The big advantage of UV Sticker Printing is that this new press combines orange and red inks with Cyan Magenta, Yellow and blacK (CMYK full colour) inks to widely broaden the colour spectrum we can achieve compared to stickers printed with latex inks and on our flexo and offset sticker printing options.
VIDEO - Watch UV stickers being printed and cut!
We print these UV stickers in quantities as low as 100 stickers with the option to print different versions of art of the same shape and size in the same order. For example if you have 10 different designs at the same shape and size you can order 100 stickers with 10 versions at 10 each!
We currently offer these stocks for UV stickers;
Printed in full colour using cyan, magenta, yellow, black, (CMYK) plus orange and red inks with a matte appearance making them ideal for adding clear UV spot gloss to highlight specific areas of your sticker design with a glossy sheen.
Printed in CMYK+orange+red inks with or without white ink or simply choose white ink only.
With over 29 years of printing experience, fair prices and friendly customer support Clubcard has printed millions of stickers for clients around the globe and we look forward to working with you on your next sticker project.
]]>At Clubcard we've been printing hang tags since 1994 and we offer a full range of options to suit every budget, style and deadline. Print as few as 10 hang tags fast with our digitally printed hang tags, show off your sustainable approach with recycled and tree free hang tags and make the experience truly unique with custom shaped, die cut hang tags. Why not explore our most bespoke hang tag printing options with ultra thick three layered and laminated hang tags.
With so many options to choose from take some time to explore all hang tag printing options and request a free sample pack to see and feel the stocks you're interested in.
Here are some reasons why hang tags are essential for your business growth:
Hang tags provide an opportunity to showcase your brand and make it more recognizable. By using your brand colors, fonts, and logo on your hang tags, you can create a cohesive and memorable brand image that customers will associate with your business. This will help you stand out from the competition and increase brand recognition.
Hang tags are also a great way to provide customers with important information about your products. You can use them to highlight key features, benefits, and specifications of your products, as well as to provide care instructions and other relevant details. This can help customers make informed purchasing decisions and build trust in your brand.
Hang tags can also be used for marketing and promotional purposes. You can use them to advertise new products, promotions, and discounts, or to offer special deals and incentives to customers. This can help you attract new customers and increase sales.
Finally, hang tags can also be used to promote sustainability and eco-friendliness. By using recycled or sustainable materials for your hang tags, you can demonstrate your commitment to the environment and appeal to customers who are environmentally conscious.
Explore Recycled and Tree Free Hang Tag Printing
In conclusion, hang tags are an essential tool for unlocking the power of branding and growing your business. They provide a simple, yet effective way to enhance your brand, provide product information, promote your business and demonstrate your commitment to sustainability. By using hang tags strategically, you can create a strong and memorable brand identity that will help you stand out in a crowded marketplace and drive business growth.
]]>A well-placed photo can help convey your brand's message and create a sense of professionalism and trustworthiness. Here's why good photography is important when designing your business cards and other printed materials.
]]>By using high-quality, eye-catching photographs on your business cards or other printed materials, you can help to establish your brand's unique identity, build awareness and create desire. This can help to differentiate your business from competitors by creating a style and aesthetic of your own.
Well-placed photographs tell a story that conveys your message in a more effective and engaging way. We are visually driven and photographs are the best way to showcase your products, highlight your team members and create a connection with your audience.
Great photography conveys professionalism and attention to detail that indicates your brand is invested in quality and substance. We have all seen products online that use low-quality or poorly composed images and this diminishes the sense of trustworthiness and reliability that is crucial in today's competitive business environment.
Where can you find great free stock photos to use for your project? Here are a couple of our top websites to consider:
Unsplash is a popular website for free stock photos that are available for commercial use. With a wide variety of high-quality images, Unsplash is a great place to find the perfect photo for your business card or other printed materials.
Burst is a free stock photo platform by Shopify that offers a wide variety of images for commercial use. With new images added regularly, Burst is a great resource for finding high-quality photos to use on your projects.
Pexels is a free stock photo platform that offers a wide variety of images for commercial use. With a user-friendly interface and a wide variety of categories to choose from, Pexels is another great place to find the perfect photo.
Good photography can help to establish your brand's identity, tell a story, and create a sense of professionalism on your printed materials. With the abundance of free stock photo resources available online, there's no reason not to use high-quality images to enhance the effectiveness of your printed materials.
Take a shot of your printed items and post them on social media - just be sure tag us to be entered. Each different product photographed will be considered a separate entry.
Find us on Instagram Find us on Facebook Find us on Pinterest Find us on TwitterReview your past purchases on our website! Visit your past orders and review as many of those products as you like. Each product reviewed will be considered a separate entry.
VIEW YOUR PAST ORDERSOn Feb 27th we will randomly draw 2 winners - one for their social media post and one for their web review.
We can't wait to hear about and see all the cool projects you've printed with us!
The Clubcard Crew
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UPDATE FEB 27TH: Draw has been done and winners notified! Thank you to all who shared your reviews of your recent projects!
