Pressed
A notebook entry published on January 4, 2007
With a new logo, comes new business cards. I’d used Dependable Letterpress for a previous run of cards and was really pleased with the quality, service, etc. Today, the new cards arrived, and I’m just as happy with the results. Highly recommend them, but be warned that it’s not a quick and cheap option.
Nothing beats seeing the art and type stamped into thick card stock, with visible embossing from the weight of the plates (more evidence of letterpressing awesomeness here). It’s also reassuring to see the flexibility of the new vector-based logo in action. Smooooove.
Garrett Murray → maniacalrage.net
Looks great, Dan. That logo is so simple and so effective… and those colors! Well done.
Jonathan → www.greencracker.com
The photo of your new cards makes me want to reach out and touch them! I can almost hear the presses running pressing the ink onto the paper itself. And the smell of a freshly printed product is wonderful.
Liam
Dan,
Letterpress maybe old school, but it still very classy. The look, the feel, the texture.
Sometimes old ways are still great and viable, like a classic 1940’s b/w movie (think Bogart).
They did an awesome job. Maybe I’ll get mine done this way too.
Nice Job!!!
Jonathan E → www.reinspire.net
Dan, those look awesome! Perhaps I could snatch one from you (or at least see it up close) at Web Directions in February?
Amit Karmakar → karmakars.com
Well done Dan. They do really look good.
Brian → www.influx-media.com
Very nice indeed. I like the new logo too. Dan, do you mind if I ask about what did you spend to have those pressed and what quantity? Im curious.
Jorge → www.jorgeq.com
You’ve done it again Dan! Simplicity and beauty at it’s best.
zzap → zzaps.com
Wow, those cards really do look nice!
Hunox → www.hunox.ca
Very, very slick! I really like the black bits on the paper stock as well.
Ranjani → www.biscuitrat.trap17.com
I love the texture of the cards and the impressions. Too many business cards are just pieces of flat pieces of colored paper, but these are fun and elegant at the same time - what a wonderful innovation on the concept of business cards!
Shim → www.chossonandkallah.com
Wow, Dan, that looks really great! I like not less than others!
Actually, sorry for this, but is there any way I can have one your business card?
Stijn De Lathouwer → www.defunkt.nu
They look great. Letterpress is perfect fr this kind of project. My grandfather used to have an old letterpress in a shed in his back yard. He was a retired lettersetter who printed small amounts of bussines cards etc.. I always was very fascinated by the big machine hissing and puffing to get things printed.
It’s great to see such a revival of these old thechniques in modern projects.
Lucian → tribolum.com/
Holy sweetness. I know this sounds a little ridiculous, but just looking at the card I feel inclined to fly halfway round the globe to An Event Apart just so I can get myself an autographed Simplebits namecard.
Stefan
The cards look awesome, especially the new logo. It really is a versatile logo, it gives a lot of space for color play.
Too bad I live so far away that I can’t get one of them myself.
Jason Santa Maria → www.jasonsantamaria.com
Lookin’ sweet, Dan. We’ll have to trade letterpress cards!
Alex → www.digital-hearth.com
Analog technologies of print making such as letterpressing, silk-screening, and etching are so much nicer and tangible than methods like offset or laser printing. Much more frustrating and time-consuming, of course, but it shows in the end.
My band recently released our first cd, and we letterpressed and glued all of the recycled cardboard covers by hand. Setting tiny type backward is a chore but it’s pleasing to see the results of your handiwork. We made a polymer plate of the sandhill crane artwork, pressed the cranes in white, the type in blue, and painted the red crane heads on with little brushes. It took us around 4 days to do 1000 and it was well worth it. Results here.
Andrew M → www.visualremedies.com
It sounds like you’re turning into a bit of a print designer. In general it’s nice to see Web Designers creating graphics that end up in print form. Historically it’s been print work, especially identity, being applied to the web.
Your business card looks great and must feel “hand-crafted” with the emossed printing.
Dan Cederholm → simplebits.com
Thanks, all!
@Jason - a trade would be most excellent :)
@Alex - Fantastic work. I have a soft spot for letterpressed music packaging. Hand-crafted goodness.
Vernon → vernonkesner.com
Dan - Your card looks great and the colors are amazing!
Adrian → www.shiftingcreations.com
Very nice! Loving the new logo.
Paul Thiel → alifeofrhyme.blogspot.com/
A really nice logo, and one that seems to transcend mediums with elegance. I loved the photo of the new business cards; again, extremely classy. If you use business cards somewhat infrequently, I’d opt for quality over quantity every time.
