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hey,

I'm about to graduate from design school and am printing up some business cards.

how many do you think I should make? to send out, hand out, etc.

someone suggested 1000, I was thinking like 300.

Talk to your printer. Chances are 300 won't be much cheaper than a thousand.

The set-up costs are the big up-front expense in printing. There is usually some break point where the savings is negligible if any at all for quantities below a certain amount. For offset printed business cards this is often 1000 units, though it can vary from shop to shop. Less than that and you won't save much, but above that you're just paying for more ink and paper and cutting, and the unit cost drops significantly.

You might never actually use 1000 business cards before you need to change them, especially coming straight out of school, but it's better to have too many than not enough.

If your a grad don't make any, everyone will just make fun of your design. Wait till you're good. ;)

Consider that if you print 500 or 1000 the price will be the same, then, just make as many as 14.99 can pay. On a 14 pt coated stock with UV aqueous coating, two-sided 4/4. If you are a graduating student or a Five Stars General it doesn't matter. Go on and print the cards as you wish.

I'd keep the info as general as possible if you're printing a large quantity - just name, email, web site, mobile. You'll move before you're through 100 most likely. I just had 500 printed, don't plan on moving, and wonder if I'll ever get through them.

Had good luck with vistaprint - it's cheap, fast, the quality is good and if I DO move or change info it's cheap enough to reprint. I got 500 for about $45 including delivery and I went for deluxe stock, printing both sides, etc.

If you're printing offset (not digital) the printer is making 1000 anyway,
maybe 2000, and throwing out whatever you don't buy.

Your card will be set with many other designs- just one copy of yours per page and 1000
copies printed. It's not worth turning on a press for less, and in fact, the press is so fast, it would be hard to print less- unless you crank it by hand.

I get lots of business cards from all over the spectrum: from new design grads to seasoned design veterans. Many have been printed on good ink jet printers in these people's workrooms. They print them several-up on letter-size paper, with trim marks. Then they cut them out by hand with a sharp knife while watching TV or something.

Yes: they look different than cards printed offset. But if they are designed well and printed on a good printer, and cleanly trimmed out they can be quite good looking.

I have no objection to getting these cards. They can be just as effective. You save lots of money, and you can change info as often as you want. & you waste a lot less paper.

powers

Will - I did that for years - printed my cards on my inkjet. They looked great. But with the prices now - I am really happy with how my cards look and at that price, no problem to redo them if I want a change. It's so liberating.