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Soft touch lamination provides a pleasant velvety peach-like element to the surface of your cards with a matte appearance. Soft touch lamination is widely used in custom packaging and elegant book covers.
Custom shape stickers are a great way to bring a new look to your brand with cut-to-shape logo stickers and unique packaging labels that catch the eye of new and existing clients. Custom shape stickers enhance your brand message and boost confidence in your product quality and desirability. Custom shape stickers are printed on a selection of stocks including glossy and matte uncoated paper, laminated weatherproof vinyl and polypropylene, kraft, gold and silver foil, and even fluorescent stocks.
EXPLORE CUSTOM SHAPE FLEXO STICKERS
Get a fresh new look and feel for your business cards, postcards, hang tags or any size card you need on this new 15pt coated card stock for projects that need vibrant and consistent colour. We offer ultra-quick printing times, as fast as the same day when you're in a hurry. You can even add lamination for extra style in gloss, matte, and soft touch lamination for a layer of protection that adds tactile stimulation.
Letterpress printing is a centuries old form of printing that generally leaves an impression or a "deboss" of your art and text on the paper stock. The handcrafted nature and supreme quality of letterpress printing paired with premium grade cotton and paper stocks makes letterpress printing the most elegant and luxurious option available. Discerning clients prefer letterpress printing for their business cards and name cards and is the unrivalled choice for wedding invitation packages. Utilizing a traditional platen letterpress merged with modern photopolymer plates created from digital files allows you to design freely with unlimited vector and typography elements.
When your business cards, postcards and hang tags need to exude substance and luxurious style, this extra thick 38pt Soft Touch laminated card stock is guaranteed to entice the senses with a matte velvet surface. Your artwork is printed in full colour in ultra HD quality on an offset printing press with unlimited bespoke finishing options that include custom shape die-cutting, gilded foil edges, foil stamping, embossing or debossing, high contrast UV spot gloss and painted card edges.
Whether you're producing limited edition gallery prints or decorating your office or shop, Clubcard's fine art printing services are made to exceed your highest expectations. All fine art printing is done with archival inks on your choice of archival and acid free stocks including our new Metallic Gloss and Metallic Luster Photo Papers that give an iridescence to your images. We've also introduced a new Canvas Photo Paper made with 100% alpha-cellulose fibres finished with a canvas texture that adds an extra dimension to your artwork. Clubcard brings 29 years of expertise to every project backed by our 100% satisfaction guarantee on every print!
Distinguishing your brand through values shared with your clients is a tested and true way to build brand loyalty. These 18pt thick Hemp Cards offer a tree free and renewable option for environmentally conscious brands and clients. This sustainable, forward-thinking FSC-certified hemp fibre card stock is made with green e-certified 100% renewable energy and processed without the use of chlorines leaving random strands of hemp fibres visible on your cards. Hemp stock is a truly green printing option for hang tags, business cards, postcards, rack cards and bookmarks offering an earth first, eco-friendly way to tell your brand story.
You don't need a hype man when you can literally pump-up metallic silver, gold or iridescent foil to create a raised 3D effect. Clubcard's raised foil business cards and postcards are printed in full colour on suede laminated card stock with your choice of raised foil. Raised foil cards provide stimulation to entice sight and touch for a full sensory engagement.
EXPLORE 19PT RAISED FOIL CARDS
Create luxuriously stunning cards of all types on incredibly thick 38pt smooth, matte uncoated card stock favoured among CEO's, wedding planners, event producers and luxury brands. The substantial thickness of these cards is surpassed only by the bespoke finishing options like embossing or debossing, painted or gilded foil edges, die cutting to any custom shape and foil stamping in a range of colours. 38pt smooth uncoated cards are printed in full colour on an offset press with ultra HD print quality with UV dry inks that ensure brilliant reproduction on the uncoated smooth surface. When you're looking for luxurious uncoated cards from small square cards and business cards to trading cards and postcards - this is the leader of the pack!
EXPLORE 38PT SMOOTH UNCOATED CARDS
After 29 years in the printing business, we can say without a doubt that people love to get stickers from brands they love. Maybe people love those brands because they gave them stickers. It's like the eternal question about the chicken vs the egg but in this case, you could just print a multiple sticker sheet with chickens and eggs and let the people decide which to use first. But seriously, printing sticker sheets with multiple different stickers is an excellent way to create fun and original promotional pieces for your brand. Your multiple stickers sheets are printed in full colour on weatherproof gloss or matte vinyl with permanent adhesive, ready for indoor and outdoor use.
EXPLORE MULTIPLE STICKER SHEETS
Building brand awareness is a matter of repetition and custom printed notepads are the perfect leave-behind gift everyone will use. What better way is there to keep your name on every desk? Clubcard custom prints your notepads in quantities as low as 10 notepads on recycled, bond or natural kraft papers in 25 or 50 sheet pads with a chipboard backer. We do suggest you have enough to share with everyone!
