|
|
Go to page 1~2 [Next] | ||||||||||
DaiBato Veteran user 310 Posts |
What are the best business card printers for magicians? (I know that tattoo parlors have some excellent business cards in terms of graphics)
What are the experiences of Magic Café members? Dai Bato |
|||||||||
magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
Dai:
Are you referring to which online printers are good for printing your cards for the best quality and result or are you wanting information on what printers or places can actually design you great looking cards and handle the design aspect of them? The reason I ask is that each is different and can be answered in a different way and I want to make sure I can answer your question in the best way possible to help you. It would be my pleasure. Kyle
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
|||||||||
BalukMagic Veteran user Toronto, Canada 319 Posts |
If you are talking about actually getting it printed I NEED to recommend http://www.overnightprints.com
Ask for some free samples, you will absolutely love them! |
|||||||||
DanielSteep Inner circle 1409 Posts |
Are these the ones you use, Mark?
If so I suggest getting them here! I collect magic buisness cards and Mark's are in the top ten out of over 100 different ones I have! |
|||||||||
Wade Live Veteran user Earth 322 Posts |
Overnightprints' prices are WAYYYY overpriced! LOL...That sounded weird.
Go to http://www.gotprint.net or http://www.zooprinting.com for the best price. |
|||||||||
jlibby Inner circle 1044 Posts |
How's free? Is free a good price?
I'm sure many of you know that you can get free business cards from Vistaprint. All you pay is postage and handling. One real advantage of this is you can try out business cards for a variety of different marketing campaigns without spending a fortune. I've gotten very good service from the good Vistaprint folks. Check 'em out: http://www.vistaprint.com/frf?frf=956250315595 See ya! Joe Libby San Antonio, TX
My new FREE ebook on the classic Mismade Bill trick is ready for you:
https://funnybirthdayshow.com/mismadebill/ |
|||||||||
BalukMagic Veteran user Toronto, Canada 319 Posts |
Overnight is not overpriced - check out your local print shop.
Also - sure go to Vista Print. But you get what you pay for. Honestly Vista Print quality is BAD... OvernightPrints is cheap, realiable, and astonishing quality (both sharpness of image and card stock...) Posted: Apr 23, 2006 1:23am -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MO - yes I use overnightprints, thanks for the compliment. |
|||||||||
DaiBato Veteran user 310 Posts |
I'm sorry, I did not make myself clear.
What are the best business cards in terms of magic-oriented graphics, either clip art or custom made? Dai Bato |
|||||||||
leapinglizards Inner circle 1263 Posts |
We use Acid flyers for all of our sell sheets, business cards and such.
They have a great graphic design department. http://www.acidflyers.com
Leaping Lizards!!! Who knew it was possible.
<BR> <BR>www.LeapingLizardsMagic.com |
|||||||||
magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
Your materials must convey a branded image. This is a central image that represents both you, who you are and even more... what are you all about and what kind of benefits can you provide your client.
A well-designed card and logo and brochure, etc. must work as a unified whole to support your USP (Unique Selling Proposition). This is a statement that sums up in a sentence or two just exactly what it is that you do, what you offer and what sets you apart from the rest. All materials you design need to reflect and relate back to this USP to create a successful brand image and message. Also, we magicians tend to forget that if we design our own materials, we are designing them often with magicians in mind. We are a magician, we think like a magician so we design our stuff to impress who?? ... other magicians. I cannot tell you how many logos, cards and websites I have seen where this is the truth. For example, how many websites have you seen that have picture galleries showing them with every magician they have ever met? How can this benefit their target market when 98% of these people the client has no clue who they even are. And further more, why would the client care that you know these people? They want to know what you can do for them and how you can meet and solve their needs. Your materials need to reflect that. We must step away from this kind of thinking and realize that our audience is not ourselves and not our magic friends either. We must learn about our chosen market and design our stuff with them in mind. Having a business card with you doing a perfect double lift or fancy card move really does nothing for your viewer because that viewer has no idea what that move is in the first place. Now, I know that is an extreme example, but you get the idea. Your materials must meet the criteria of your market and are not there to impress other magicians. Impress your prospects and you will have much greater success. You have to also ask yourself, "what do I want MY card to do for me?" Answers to this simple question will really steer you into the right direction for the card itself. It may also suggest that what you want it to do for you is often better used for a different marketing piece then the card itself. In some cases what you want it to do for you would work better as a postcard. So always keep that in mind. If you answer that you want it to give your contact information to your clients and get them to remember who you are, then a simple calling card is more then adequate to do this for you. It would have your branded look (logo or image) and your contact information. If your answer says you want to direct mothers of children having b-day parties to your website, then now you have a specific card that becomes a marketing tool targeted at a target market. You then design the card to show the benefits to that target audience and a call to action to get them and direct them to the website. There is no wrong choice here. It simply is making sure of what you want the card to accomplish for you and directing your energy into making sure the card works the way you intend it to. As a designer myself, no designer will work for free. In fact, it really is like a slap in the face to us. Nothing personal, mind you. It is just that people think anyone can be a designer and anyone can do it. That can not be further from the truth. Design takes skill and an education to learn the fundamentals of just how to communicate and how to do it in such a way that it communicates what it needs in the simplest of forms and gets your branded message across. If you want quality design and a branded look that will sell you and your services the best, then hiring or getting a professional to design your materials is not only the way to go, but you will see more return on your investment. Keep in mind that often times the very first impression you make on someone is with the materials you are giving to them. Why would you not want them to be as perfect and high quality as your show or act? Being a designer and magician, I do tend to understand the reluctance of a person working with a designer who does not understand magic. A good designer will do their best to learn everything they can about the company or services their client does before ever doing anything on paper or at the computer. There are some magicians who are designers and there are a bunch out there who know their stuff and can speak your language as well. In regards to designing cards yourself, I only use Adobe Illustrator as for the graphic designer in me, it is the only prgram that allows me the total freedom I am after for the logo design and vector artwork that I do for my own cards and those of others I have done over the years. It does take a knack for learning how to draw with a mouse and learning how to adjust curves based upon the vector format of bezier curves. Adobe Illustrator works entirely on a vector-based format. This means that everything is based upon mathematics. This is a great thing for designing logos and art because it can be blown up to any size and will never lose in quality. That is the glory and the plus side of vector-based programs for creating artwork for business card designs. When you start using programs like Adobe Photoshop, then you have to change into a world of raster based art files. This means you are dealing in DPI or "dots per inch" resolution. The typical hi-res dpi needed for most printers will be at 300 dpi and you will want your Adobe Photoshop file to be 300 dpi at the final size for the card if not bigger. You never want to take a raster file and blow it up too much. Because it is raster-based, every time you blow up or enlarge a raster image, it loses DPI resolution as it has to make up the colors in between the dots as you enlarge it. I hope some of this information may be of help to you as you design ideas for your own cards. If anyone cares to see samples of some of my vector-based artwork done in Adobe Illustrator, just shoot me over a PM. I would be happy to show you what can be done with the program and a few years of art school. =) It would be my pleasure. Hope this helps. If anyone would care for me to review your materials and give you some feedback and tips, I would be happy to. It would be my pleasure to help in any way that I can. Kyle
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
|||||||||
DanielSteep Inner circle 1409 Posts |
I have recieved about 5 from Vista Print out of the 100+ and they definitely are the worst ones I have! Not to judge the performers that sent them to me but the company is more for amateurs!
