Business cards | Front printing only or front & back?

SloYerRoll

Hey all,

I was a program manager for a very large traditional and digital printing company for quite a few years (relatively) so I'm having a hard time having an objectionable opinion on this question..

Printing 4/4 or 4/0:
I personally think printing 4/0 is a much better use of a business card since it gives you the option to use the back to write on. Even if a person uses your bizcard to write a grocery list on the back. It's providing more visibility than a double sided print that will have no use other than to be a bizcard.

So what do you think? (I'm not worried about the design. I can make it work either way)

I'd also appreciate it if you could provide views from a bizcard recipients perspective. I'm open to printing 4/4, but I need to be convinced that it's a better alternative then 4/0.

Thanks for your time.

Cheers,
-Jon

Vycor

4/4 | Double sided cards are where it's at

When you say 4/0 and 4/4 are you meaning 4 color on front, 0 colors on back and 4 colors on front 4 colors on back?

I do my cards front/back. Front has my main design and the back has a URL. I print my fronts glossy and my backs matte. Heres my back:



Its matte so you are able to write on it and not a lot of info there.

Hikin' Mike

4/0 | Single sided cards make way more sense

Single side only for me, for the same reason you mentioned. Just make sure it isn't black!

BradfordBenn

4/0 | Single sided cards make way more sense

One of the reasons I like single sided cards is if done right it gives just enough information to make the person want to act on the contact information... with two sided cards it seems like one is trying to put in too much information and can't get the highlight.

Having said that, two sided cards can work when you have more essential info or languages than one side can hold.

My favorite card was one I created for myself, go figure... but the idea still cracks me up and more than 15 years later people still talk about it.

I did a 1/1 (two sided one color) the front was the card reading correctly; the back was the exact same thing just mirrored. What surprised me was just how it would play with the mind when looking at it. I would laugh when people would try to flip it over to take a note and then flip it over again and again and then finally get the joke.

rich56k

4/0 | Single sided cards make way more sense

I agree with Jon ...4/0

Here's my new card ...won't post the old one :cry

rich56k
my bad - oooops - thought it was the show us your card thread - long day!!
even weirder the image shows in safari, but not FF

Vycor

4/4 | Double sided cards are where it's at

Brad i love that idea... mind if i do that on a new business card im making? (simple card, black on both sides, yes i know you cant write on it, but i want a simple looking card, black, with my name, email, phone, website, thats it, nothing else, nothing more... if your getting my card yuo KNOW what i do)

SloYerRoll

4/0 | Single sided cards make way more sense

Thanks for all your thoughts. You could actually make the reverese print card idea so you could write on the back of it. Just use a screen w/ traditional or opacity change on digital so it just looks like the ink bleeds through the card.

That's a great idea though. It gets ppl talking about your card. I'd probably hand ppl the card wrong side up on purpose this would really make them really look at the card.. But it does what it's supposed to, get ppl to think about you and your business.

SloYerRoll

4/0 | Single sided cards make way more sense

remember the black paper in art class that you could scrape off the black surface and expose the white underneath it? It was great for creating graphics that looked silk screened.

Any deas what that stuff is called?

claudermilk

4/0 | Single sided cards make way more sense

I find it hard ot believe you cannot form an objectionABLE opinion. That ought to be simple. An objective one on the other hand could be tough. D

I voted 4/0. It's nice to have that backside available for making notes as needed.

denisegoldberg

4/0 | Single sided cards make way more sense

I think single-sided cards make much more sense - with the back side providing a writeable surface (as in, not in a dark color).

--- Denise

SloYerRoll

4/0 | Single sided cards make way more sense

claudermilk wrote:

I find it hard ot believe you cannot form an objectionABLE opinion. That ought to be simple. An objective one on the other hand could be tough. D

Thanks for the correction