If your new year resolution includes being more organized and looking good, our custom printed presentation folders should be at the top of your list! Presentation folders keep every document just where it belongs with your brand and message right there with it. Clubcard prints as few as just 10 folders with one or two pockets and business card slits. When you're looking for more we offer folders on glossy and uncoated stocks with matte, silk or soft touch lamination with premium finishing options that include satin, matte or UV high gloss coatings plus spot gloss printing.
Explore Presentation Folder Printing
Demand for mounted signs continued to be strong in 2022 as facilities responded to the needs to close off showrooms, communicate social distancing protocols and to use as directional signs. With the ability to print mounted signs as small as 6” square on rigid board stocks many retail showrooms utilized small signs in point of purchase displays to help facilitate no contact sales. Clubcard prints mounted signs on white or reflective vinyl which is great for construction sites, exit signs and high visibility hazard signs.
Sandwich boards, aka A-Frame signs catch the eye of every customer on your street. And since your business has it's own style we offer several sizes from mini to tall signs that just won't be ignored. All of our A-Frame signs are made for life in the city using powder-coated steel and rubber coated handles. Your sandwich board order includes 2 interchangeable panels with your art printed on matte or reflective vinyl. Many clients print additional panels to keep your message fresh and new every day of the week.
Explore Sandwich Board Printing
Combining brilliant colour and HD quality print detail in really big sizes, large format posters are an affordable way to make a huge impact on your walls or windows. With several paper stocks to choose from, 8 colour wide format presses capable of printing huge posters and our rush 6 hour, 24 hour or standard 2-3 business day production times we are proud to have been able to help our clients communicate the new normal.
Explore Large Format Poster Printing
Clubcard offers a great selection of card stocks and finishing options for your hang tags to match the style and aesthetic of your product and brand. We offer cost effective small batch digital printing for orders starting at just 10 tags to premium offset printing on a range extra thick card stocks with optional foil stamping, embossing, debossing and custom shape die cutting.
Even if your brand is just starting up Clubcard's quality and variety ensures your tags look just like the big brands.
Postcards remain a staple of communication for artists, entrepreneurs, shops, marketers and brand managers. We offer a massive variety of card stocks to print your postcards on from light card stocks to multi layered, textured, kraft, tree free, recycled to ultra thick and laminated stocks. Elevating your design is easy with unlimited finishing options like foil stamping, spot gloss, embossing and debossing to custom shape die cut postcards.
Postcards are a great way to create product cards and hospitality cards to thank you notes, invitations, discount coupons to client follow up cards. The versatility of and variety of postcard printing options at Clubcard is meant to inspire every designer.
Where else can you print just one custom size book or zine on a variety of papers? Clubcard brings 28 years of book printing experience to your book printing project with our team always looking for ways ensure your books print perfectly. From comic books to looks book to calendars, catalogues and reports to funky artist zines we've developed an ever expanding variety of ways to let you put your story in print.
Explore Booklet & Zine Printing
Fine art printing is always near the top of the list so in 2022 Clubcard added several new stocks to choose from. All fine art prints are produced on our 8 colour fine art press capable of reproducing virtually any size artwork in stunning detail and vibrant colour. Our selection of archival inks and premium acid free or archival papers is part of the reason so many artists trust Clubcard for their gallery prints, limited edition prints and portfolio pages. The dedication and keen eye of our fine art team is what keeps clients coming back and what really makes us the trusted shop for our fine art clients.
From product labels and logo stickers to durable decals and bumper stickers Custom offers unlimited options to make your brand really stick. From short run vinyl stickers starting at just 10 stickers to premium laminated, foil stamped and embossed labels or consecutive number and barcode asset tags to tamper proof decals, Clubcard prints stickers for every application and environment. Whether you're an artist, entrepreneur or brand manager, stickers are key part of your branding strategy.
Everybody needs business cards and everybody wants their business cards to tell their own unique story. At Clubcard we've been curating a variety of card stocks and printing methods to fit every budget and every style. From custom shape die cut business cards to luxuriously thick uncoated, textured and laminated stocks with foil stamping, embossing or debossing to painted and gilded foil edges. Our mission is to be the one shop you can rely on to provide the best variety of options to allow you to design without limits.
Explore Business Card Printing
At Clubcard we offer a variety of printing techniques and finishing options to meet different budgets, timelines and artwork requirements. From offset and digital printing to letterpress, large format, web press and flexographic printing services.
We print a huge selection of products from business cards, postcards, brochures, hang tags and rack cards to paper fliers, fine art prints, presentataion folders and newpapers to books and zines. We offer a wide range of sticker printing options on a variety of stocks.
With nearly 3 decades of print experience and friendly customer service brought to every project big and small our team is proud to serve clients around the globe since 1994. We understand that we work in print all day every day and realize getting your files ready to print can be a challenge. With that in mind our in house art department checks every file to ensure your art prints perfectly and you're completely satisfied with your project.
Here's a description of each printing method we offer to help you can choose the best option for your project.
