frosted business cards?

[dss]

hi

i happened across this forum via google and have spent a while reading the forum but thought i could perhaps pick your brains as there seems to be a lot of collective expertise

i'm looking to get some business cards printed, and think something based on a frosted transparent plastic card is best

BUT the problem is working out where to get them designed/printed


the first problem is the design of them - some places offer "design" for "£20" - "£30" (which i assume merely includes adding text to templates), others have a higher than normal price that encorporates a design element (but it's difficult to tell from the websites which of the samples they display online are of their work and which are merely cards they've printed but have been designed elsewhere).
I don't have any logo or anything but suspect i'd need some creative input with regards to the card.
Keeping the costs as low as possible is imperative (although as i'm sure you all realise there's no point getting terrible cards made as they'll hopefully generate business), but any recommendations would be great: are any of these 'design services' by the printers worthwhile, or do i really need to use a separate designer to ensure decent results?

And second, with regards to the design, i have a couple of vague ideas myself but there's little point in me cobbling together a poor effort. I know it seems to go against everything posted here but crowdspring seems quite compelling as i'd then get many different ideas but i just don't know.


thanks for taking the time to read this,
and thanks in advance for any pointers.

[Paul Murray]

I'd steer clear of any crowdsourcing sites, since they claim to offer much more than they actually deliver. More often than not the 'ideas' that people post are just the same idea they've already posted but with different colours applied.

Working one-to-one with a designer will be better for you since you get their knowledge and experience, one-to-one interaction, a professional standard of design and service, unique designs (a lot of crowdsourcing sites are rife with copyright theft, and it will be you that ends up paying the fines).

Plus there's likely to be things to consider when designing with the intention of printing onto frosted plastic, knowledge of which a crowdspring cowboy just won't have. It would be wasted money.

Ultimately you get what you pay for. A £30 design service doesn't sound like you'll be getting anything near the quality you'd get from a professional.

[dss]

thanks for the advice

what about the card places that claim to do design themselves are they worthwhile or is the fact that the "free design" element simply lumped in with the printing less transparent and likely a bit of a falsehood?

i know it's the question that all the designers dodge but what sort of range of prices would someone expect to pay to have a business card designed professionally?

thanks

[Paul Murray]

"Free design" sound even worse than the £30 design service. Chances are there'll be little to no thought going into the design for that 'price' as it will probably be a standard template layout they use.

As for design prices it will vary from designer to designer. Why not post in the job section and see what people say?

[dss]

"Free design" sound even worse than the £30 design service. Chances are there'll be little to no thought going into the design for that 'price' as it will probably be a standard template layout they use.

As for design prices it will vary from designer to designer. Why not post in the job section and see what people say?

again thanks for the advice

the 'free design' service is via plasma design and some of their cards look good but having looked at various websites for hours i know that some of the designs have appeared elsewhere and it's difficult to tell if they've merely printed them or whether they've designed the particularly good ones.

i'll have a think about putting it in the job section to see prices (the slight problem is because of the nature of what i do i can't say much pubically and the area i'm in doesn't tend to be too creative generally so i guess i'd need something on the conservative side of things creatively speaking)

[Paul Murray]

i'll have a think about putting it in the job section to see prices (the slight problem is because of the nature of what i do i can't say much pubically and the area i'm in doesn't tend to be too creative generally so i guess i'd need something on the conservative side of things creatively speaking)

You can just ask for people to get in touch stating you're looking at getting some business cards designed for printing onto plastic. Chances are people might after seeing this post, but a lot of people don't contribute to the forum and just hand around the job section so you might get more interest there

[Antisis91]

You could always look into a site called People Per Hour.

You as the client describe to the designers what you would like, and then people would bid on your auction job, then the designer that fits your description of what you would like they can make it for you.

Find Freelancers - 88,751 Freelance Jobs on PeoplePerHour.com

[Minuteman Press]

You could always look into a site called People Per Hour.

You as the client describe to the designers what you would like, and then people would bid on your auction job, then the designer that fits your description of what you would like they can make it for you.

I've experienced PPH with design - never ever again.

Antisis91 - what has been your experience?

[Paul Murray]

I've experienced PPH with design - never ever again.

Here's my experience of people per hour...

1. Find a job that looks good.
2. Realise the budget is incredibly low for the work.
3. Start to write a message explaining to the host that the price is too low.
4. Realise 38 people have already bid.
5. Return to number 1.

Maybe it's better for bigger jobs that require much more experience and expertise but I can't see how anyone could make a professional living from PPH, at least not when they're producing a high standard of work. I check it out occasionally to see what's happening but having a finite number of bids I'm careful to consider which jobs to bid on.

[dss]

okay, so the consensus appears to be that i should get the design done separately then!

any recommendations regarding companies that do the cards?
there's obviously limitations with regards to the amount of colour that can be used because of the process and differing prices with respect to multiple colours, but also only some are willing to print all the way to the edge in some areas whereas others rigidly require a gap.

has anyone had any frosted cards printed? Or are they overhyped?

thanks again