|
|||||||||
magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
They are not bad as long as you supply them with a custom design. The templates are only so good. Templates and free printing is a nice feature, but they do scream amateur like clip art often does.
If you supply them with a custom design and upload it to their site for printing, they can do a fairly decent job of it at a pretty good cost for you. The custom design needs to be a quality design that brands you well and is as unique to you as the magic you perform. It is not so much that Vistaprint is bad. It is only as good as what you supply them with to start. You also must be aware of the method of printing that Viatprint and other online printers are using. Each use a form of digital printing and that can give you vastly different results. The best way to overcome getting poor quality, is to ask for printed samples up front so you know what quality you can expect before you invest the time and money. You will also want to request a proof so that you can give approval on the cards before they do the actual run. These simple steps will help ensure you get what you are seeking from any online printer. Kyle
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
|||||||||
Spasm New user Hiding beneath your bed. 18 Posts |
This is some great advice. Like many of you, I have been searching for a reputable online printer to see what my options are as far as price and quality versus a traditional local printer for a new set of business cards.
I already have a graphic designer on board, however I am now trying to find a reputable online printer that has a track record of delivering what they promise. Specifically I am looking for exceptional product quality with good customer service. Price, while always important, is a secondary factor. I have visited the sites listed above, and of course they all look good on paper, but I am still interested in getting any additional suggestions anyone might have based on their own experience. Since this topic is over five months old, I thought that it might be time for an update. Thanks
All spelling and grammatical errors are strictly for entertainment purposes only
|
|||||||||
magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
As a graphic designer myself, my best word of advice is to research places online, then contact those that seem to appeal to you as being professional. Then ask them to send you actual printed samples of cards similar to what you are having printed. This way you can really see for yourself what their quality really is like.
My next word of advice is search for those places that willallow you to have them send you a proof before they do the actual full run. The proof is the card printed up for you to approve. this gives you one last chance to make any adjustments that may be needed before the actual print run is performed. If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them for you. My pleasure. Kyle
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
|||||||||
Bill Hoffman Loyal user 297 Posts |
I have been really happy with mine from gotprint.net
I used one of their backgrounds which has all the card suits on it, uploaded a magic wand pic and it looks great! After shipping it was 49.00 for 1000. Not to bad.
MagicBH@Gmail.com
<BR>http://billhoffmanmagic.com |
|||||||||
Bill Hoffman Loyal user 297 Posts |
MagicBH@Gmail.com
<BR>http://billhoffmanmagic.com |
|||||||||
Bill Hoffman Loyal user 297 Posts |
MagicBH@Gmail.com
<BR>http://billhoffmanmagic.com |
|||||||||
magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
It really comes down to the quality of the printing job itself and whther or not that is the quality you are after. This is why I stress the importance of having anyonline printer send you a bunch of direct printed samples in the mail for you to physically look at, touch and check out. This way you know up front what quality and orinting to expect on your own cards. Also check out the color and se if the color on the samples is consistent on the pieces. Is there any bad fading or banding. Hope this helps.
Kyle
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
|||||||||
Donald Dunphy Inner circle Victoria, BC, Canada 7563 Posts |
Quote:
On 2006-09-06 22:25, BHBOWHUNTER wrote: Just a tip. When you do your next batch, be sure to correct the spelling on Restaurants, and maybe split the words Church groups into two separate words. - Donald
Donald Dunphy is a Victoria Magician, British Columbia, Canada.
|
|||||||||
Bill Hoffman Loyal user 297 Posts |
Yea this is just an example
MagicBH@Gmail.com
<BR>http://billhoffmanmagic.com |
|||||||||
The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » Tricky business » » Best Business Card Printers for Magicians? (0 Likes) | ||||||||||
Go to page 1~2 [Next] |
[ Top of Page ] |
All content & postings Copyright © 2001-2024 Steve Brooks. All Rights Reserved. This page was created in 0.07 seconds requiring 5 database queries. |
The views and comments expressed on The Magic Café are not necessarily those of The Magic Café, Steve Brooks, or Steve Brooks Magic. > Privacy Statement < |