I'm in the process of setting up a small business from home, and have just finished designing my business card. I am about to have them printed, but am having trouble choosing between matte or gloss. What do you guys think is more suitable for this industry. My card has my logo on it which is hot pink bordering on red, and gold, with an abstract picture on it, and the details are in black. I will have matte on the back, either way, so people can write on it, so its just the front I'm tossing over.

I have cards with both. If VistaPrint is having a sale on gloss finish I order it; if not, I don't. it really makes little difference to anyone but you.

Personally I like the gloss finish, but I like shiny things in general.

I like matte. It's classier. With your colors, you might not want to make it gaudy. Besides, if you're already having matte on the other side, they shouldn't be different.

We started out with matte cards, but VistaPrint had a good price on glossy cards for our second order so we went with those. Personally I like the glossy cards better, our logo is pink, black, and white and it doesn't look gaudy.

Thanks very much folks, some helpful feedback there.

Haven't quite made up my mind yet, although I am leaning slightly towards glossy, but would still welcome further comments/opinions from people.

MATTE -

Matte says - i chose that
Glossy says - i'll get what Target/KMart has ............ IYKWIM.

All the chain stores have Glossy over here - think they have had the same standing order since the 80's

Bluehue

I used to make my own and the only choice was matte
Now that I buy them, I really like gloss because they remind me less of my home made ones.

My printers do either matte or glossy finish, but glossy is a longer process so a faster alternative is to use glossy paper. Gloss is normally an additional fee, so if it's offered at no additional charge--I take advantage of that and get it (especially if there's a photo on it... if no photo, it doesn't much matter to me). I like the idea of matte on the back to write on easier... never considered that.

I guess it's a personal preference just like photo processing (if anyone does that any more!)... I always chose glossy.

I like bling and gaudy things, ahhaa, so of course i love glossy ones. Personal pref..

I think it depends on the style of the card. If the card is designed in a modern pattern, color scheme, then I think Matte is the better choice. I think a matte card reminds me of a more organic finish, which for this industry is what I would go with.

If the design, however, is a little more intricate or traditional in nature, glossy could fit the design better and bring a sheen to some of those features.

I'm sure either way they will look great.

We always use matte. We think it looks better. We have cards for our real-estate business and our technology consulting business. Our technology cards have all my dhs Microsoft and CompTIA certifications on them and their logos (which are pretty tame) but the company who designed our cards printed all those texts glossy and raised up off the cards. It looks really neat.

We dont have a logo for our real-estate business, its more of a heres how to get in touch with me kind of card so they kept it pretty simple. The text is still raised off the card but it isnt all glossy like our other cards are. We used a local company and it was $75 for two ginormous boxes of cards for each of our businesses that they designed for us. You might try to find a place locally that will work with you. It did take a while to get all the details hammered out but it was nice to have someone that I could call and ask questions and talk to.

For my cake business cards and cake box stickers I had a gal who owned a stationary type business design them for me. She did a fabulous job, charged me well (a little over $200.00) and then went out of business She was supposed to send me the CD with all the design info and stuff on it so I could have some other place print my stuff up for me but then she went MIA and I havent heard from her in years. So going local can also be a disaster lol.

We tried looking locally to have business cards printed, but it would have cost 3-4 times what VistaPrint charges. Unless you focus on high-end custom designs, I don't think a local printing business with a retail shop is sustainable these days.

Are you kidding jason? Local printhouse are so much better than Vistaprint. Yeah, they are more expensive, but nothing replaces quality, in-person customer service and PROOFS! We do so much promotional print stuff for the company I work for, there is no way I would take a chance on our stuff with Vistaprint.

Local printhouses deal with school districts, corporations, multiple small businesses and so much more. We may live in a digital world but corporations still need promotional materials.

I haven't had any quality problems with Vistaprint and they do provide proofs. I've never had to deal with VP customer service so I can't speak to that, but if there is a differential in customer service quality it would have to be pretty severe to justify paying 300-400% more for the same quantity and quality of product.

The company I work for in my day job (Fortune 50) outsources most of our print work to an offshore vendor, in my department anyway. The quality is just as good as locally produced work for a fraction of the price.

