If you are in the process of choosing a business printing service, in my opinion there are a few factors that you should consider before you can make an educated decision:

Printing Quality:
One of the main concerns when ordering business stationary is the quality of the finished products; after all you want stationary that represents what your company stands for and that you are not ashamed to send out to your clients and business partners. A quality printing company, will not just try and satisfy their customers – a quality commitment should mean that all business contacts with the company, even those to suppliers and sub-contractors should be professional and of a high standard.

Good Customer Service:
Good customer response times certainly constitute part of a quality service. But not just the timeliness of a response is important, the quality of the reply is too.

Good Printing Value:
Money does not always guarantee you high quality and vice versa. You should have a look around and get an understanding for what the best prices are. If you are planning on getting a stationary bundle this might get you a good discount in comparison to buying your business cards, letterheads and other stationary separately.

Printing Speed:
Sometimes in business, speed is of the essence. Having a printer that can deliver a 24 hr turnaround on their printing orders provides you with flexibility and less planning related admin. You do not want to have to worry about your stationary when you have money to make!

Convenience:
Does your printer have a website and online ordering facilities? If not try a printer that does, and see what difference it makes to the ease of ordering your company stationary online.

Suitability for your needs:
Does your printer have the products you are after? Do you like the materials they use? Does the finished product look as you would like it to and do they help you out with any design questions you might have?

Printer Location:
Where are your printers located? It is always good to know where they are as it gives you an idea of who you are dealing with.

Environmental Friendliness:
This is connected to the locality of the service, as if you order your stationary from another continent, obviously this will create a larger carbon footprint than if the finished printing products do not have to travel very far too reach you. Do they offer recycled products and environmentally friendly inks? Not only will this consideration give you a good conscience, it will also make an impression on your business partners, clients or customers.

I believe that business cards have an important role to play, both in private and in business circles, as after all, they represent an introduction to who you are and what you stand for! Business cards represent part of our identity!

To demonstrate what I mean, here is an example: For me there are few TV scenes as memorable (especially ones that involve business cards!) as the “American Psycho” business card scene – the high flying investment banking executives of this New York company comparing their not so cheap business cards! In my opinion, this scene showcases a prime example of fine acting, something I am not so surprised about seen that it comes from Christian Bale.

If you don’t know what I am talking about, just check it out for yourself (click on the image below):

If you want to find some nice design ideas on the web you do not have to go far. The title of this website for example was taken from the above mentioned film scene: “It even has a watermark“. They understand the importance of image and have therefore dedicated their website to the display of a variety of exciting business cards. You can check out their various sections ranging from creative to custom business cards. And if you have a business card design that you yourself are proud of – why not upload it and add to the collection?

If you are not a design aficionado and just a mere mortal, I believe that this is a good place to start and look for some inspiration before you decide on your next business card design! In our custom business card section you can upload your own creative artwork and be your own designer! Try it out – just decide between gloss, silk or pulp material and add your own artwork- an easy way to get completely individual and cheap business cards!

But do you have to spend a lot of money to get a product that looks good? Not all of us are investment bankers - and even investment bankers are selling their posh pads and toning down their business cards! Of course there are limits to what you can do with a certain budget but we believe that business cards from Solopress will make you look good for less and not just image is important – your wallet is too!

Solopress.com would like to welcome you to our new website, we have tried to make the site as informative and helpful as possible.  Solopress are very proud of our new website, but it would be fantastic to gauge the opinion of our users, so please submit your views and thoughts as a comment.

The new Solopress website should make is easy for you to place and order, to check our latest delivery times and to find information on our product range, which to name a few include:

• Business Cards
• Leaflet Printing
• Flyers
• Posters

For any questions you have about our products our live help team should be able to provide the answers, and help guide you to the correct product for your needs.

I would like to welcome you to the Solopress Print and Design blog. As experts in printing we are very proud of the knowledge we have of business cards, leaflet printing and flyer printing. Solopress will be updating this blog on a regular basis to share our printing expertise and to discuss our own thoughts, however random and off topic they may be. From time to time, you will also find we show off some of our latest in-house artwork, we may even use this artwork to poke a little fun at ourselves.