OFFSET PRINTING
Photo of a Heidelberg Speedmaster offset press
Offset presses are very large. In fact, a full colour press with special finishing options can be 40 feet + in length. Modern offset presses are marvels of technology and produce print work of incredible quality with amazing finishing options.
Offset press roller diagram
Offset Printing is a technique in which your artwork image is transferred through a series of ink reservoirs, solution fountains and rollers from a metal plate to a rubber blanket and then “offset” onto the printing surface. The process uses these rollers, plates and blankets to get the ink applied to the image carrier or "print areas" and a water based fountain solution applied to the "non-print" areas keeping them ink-free.
The press sheets for large offset printing presses range in size from 20 x 26 inches up to 20 x 40 inches and are not inexpensive to operate. For most small to midsize jobs like a run of 500 business cards or postcards it would not be cost effective to pay the set up and running costs of an offset press by yourself.
With this in mind, at Clubcard we offer "club run" printing to leverage the advantages of these large offset presses.
What is "Club Run" Printing?
"Club Run" printing combines your print job with those of several other cleints at the same time (usually 40-60 different jobs). By offering standard stocks and set quantity print runs we gain efficiency while passing along the savings of the shared cost of set-up, printing and trimming to everyone on the shared press run.
Club-Run printing is where the Clubcard name originated! The club run printing process requires a window of time to compile, map and position all the files on the sheet, conductfile checks for all jobs and pre-press technical procedures before making the printing plates (the pre-press phase). We then print, dry and trim each job with production times ranging from 4 business days up to 12 business days.
It's is very important to choose a production time that meets your deadline when placing your order. Once your job is mapped and positioned on a club run, it is not possible to change the ready time or cancel your order.
Colour Considerations On Club Run Printing.
When we print several jobs on a shared "club run" press sheet, we adjust the colour globally to get the best overall results for all of the jobs on that sheet. This means the colour of club run printed items will vary from traditional colour swatch books and colour will also vary on future re-prints.
With these factors in mind, colour critical jobs are not suited to the club-run printing method. We suggest choosing one of our digital or indigo printing options when colour fidelity is a critical part of your project. We also welcome custom estimate requests for colour critical projects.
Custom Project Offset Printing
We welcome custom, bespoke offset printing services via our online request form. Custom offset pricing reflects the fact your project will be produced to your unique specifications without the cost saving benefits of club run printing or shared set up and running costs. Custom offset printing is well suited to large quantity and unique finishing options.
Digital Printing
Image of a Digital Printing Press
Digital Printing is a process that sends a digital image of your artwork via specialized image processing computers to industrial grade lasers that fire electrically charged coloured toners onto the stock you have selected for your project. Because lasers and toner are used to print directly on the stock, there is no need for plates to be created making digital printing a versatile and cost effective printing method ideal for projects that require rush printing, small quantities and multple versions of art printed at the same time.
At Clubcard, we use environmentally safe polymer based toners to print your image in full colour using Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black and optional White toners. Toner does not permeate the stock. Instead, it forms in a thin layer on the surface.
Digital printing has the lowest environmental impact of any printing process.
Indigo Printing
HP Indigo press crosscut diagram
Indigo Printing is a hybrid print process that is produced on a Hewlett Packard Indigo press (HP Indigo). The Indigo printing process encompasses the advantages of digital printing with near offset print quality. There are no metal plates required as a digital image of your artwork is sent to a photoconductor that transfers liquid toner ink to a heated offset blanket, which then transfers the wet ink/toner to the stock being printed. Indigo printing uses environmentally safe liquid toner to produce your image in full colour using Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black and optional White. Many of the stocks offered with indigo printing are 100% recycled or tree free for sustainable printing.
Letterpress Printing
Photo of a lettterpress printing press
Letterpress printing refers to a technique of printing that creates an impression in the paper. Invented by Johannes Gutenberg in the 15th century, letterpress printing ranks as one of the most revolutionary disruptive technologies in history and became the standard form of mass printing until the introduction of offset presses in the 19th century.
Here's an excellent video from "Timeline" hosetd by Stephen Fry outlining just how important Gutenberg's press was at the time and the process of making and using a Gutenberg press much like the orignal.
The process involves an ink fountain reservoir filled with inks that feed into a fountain roller wiped by a fountain blade that reduces and varies the ink flow. A ductor-roller transfers ink to the main ink plate where the ink is imprinted onto the stock being printed.
Letterpress inks are thick and paste-like, similar to those used in offset printing. While most of us associate letterpress printing with a deep impression left in the stock where ink is applied, the true test of the skill of a letterpress operator is to print ink with no impression shown on the stock.
At Clubcard, we are proud to be part of the revival of this beautiful art form, continuing this age old printing tradition with a modern twist.
Flexography Printing
Flexographic press photo by Nicolejonesti - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
Flexographic sticker printing aka flexo or flexography printing, is a modern process derived from the letterpress printing method using a mirrored 3D image of your artwork created on a polymer rubber plate. This three dimensional aspect allows the image areas that will be printed to be raised above the non-image areas on the plate. The ink is transferred through a series of rollers in order of the the fountain roller, anilox roller, ductor blade, plate cylinder and impression cylinder to imprint the image on the stock.
