We love receiving pictures of our customers’ personalized stationery—it’s the reason we created the Personalized Profile feature—and so it was a visual delight to open Steve Ono’s email recently. Steve works for family-owned print shop Japan Printing and Graphics in New York City, and, like many print shops, they love our Lettra paper.

If you’re not familiar with Lettra, it’s our signature letterpress stock. It’s 100% cotton, and the soft-yet-sturdy, textured composition is positively divine to the touch. When the letterpress machine makes its impression, we’re pretty sure fireworks explode.

Below are a few of the lovely business card designs Steve shared with us as well as his thoughts on Lettra and the importance of one’s business card choice.

A New York Lettra Love StoryPearl White Lettra letterpress printed in black ink.

“The delicate texture and feel of the Lettra stock is incredibly unique and unmistakable. People absolutely love the paper because it feels so soft and textured, almost as if it were textile. Secondly, the Lettra stock allows for deep indentations when the using letterpress printing. The softness of the paper allows the indentations from the letterpress to be considerably deeper than any other paper that we use. This amplifies the effect of letterpress printing and also adds a more visible dimension to the business cards. This paper is indispensable for the type of work that we do.”

A New York Lettra Love StoryDouble-mounted Pearl White Lettra with engraved and burnished silver logo.

“When people ask for our advice on design and layout, we always ask them what they are looking for. Before we make any suggestions, we always check first if they have any preferences. For example, a full bleed design is going to suggest a different type of taste than on text only design. These preferences also dictate what type of effects and materials are likely to appeal to the client. We also factor in the industry and demographic that they are looking to appeal to: Finance, jewelry, designer and other high end service providers are a good fit for certain types of designs/finishes, while entertainment, technology and dining are likely a better fit for other designs/finishes.

A New York Lettra Love StoryDouble-mounted Pearl White Lettra letterpress printed in black.

“Business cards have become a commodity for most people these days. The reality is that cheap online suppliers are good enough for most people. However, that is actually a good thing for people who invest in quality designs and materials for their business cards. For example, someone attending a convention might meet hundreds of people and therefore collect hundreds of business cards. There isn’t a chance that he/she will remember everyone. When reviewing the hundreds of business cards, 99% of them will probably look cheap and unimpressive. A few will probably stand out as being far superior than the rest. These few business cards will get all the attention. Its that simple. There are other examples too, but the point is that quality matters if you want to distinguish yourself from the crowd.”

 

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