Hot Trends in Premium Business Cards

Everyone's got them: stacks of business cards that they will hand out to people they meet at conferences, shows, meetings, and even in their off hours. It's important, given how common they are, that your cards have something extra that makes them unique. Not only that, you also want to show your potential clients and partners that you are serious about your business. Here are some of the hottest trends in business card printing that really make a statement.

One of the big trends in cards these days are silk cards. Silk cards are coated with a special laminate; they aren't actually made out of fabric. The coating changes the way the card feels and the way it looks. It gives the card a silky feel, while also increasing how thick the card is, which gives it more weight. The finish also has a nice shine without being shiny and seals in the printed matter on the card. Cards that have this coating are more durable in that they won't be damaged by spills or tear when caught on something.

Another way to make your cards stand out is to use UV coating. UV coating is a finish that is applied to the printed card. This coating can change the gloss of the card, giving it either a high or low gloss shine. To get a more unique look, UV coating can be applied just in specified places, called spot coating, if you don't want the card coated uniformly. With spot coating, you can dictate which areas get a shininess that makes it stand out from the rest of the card. You could use the UV coating to highlight text, for example, or to bring out a certain design element on the card.

Another interesting visual element that can be added is foil. Foil gives you the metallic look you can't get from regular printing or UV coating. There are two ways to apply foil business cards. Inline foil printing incorporates foil into the design during the printing process, which means it can be layered. Foil stamping, on the other hand, adds foil on top of the printed image.

Of course, you can use these techniques together. For example, you might choose to have silk coating applied all over the card and use spot UV coating to highlight your business's name. Or, you could choose to have the card UV coated all over and then use foil to accent parts of the design. It is also possible to have cards printed that use all three techniques, for the best looking, and most durable, business cards.