Flexographic press roller diagram; IMAGE By ECTran71 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,
Before sticker printing begins, the sticker stock is wound onto a roll that is mounted to the press, fed under tension through the press and sandwiched between the plate cylinder and the impression cylinder where the final image is printed onto the stock. (If you have ever loaded film into a projector, it is a similar idea).
In the final step, the printed stock passes through a dryer so the inks are cured prior to any extra steps like foil stamping, cutting to shape or laminating. The roll is then rewound and taken off the press on rolls or cut into single stickers.
Latex Ink Vinyl Sticker Printing
We produce weather-resistant vinyl stickers on a large format piezo ink jet printer that uses CMYK full colour latex inks. Latex inks are safe for the environment, the health of our employees and our clients.
Latex ink printing emits no volatile organic compounds and the resulting prints are waterproof, making the process ideal for vinyl sticker and banner printing that can be used outdoors without the need for lamination.
These vinyl stickers are then cut to standard or custom shapes that are supplied on sheets or indivodually cut.
Here's A Video Showinh How Latex Ink Vinyl Stickers Are Printed
Large Format Printing
Just like the name says, the large format printing method is suited to large size prints and is ideal for photographic reproduction on a variety of stocks. Large format printing is commonly referred to as wide format printing or giclee printing.
At Clubcard we produce large format prints using an 8 color process printer with specialized jets that spray ink onto the stock to create vibrant photorealistic images on photo and poster papers.
Fine Art Printing
Fine Art Printing is ideal for limited edition art prints, canvas printing and archival quality prints for gallery exhibits and portfolio pieces. Your work is printed using a special 8 color ink press to achieve a a wide color gamut range of vivid and vibrant colors. Clubcard offers a variety of archival art paper stocks and artist canvas to choose from.
Trees are essential sources of nourishment and shelter.
Trees have a symbiotic relationship with every being on the planet providing food, oxygen, shelter and medicine, converting carbon dioxide into the oxygen we breathe.
According to the US Department of Agriculture “One acre of forest absorbs six tons of carbon dioxide and produces four tons of oxygen; enough to sustain the annual needs of 18 people.”
Elephants, koalas and giraffes rely on tree leaves as a source of sustenance and nourishment. Flowered and fruit trees sustain monkeys, birds, bats, bees and insects with nectars and fruit while providing safety and shelter from predators.
Clubcard is committed to providing conserving and sustainable printing options that reduce and eliminate damage to global forests. By reducing the reliance on trees for single use applications we are taking a vital step to ease our burden on the planet.
Clubcard Printing is proud to provide a great selection of premium recycled, post consumer content, bamboo and hemp stocks for your projects. Together we can strengthen our brands in ways that reduce our impact on global forests and look beautiful in the process!
Check Out These Recycled & Tree Free Sustianable Choices At Clubcard.
12pt Desert Storm Kraft Card Stock
This 100% recycled card stock is 12 points thick with a colour much like desert sand providing an earthy organic appeal to your art. Clubcard prints desert storm cards in full colour plus optional white ink in small to large sizes including postcards, rack cards, hang tags, greeting cards and business cards. We even print posters and card stock brochures on this 100% recycled card stock with fast 1-2 day printing times.
15pt Uncoated Card Stock
This bright white 100% recycled card stock has a smooth uncoated surface and is made from post-consumer content fibers recovered during the recycling process. Post consumer content means no new trees are cut to make your cards - they're actually living a second life! Clubcard prints these 100% recycled cards in a range of sizes from small squares and business cards to hang tags, postcards, rack cards and greeting cards with fast 4 business day and rush printing times.
16pt Bamboo Card Stock
16 point Bamboo cards are a tree free stock made with a mix of 90% sustainable bamboo fibers, (the fastest growing plant on earth) to provide strength with 10% cotton fibres providing softness to these elegant cards. Bamboo cards have a subtly textured surface much like watercolour paper. Clubcard prints bamboo cards in a range of sizes with fast 4 business day and rush printing times.
18pt Hemp Card Stock
18pt thick hemp card stock is a Forest Stewardship Council certified, tree free stock with a natural white hue that is enhanced with visible hemp fibre strands. Hemp card stock is made using green e-certified 100% renewable energy and processed without the use of chlorines. Clubcard prints hemp cards in a range of sizes including business cards, postcards, greeting cards and hang tags on a 4 business day printing time.
24pt Chipboard Card Stock
This brown kraft chipboard card stock is a hefty 24 points thick and is made from 100% post consumer, recycled fibres. Post consumer stocks are incredibly earth friendly chipboard as they are made from fibres of stock already printed on, recycled and made into second generation stock. This chipboard stock is printed in full colour with optional spot white ink as a white back up to boost colour or printed alone as striking white elements and is a client favourite for business cards, trading cards, hang tags, postcards and rack cards that have an earthy, organic appeal.
