when most of your colleagues use more traditional uncoated papers with raised ink. Therefore, it is important to consider more than just your personal preference. You really should consider your clientele and industry when making this decision. Even your location can make a difference. In NYC, you may want a more traditional finish on your business cards if you are based in the Wall St. area, just because the financial sector is very dominant there.

Read more


Are My Business Cards Print Ready?

August 5, 2014 / Uncategorized / 0 Comments
verical-creative-business-cards

If you had to guess, what do think is the biggest barrier that consumers face when getting their business cards printed? One might imagine that picking the specs or budget might be the most difficult, but that is not usually the case. The hardest thing is usually coming up with the design and formatting it correctly. Its not as simple as just walking into a print shop and saying “can you print some business cards for me?”. Furthermore, the design needs to be formatted correctly. A powerpoint slide isn’t sufficient for printing. Every piece of printing equipment requires a print ready design before anything can be printed. There are a few main things that make a business card design print ready, and we will over them in this post.

First off, trim marks are a must, especially when dealing with “bleeds”. In the print industry a bleed is simply a color that meets the edge of the paper. These trim marks indicate the business card dimensions, so we know where to cut them out from the larger sheet that they are printed on. Without trim marks, it will be difficult for us to align the business cards properly. Most graphics software programs offer features that will add the trim marks for you.

Read more