B-I-N-G-O!

Business cards are my favorite media to print (and receive). I love the exchange of “let me give you my card” and then having these small pieces of paper make so many great connections throughout our lives. At a later date your card acts as the reminder of your meeting. Without this small card they may forget your name, or company, and your connection could end at that first meeting.

Designing business cards or b-cards for short, is exciting to me because it is the initial exchange of cards that I think about when I’m designing. I want the receiver to be impressed ; ) and after being impressed I want them to call you, because YOU are exactly who they’re looking for. Now what if you had no card to give? Big mistake…HUGE.

Even if your company doesn’t exist, with a business card, suddenly it does. Your always ready to have a business card, even if it just says your name and number.  It’s a powerful piece of paper that if given to the right individual can impact your life in a HUGE way.

My Own Business Card ——————————————->

With my own business cards I enjoy re-designing them each time I run out. It’s not that I have fallen out of love with the previous card, it’s just that I’ve fallen in love with other typefaces and ornaments that I’m eager to try out.

This time it was numbers. This past year I’ve had a slight obsession with the game BINGO. So, after finding these numbers at Interrobang (among the massive ornament collection) I had to use them. There were several different sets of numbers but,  the one that contained those needed for my telephone number, were the small round ones so they won. And I won too because these were my favorite.

Step by Step ——————————————————->

Here is the initial proof of all the type and ornament I planned to use.

Like hunting for treasure. And finding it.

Here is the black run printed. I ended up adding some arrows to the center line and some dashes to separate the numbers. 

I decided to do two colors for this business card, which means I have to do two different lockups. One with the metal type that I want to print black and one with the metal type that I want to print red. The forms are setup with identical spacing and formation and then fingers crossed they register perfectly.

Here is the card right after the second color has been printed. Now its time to slip my left hand in to grab the card and slip another card in with my right hand in a matter of seconds so my hand doesn’t get crushed. No pressure.

Each card is hand-fed one by one into the press and is held by those cool contraptions called gauge pins ensuring that if you fed it in correctly, it will print in the same place every time.

And here they are! One last step of corner rounding the edges and then they will be passed out like candy.

Oldies but Goodies ———————————————>

Here are some of the past designs I used for my business cards.

My first personal card for book arts and letterpress.

The form for my B. cards set in metal and wood type.

The backside on a past design built out of ornament.

The metal type forms locked up for those business cards.

My previous business card that were printed on chipboard stock and double-sided.

interested in having custom letterpress business cards of your own?

email me for more information ——> bessie@bimpressedshop.com

<——————————Press On————————————>