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Apr 24, 2011

Quick, cheap business cards

No extra charge for the fancy box
I've gone empty-handed to a bunch of events lately where showing up without business cards is about as smart as showing up without pants. I ran out of Moo cards a while back, and, in one of those stupid paradoxes, didn't order them right away because they said delivery would take two or three weeks. So now it's three or four weeks later, and, you know. I never did find a local place that would do them quickly and simply. One wanted me to send them my design as an Illustrator file, which I don't have, and another had a complicated ordering process that involved two somber sales people, a huge binder, and two more return trips to the shop for checking proofs. Not cheap, either. I remember seeing machines in the past that  spit out insanely cute cards while you wait, but insanely cute cards make grown-ups look, well, insane.
[Image] No extra charge for the fancy box. On my way to another meeting the other day, kicking myself for still not finding cards, I stopped into one of those digital photo printing places on a whim and asked if they made meishi. The woman said they did, but that they didn't have too many options. Fine. I didn't need too many. They produced something simple in 25 minutes with my name, number and email address on it. Granted, they, er, got the email address wrong. But she was very apologetic, and had a new stack of 50 done in less than 10 more minutes. The Rs are kind of top-heavy. Maybe someone who knows fonts knows what it is? I had to pick the font based on Japanese examples, so I had no idea how the English would come out. Oh, well. You know that expression: Cheap, fast, great - pick any two. If you've been around here a while, you know I love nice stationery. But sometimes good enough is good enough. Like when you're on your way to a networky (shudder) thing with no pants business cards.

The place I went is called 55 Station, and they're all over the place. Their main thing is printing digital photos.

8 comments:

Thomas Hammerlund said...

How much were they?

井上エイド said...

The post office (big ones) have more options. In addition to having a huge assortment of patterns and papers, they allow you to submit your own PDF etc. templates and graphics, and you get a customer number where they keep your custom design on file for quick reprints and refills.

I use the Shibuya post office for my personal (non work) cards that I give to people to whom I don't have a business relationship with.

Helen said...

Great tip Sandra! Arigato! Good luck with the networking and hope to catch up with you soon

Sandra Barron said...

Sorry to be so long answering! Sixmats, they had a 1000-yen base price, and then were 15 yen per piece. So, 1750.

Eido, is there anything the Japanese PO doesn't do? Amazing. Good to know about that. In this case, I didn't want to submit a file. I wanted to walk in with nothing and walk out with cards.

Helen, for sure!!

Trixie Bedlam said...

SANDRA BARRON
Wearer of Pants

that design is yours for free!

Steve Kapner said...

The top-heavy R actually kerns nicely with the A. (Yes I'm a design geek.)

Unknown said...

cheap and good for next time, try vistaprint.com
( not I'm not from vista print, but my wife got some good one done recently. )

Blog said...

Thank you for sharing

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