Clubcard Vancouver has a 27 year history of printing for small business owners, artists and eco-conscious designers. Let's get your project on press today!
Graphic designers understand not everything is #000000 & #FFFFFF so here are some colourful ideas to enhance your income flow.
Grab a cuppa and settle in for a few tips from a design team in the business for over 27 years. You're talented, you’re smart, people like you and if you're not good looking, you know how to use photoshop!
You may have been brow-beaten by clients who feel "exposure" is a form of payment and question the value you bring to the table. Whether you've have had a formal education or honed your design ability through real life experience you have a creative vision and bring high value technical skills to the table.
Take heart designers and in the words of the iconic Tim Gunn, Designers, make it work!
We've learned over the years that clients who question what a designer brings to the table may need to learn the hard way that their nephew using MS Word and sites like "fiver"cranking out cheap knock offs will never replace a graphic designer. You bring the multi layered value of styling a brand one pixel at a time to visual and technical perfection.
Much like the mechanic with a car that always needs work, we seem to forget the need to do be our own best representation of our style so here are some tips to build your business by building your own brand.
1. Build a website that showcases your work with curated pages of real life work you've done for clients. Don't have enough client work to showcase? New designers and those new to freelancing wont have a lot to show so get busy creating mind work for fictional dream clients. We find that industry specific artwork and case studies lead to engagement as you give new clients confidence that you understand their specific needs.
2. Print Business Cards and carry them at all times, we met one of our first clients in an elevator and that business cards was all we had to engage them. Design and print the very best business card you can afford - your investment will be returned with your first clients! Clubcard offers Canada's very best selection of business cards to fit every budget and every style.
3. Create your own product line! We've seen a massive rise in artists and designers selling their original designs with fine art prints, shirts, mugs and a range of products. We have several clients who supplement their income with fine art print sales at booths, on their own sites and sites like ETSY. It's easy to create your own fine art prints at Clubcard
4. Become a reseller with Clubcard Printing - Clubcard was founded by 2 graphic designers in 1994 so who else would you trust with your designs? Reselling provides your clients with a full service from design to print with a 20% discount off our online price that you keep as a part of your income flow that adds value and simplicity fro your client's. Don't delay, sign up today!
5. Yard Sale! Turn the lemons of rejected client work into lemonade. That cool pitch you made may have flown over their heads but that doesn't mean you need to trash it. Creating stock templates let's you get paid every time your work is sold on stock image sites - read more on this https://www.awwwards.com/top-websites-where-designers-can-sell-their-works.html
6. Get local - Find local Business Improvement Associations formed to promote and support local businesses. Just about every neighbourhood has a business association and many have budgets to design and print everything from event fliers to street banners and annual reports. Becoming the designer of choice for these groups exposes you to the board of directors who are business owners as all of the small business owners in the area of coverage.
7. Know your worth! Lowballing devalues not just your work but the work of all designers. You bring talent and skill to the table and if a client can't see that - it's time to say goodbye. If you decide to reduce your bill or donate your time ato a cause you believe in be sure to send an invoice for the full amount you would have charged with the amount zeroed out or reduced. Graphic designers charge between $75 to $300 per hour as of 2022 with $100 per hour being the current average. Here’s a great resource for determining your rate for design work https://mirandamarquit.com/tips-for-setting-rates-as-a-freelance-graphic-designer/
8. Enter design contests. Here is a time when working for free can really pay off. Many communities ask for the design of logos, street banners and marketing materials via competitions, and in some case the winner recicves a stipend. There are also Internationally acclaimed design competitions that can propel you to global acclaim like these https://graphiccompetitions.com/multiple-disciplines
9. Get listed on Google! Local searches for graphic designers will be your bread and butter but unless your website has amazing SEO or you are very new you have an uphill on your hands. Here's a great workaround, create a Google Business Page. Check out this video showing you how https://youtu.be/1D9faRLZN8s
10. Volunteer For A worthy Cause! One way to gain traction in your community is to offer your services to a charitable cause you believe in. Not only will you help that organization with your skills, you should get a good shout out on social media, the attention of the board of directors can parly into work beyond the charity.
This video and written tutorial outlines how to export a print ready PDF file from Adobe Illustrator. This video is made using Adobe Illustrator but is the same steps in earlier or later versions of Adobe Creative Suite - Adobe CS
Once your layout is complete go to the File menu and Save As.
In the dialogue box you will select Adobe PDF as the File Type, enter the name of your file and click save.
Now, in the PDF dialogue, under General select Illustrator Default as the Adobe PDF Preset.
VERY IMPORTANT on Compression, ensure you are not down-sampling anything. Ensure each dialogue box reads Do Not Down-sample.
MARKS & BLEEDS - click the Marks and Bleeds tab, check the Trim Marks box and for Offset enter 0.125. This ensures your crop marks will be outside of the bleed area. Ensure the 'Use Document Bleed Settings' box is checked and confirm your document is setup with a 0.125" bleed on all sides.
Now click 'Save PDF'. You now have a print ready PDF setup in Adobe Illustrator.
