Business Cards — Print Materials Nairobi

About Business Cards

A business card is the only piece of marketing your customer holds while looking you in the eye. It is also the cheapest thing on this list, which is why handing over a flimsy one is such an expensive saving.

Weight first. Below 300gsm a card bends in a wallet and feels like a raffle ticket. 350gsm is our standard and is what most people mean by a proper card. 400gsm and up has a rigidity you notice the moment it changes hands, and it is what we would put in a director's pocket.

Then the finish. Matt lamination is soft, modern and takes a pen -- which matters more than people expect, because half of all cards get something written on the back. Gloss makes photography and colour pop but resists ink completely. Spot UV raises the logo in shine over a matt background. Foil in gold or silver is the most expensive and the most remembered.

Two mistakes we correct every week: type running to the very edge of the card, which the guillotine will trim into, and a phone number set at 6pt because the layout ran out of room. Keep 3mm clear of the trim and never set contact details below 8pt.

Standard size is 90mm by 50mm. Minimum 500, which is also the point at which the per-card price becomes almost irrelevant. Double-sided costs very little more and doubles the space -- take it.