Jeff Mackey
Spooky weird.. I was just reading up on the previous post on your logo and site redesign, and was wondering about your choice of business card printer, etc. And here you are posting about it. :)
They look awesome. As does the site. Thanks for the inspiration!
Seth → sublog.subimage.com
Wow really nice! Any info on the file / format used to set this up? I’d like to get some pressed as well…
Viking KARWUR → www.vikingkarwur.com
Yup… cool design… nice one…
Fernando Lins → www.fernandolins.com
It looks very nice. I’d like to see them full though, to see how the text is distributed.
Sean
Hey Dan, compliments on the new logo and the cards! I really like the embossing; looks very professional. Nice job!
Ben → deraill.com
Wow, that is sweet.
SimpleBits is part of the injection of mature design into the web, and I’m excited every time I see physical artifacts birthed back out.
Incubation: complete.
Kerwyn
Great card! I love the design. Keep up the good work and may God bless you for the year 2007.
Alex → www.ozga.co.uk
This really does highlight just how versatile your new logo is, as well as simple and iconic. Well done on creating such a simple and effective design!
lewro → www.lewro.com
Excelent work! The most beautyfull thinks looks simple even you might spend hours movings components by milimeters and adjusting colours for hours. Well done.
Ian Atkinson → www.ianatkinson.net
Nice! Have you seen American Psycho….
BATEMAN
New card. What do you think?
McDermott lifts it up and examines the lettering carefully.
McDERMOTT
Whoa. Very nice. Take a look.
He hands it to Van Patten.
BATEMAN
Picked them up from the printers yesterday
VAN PATTEN
Good coloring.
BATEMAN
That’s bone. And the lettering is something called
Silian Rail.
McDERMOTT
(Envious)
Silian Rail?
VAN PATTEN
It is very cool, Bateman. But that’s nothing.
He pulls a card out of his wallet and slaps it on the
table.
VAN PATTEN
Look at this.
They all lean forward to inspect it.
PRICE
That’s really nice.
Bateman clenches his fists beneath the table, trying to
control his anxiety.
VAN PATTEN
Eggshell with Romalian type.
(Turning to Bateman)
What do you think?
BATEMAN
(Barely able to breath, his voice a croak)
Nice.
PRICE
(Holding the card up to the light)
Jesus. This is really super. How’d a nitwit like you get so
tasteful?
Bateman stares at his own card and then enviously at
McDermott’s.
BATEMAN (V.O.)
I can’t believe that Price prefers McDermott’s card to mine.
PRICE
But wait. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
He holds up his own card.
PRICE
Raised lettering, pale nimbus white…
BATEMAN
(Choking with anxiety)
Impressive. Very nice. Let’s see Paul Owen’s card.
Price pulls a card from an inside coat pocket and holds it
up for their inspection: “PAUL OWEN, PIERCE & PIERCE,
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS.” Bateman swallows, speechless.
The sound in the room dies down and all we hear is a faint
heartbeat as Bateman stares at the magnificent card.
BATEMAN (V.O.)
Look at that subtle off-white coloring. The tasteful thickness
of it. Oh my God, it even has a watermark…
His hand shaking, Bateman lifts up the card and stares at it
until it fills the screen.
He lets it fall. The SOUND RETURNS TO NORMAL.
CARRUTHERS Is something wrong? Patrick…you’re sweating.
CEDERHOLM
That’s nothing, my logo is vector now :)
Rocketeer → rocketeer.za.net
This should really give your clients a good impression of your business. I think that the overall design of the card adds more credibility to the message you’re trying to send out and gives it a confident feel.
Terry Apodaca → www.terryapodaca.com/
Nice. I like it.
fulvio → www.gotnull.com
They look great!
= )
Roland → my.webinform.at
Logo design certainly isn’t easy but that looks really good!
Chet → www.smashingdir.com
Consider me impressed, I love how it looks like the card still has texture, and the pressed part is inset. Could easily emulate a web logo :)
JB Maestroe
I’m sold, Letterpress all the way!
Stef Grindley
Damn they look beautiful.
Comments have been closed for this entry.
A tiny web design studio founded by designer and author Dan Cederholm. We deliver hand-crafted pixels & text from Massachusetts, USA. Learn more
Bulletproof Web Design Second Edition New Riders
Web Standards Solutions The Markup and Style Handbook Friends of Ed
Add your own
39 Comments