Welcome to the Clubcard Printing Graphic Design School. This tutorial with supporting video lays out the steps to set up a card that will be due cut to a custom shape in Adobe Illustrator.
The very first thing we need to do is creating the art board. In this tutorial we are die-cutting a business card, so we will set the art board at 2” x 3.5" plus an 1/8" for bleed. Check to ensure your raster effects resolution is set to at least 300dpi and that the colour mode is CMYK. Once the file opens, we can start laying out our artwork.
A good second step is to save your file so you don’t lose your work. We have a habit of saving often as this ensures there is an up-to-date version of your work in case you wish to go back to that point or in the event of computer problems.
We are now ready to start setting up the business card artwork. We already have artwork so we drop that into the design on a layer we have named “FRONT”. At this step you can setup the art as you would for any design.
Once the front side of the card is laid out the next step is to indicate the custom shape die cut. The die cut line (aka die line) has to be saved on a separate layer and set to 100% black ink for the "stroke".
With this design, we want to cut to the shape of our Clubcard Peace Guy character in the center of the card. We can see there is no bleed on this art so we need to have a 1/8” margin between the artwork and the dieline.
We use this card as hang tag and have included a hole, in this case the size of the hole is 1/8” in diameter which is our minimum hole size.
Please Note: If you intend on having a bleed on the front side of your cards, the art must extend 1/8” past the dieline.
Ok the front of the card is set up so we will hide both of these front layers and create a new layer for the Back side of the card and a die line for the back.
We'll bring in the die line for the back of the card, keep in mind that the die line shape will be a mirrored version of the shape on the back of the card. The artwork on the backside will also be mirrored, so you need to flip the image when setting up your file. This is easy to do - select your object (artwork) go to the Object menu, select Transform and then select reflect and be sure to reflect the image vertically.
Now it's time to bring in your artwork for the back side of the card. You same steps however make sure that you’ve kept all important graphics and text a safe distance (1/8”) away from the die line and be sure to extend any art that will bleed 1/8” past the dieline. There is a small degree of fluctuation during printing and cutting and this ensures, no critical text or graphics get cut off.
We are now ready to save our files for print. Go up to the File menu and select save as then choose save as PDF. Each layer must be exported individually and labelled correctly so the printer can confirm the files during file checking. For the front file we will hide all the other layers and export a PDF with only the elements meant to print on the front. We will name the front CMYK layer: Diecut_Front.pdf
For the die line layer, we only need the layer for the die line. The die line needs to be sent as 100% black to help us separate this layer out of the print file - please make sure nothing else is on that layer before you export. You only need to submit a die line for the front. The back die line is only needed during your file setup for a visual reference to when placing your artwork. We will name the front die line layer Diecut_Front-dieline.pdf
Save the backside using the same steps as the front side and name it: Diecut_Back.pdf.
Voila our files all setup for die cutting and ready to send to print, be sure to check out all of the die cut card printing options we offer at Clubcard.
For more information on the proper PDF settings, please check out our tutorial on “How to Create a Print Ready PDF File in Illustrator”.
Clubcard Vancouver offers a huge selection of card stocks to print your cards, brochures, posters and presentation folders on. With so many choices we are often asked "Which card stock will work best for my project?" This is the first question to ask before you begin your design process as your card stock choice will determine how your colours look and which printing methods are available.
The three main categories of card stocks are coated, uncoated and laminated card stocks, with some variations of coated one side stocks (aka C1S stock) that combine the qualities of coated and uncoated card stocks on one card.
*traditionally postcards are printed on coated one side card stocks allowing vibrant colour on the front coated side for photos and graphics while the uncoated back is a perfect matte surface to write messages on.
Quick summary coated card stocks have more vibrant colour compared to uncoated and laminated card stocks which have a matte appearance and softer, muted colour reproduction. We will go deep in detail further on but this would be the main decision factor for most designers.
Coated card stocks are finished with a smooth sealed surface with a low luster sheen that provides a surface that doesn't allow inks to absorb into the stock. This coated surface provides more precise image reproduction and brighter colours when compared to uncoated and matte laminated card stocks.
Coated card stocks can have a low lustre or dull sheen with the option to add a clear high gloss UV coating that floods the entire card surface or as a spot gloss where this clear coating (AKA varnish) is only printed in the specific areas you designate in your design file.
STAFF TIP - We do not recommend coated card stocks if you want to write on your cards but we do offer card stocks that are coated on one side. Read more about coated one side card stocks below.
Uncoated card stocks have a matte appearance with a more natural look and feel compared to coated card stocks. The biggest design factor when printing on uncoated card stocks is that ink tends to absorb into the uncoated surface which mutes the colours to a more subtle hue. Clubcard offers uncoated card stocks printed on our digital, offset and letterpress options and each option has a different degree of ink absorption. For example, uncoated cards printed on our digital press are printed with dry toner which does not absorb at all on the stock, so we don't recommend prit=ntng cards with heavy coverage on this option as you won't get the uncoated look and feel of the stock.