I get my cards from www.moo.com The regular ones and the little half cards. They are so dang cool, but very pricy. SI only hand those out to certain clients/vendors/events, so I also get the premium ones from Vistaprint for everyday handing out.

Love the Moo cards! But you're right, they are too pricey to be handing out to just anyone. I get mine from a local printer and they are matt finish. I couldn't stand the thought of getting fingerprints all over them if they were glossy...

This is what VistaPrint says about PROOFS:

"The proof is not a blue line (a printed sample), but is a printable .pdf (Adobe Acrobat) version of your document which you can view and print from your computer. It will make proofreading text and verifying proper alignment, size and positioning of text and images easier. If you choose to print a copy of your proof at home, your color printer will not print precisely the same colors that will be produced from our high quality commercial printing equipment. Therefore this proof should not be used for color validation."

I'm not even sure why anyone would order this kind of proof just to read the document in print. It won't show the real colors and it won't show for example the OP's red and gold printed on glossy or on matte so that she can make a decision. Sure, it's cheap. But I know people who have been surprised, not getting what they expected. I work for a magazine, so I'm sure I'm a little biased that way, but I like seeing what I'm getting ahead of time.

Not next day physical proofs for free. I've had business cards w/both and my local cards win hands down.

In any case, I'll go to Vistaprint for the cheap free stuff they offer, but if I want a quality product with good customer service I'll go to a printhouse hands down. I honestly cannot count how many times I've been at the printer this year.

I really wouldn't trust Vistaprint with bright bold colors. Mine are black and white with one particular cake which looks perfect in that scheme.

Love Moo mini cards, too. I'm a big fan. But those are for fun. I have ordered the different artists work on them. Pretty cool stuff.

I get photos on those half cards, just half "slices" of tiered cakes with a black background. It looks so cool.

Thank you very much everyone, for your valuable opinions. Still deciding, but I think I'll check a few print houses first, before I make my choice. I might try to get a raised finish I think, but it depends on the cost. I'll let you know what I end up with.

Thanks again everyone.

I have the most fabulous and unique business cards. They always get attention and compliments. I went for the higher end approach and worked with a company called Morning Print

Extremely fast turn around with a superior quality. I have the metallic card with a foil stamping on it. But the clear one is exceptional!!

throwing something new in there, i have a white pearl card stock. Or for my next order I will probably go with something else that is a bit different than the standard offering. Buying paper locally and printing locally. (husband is a graphic designer and knows how to hook me up)

Regarding business cards - I have noticed that when putting a selection of business cards into a stationery wallet - specifically designed for the purpose - sometimes, (and it must be something to do with the printing) it is really difficult to remove them from under the plastic because they appear to be stuck like glue - and when and if you managed to, an imprint of the front of the card remains on the underside of the plastic. It has not bothered me to now, because they were not my cards, but surely printing ink should not become unstuck when added to a folder, specifically designed for the purpose of business cards. Or is it just me? It has made me want to get confirmation, when the business cards are next printed that this will not happen to mine!

Matte. Personal preference. I also like Vista Print. I really like their stock designs and they are very easy to use. The shipping seems a little slow.Yesterday I received my order. I got a car magnet, a small banner, a tee shirt and 500 business cards all for under $70.00. I was impressed with the quality. The car magnet was high quality, the banner (which I thought would be a paper poster) was actually vinyl. I have often received comments on my 'cute' or 'nice' looking business cards. All I did was pick a stock print and type in business name and contact info. Easy Peasy.

HTH

tokazodo

Hey,,,, buddy,,,,that is a great idea of opening a small business at your place.

Hope you got the answer from this form that which one to choose whether glossy or matt finish. 

But,,,this is a bit old discussion. So, I am adding many recent or trendy category of finish which you can go with like:

1. Silver Prism Stainless Steel Cards
2. Silver Frosted Stainless Steel Cards
3. Brushed Stainless Steel Cards
4. Mirror Stainless Steel Cards
5. Stainless Steel Full Color Business Cards
6. Stainless Steel White Business Cards
7. Matt Black Stainless Steel Cards

If you want one finish for your business cards then I have one recommendation for you http://www.puremetalcards.com/.

This firm is a complete package I can say because I am a recent customer of this firm. And I like their devices and cost a lot. 

Please make one note at the end don;t use paper material,,,now go with metal business cards buddy.