Business Card Follow-up

This week I wanted to do a quick recap on the business cards I had ordered from Moo.

I cannot say enough good things about this company. Pricing might be slightly more but you can get multiple images, backside print without any additional fees, and it arrives with a handy carrying case. I placed the order on 4/13 and received them 4/25 (5 days before the estimated delivery date). The cards are beautiful in weight, finish, and most importantly print quality. Anyone that is looking around for a good company for cards should really consider Moo. 

 

I will be placing another order with them soon. I have to get my husband some cards for when we go to NeoCon next month. And so they don’t look as girly when he hands them out I changed the background to a somewhat more masculine look. I think I might even print some new (revised) ones for myself.

 

As for the ink pens I ordered (from another company)…all I can say is that I’m glad I didn’t order a lot. The print quality was horribly pixelated. The pen itself was very cheaply made. I thought I was getting something with weight and metal but instead got metallic painted plastic. Oh well...lesson learned.

 
 

Manufacturing Show

Now that the CAD drawings are wrapping up it’s time to source a manufacturer for prototypes. There was a local manufacturing show taking place this past week so I though it’d be worth checking out.

The show mainly catered to the machining parts industry so I really didn’t find many prospects, except for one. I’m looking for someone that can offer a striped acrylic. I’d much prefer a way to infuse the colors of acrylic together, but the way this company applied colors to their sample, it didn’t look too bad.  However when they told me how much it would cost for a mold, I about fainted. $1500-$4000 (and this is just one component of the lighting fixture). Once the mold was created they said it would only cost around .75 per piece to make. But, on the down side again the mold is only good for so many runs.

Thomasnet has some other companies I’d like to check out first before I commit to anything. This will definitely be a pricey venture considering I’m sourcing for 5 different lighting fixtures. Hmm…maybe Kickstarter is in my near future.

High Point Market & Milan Design Week

 High Point Market Week April 21-26, 2012

I wasn't able to attend but kept up on the event through Twitter & Pinterest. These seemed to be the most contemporary pieces I could find. Trends in the industry were bold colors (esp. in pink), Ikat prints, geometric shapes, and wooden accents.

Milan Design Week April 17-22, 2012 

Around the same time as High Point was Milan Design week. Their trends featured a more colorful array of bold colors, with materials of plastic and metal. New to the exhibition was the ability to manufacture a product on-site...the metal Stamped Chair & Stamped Lamp by Tom Dixon.

Photo credits High Point Market: Cassandra Lavalle for Coco+Kelley, DesignMilk, Christian May, Apartment Therapy, Kristen Rivoli, Shay Geyer, Crystal Gentilello, Jamie Meares

Photo credits Milan Design Week:  Katie Treggiden @coadg, DesignMilk, Luminaire,  © designboom, Rain Noe @ Core77, caterina di iorgi @ Design and Style, © Etch Light - Tom Dixon

Business Cards

I already had the business card design however I had no idea there were so many options. I must have spent an entire day trying to figure out what, if any, extra detail to add to my card…spot UV, silk laminated, matte, or silk laminated with spot UV, with foil, uncoated, linen, white or frosted plastic. What about corners…1/8, 1/4 radius corners. Then there’s the weight…14, 16, or an amazing, beautiful, but costly Luxe 32pt stock.

I had ordered some sample cards from a few businesses but was overly impressed with Moo. A company based out of the UK with another office in RI. Their sample pack presentation was beautiful and really when you factor in what they offer in their pricing it’s really not that much more expensive than competitors (plus they were running a 25% off promo). 

I looked into going the cheaper route (or what I thought would be) and messing with Vista Print but they charged for everything, fee per uploaded file, backside print, etc. They did sucker me in at the checkout process when they started showing me additional products with my logo. Kudos for them for their marketing skills! I ended with 2 ink pens and then they offered me more bargains after I’d placed the order…so I bought another pen. It could have gotten out of control with t-shirts, coffee mugs, magnets, but I resisted. At least the pens will come in handy for jotting things down at the upcoming trade shows. 

So back to MOO…I placed my order on Wednesday 4/18 for 200 cards. 

They estimated I would receive it by 4/30. It shipped out yesterday 4/23, and will arrive USPS Priority 2-3 days.

Can’t wait to see them…and they arrive in a handy case…well worth every penny.