As mentioned earlier, Postcards are traditionally printed on coated one side card stock as this is a hybrid stock, coated on one side, usually the image side and uncoated on the other for writing messages. You can print full color artwork on both sides of coated one side stocks but the coated side lends itself to richer colours.
Many clients ask for matte card stock but we should clarify that matte cards generally refer to a card that has no or low sheen, so even a coated card stock may have a matte appearance. Most laminated cards are considered to have a matte appearance, so in general if you want cards with no amount of shine we suggest uncoated or laminated card stocks.
Laminated card stocks start out as coated or uncoated stocks that are printed and then laminated on both sides with a layer of silk, soft touch or suede laminate. Laminated cards usually have muted colour compared to other card stocks. Clubcard offers a range of unique finishing options on laminated stocks including flat and raised foils and uv spot gloss printing.
At Clubcard we measure the thickness of card stocks in points to make it easier for you to decide on how thick your cards will be. You will see us refer to points in an abbreviated form of "pt". Points refer to the thickness in inches so a 14 point card stock aka measures out to 14/1000 of an inch in thickness. The quick rule of thumb is that the higher the points number is the thicker the card stock will be. You may be used to seeing card stocks referred to in GSM weights. We use the measurement of points instead to keep it simple.
We've been in the printing business since 1994 and printed millions of cards for clients around the globe. As a print shop founded by graphic designers our mission is to ensure your cards print exactly the way you envision them. Every order is checked by our in-house designers for technical correctness with an eye on the design aesthetic. We strive to print every project to perfection and we recommend keeping these factors in mind when you design your cards;
• Choose your colours using a swatch book for the stock you will print on.
• Never rely on your computer screen to choose your colours, every screen is different and the combination of stock and print method cannot be factored into screen calibrations.
• Cards with UV coatings will have brighter, more saturated colours.
• Uncoated stocks produce subdued, muted colours that may appear dull compared to those printed on a coated card stock.
• We offer several types of lamination at Clubcard. Lamination will change the overall hue of your cards including the final colours.
Take the guesswork out of your decision and get a free sample pack at our shop or sent to you in the mail so you can see and feel the stocks you're interested in before you design and order your cards! GET YOUR FREE SAMPLE PACK
With all of these choices, the best way to make the right decision is to request a free sample pack so you can see and feel the stocks and decide the best stock for your cards.
]]>This free tutorial with supporting video from Clubcard Printing outlines the steps to setup a print ready business card file in Adobe Illustrator with embossed (raised) elements .
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Welcome to The Clubcard design school! This tutorial with supporting video outlines the steps to setup a print ready business card file in Adobe Illustrator with embossed (raised) elements .
Step one is to create your art board and as we are embossing a business card in this tutorial our art board needs to 3.5" x 2" plus an 1/8" for bleed. When setting up ensure your raster effects resolution is set to at least 300dpi and you are working in CMYK colour mode.
Once this is done we are ready to start the artwork layout.
Second step - save your file! Save often it's a great way to have a return point at every step and avoids the stress of losing your work in the event of a glitch. Saving your work in stages ensures you have an up to date version to fall back to if needed.
Step three - Start setting up your artwork. For this tutorial we already have some artwork ready and we drop that into the artboard. At this stage we are designing the same way we would for any business card.
When the front side of our card is laid out, step four is to indicate what area will be embossed. Art that will be embossed needs to be supplied on a separate layer in the file in 100% black ink.
In this case we want our Clubcard Peace character in the center of the card to be embossed. We create an exact copy of the character and set it to 100% black ink. This way you can see exactly where the embossing will occur.
Step five - create a separate layer for this embossed element. Click on the new layer button in your layer window. Copy and paste this into the new layer. The front art and embossed element are now visible in their layers.
Nice work, the front of your business card is set-up! Let's start on the back of the card.we'll bring in the artwork for the back of the card and here are 2 vital tips to remember when designing.
1) whatever is embossed (raised) on the front of a card will be debossed (indented) on the back of the card. *At Clubcard we do print multiple layered cards that hide this effect.
2) Also keep in mind that the embossed element will be mirrored on the reverse of the card - so be sure to flip the image on the reverse when designing so you can ensure important graphics and text are not in the embossed/debossed area.
Good news! You're almost ready to print your cards at Clubcard. The final step is saving your files.
Go up to the File menu, select save as, and save as a PDF.
Export each layer individually and label them correctly.
For the front file - hide all the other layers and export a PDF with only the elements meant to print on the front.
Here we will name the front CMYK layers Front_CMYK.pdf and it will look like this:
Now for the embossed layer, we only want to show the layers we will be embossing. Reemmber this layer needs to be saved as 100% black, this is how we create the die!
Be sure nothing else is included in this layer before you export, in our case it will look like this:
The back side is printed in full colour and will be named Back_CMYK.pdf. and will look like this:
Hey there studious one - these files are setup for embossing and ready for print. Yay!
Congratulations - it's time to order your very own Embossed Business Cards here
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