Most people choose a business card from a photo.
They scroll the range, like the look of one, and order it. That works fine until the card has to do something the photo never showed you: take a pen, survive six months in a wallet, or make a client stop for a second when they take it.
So we'd start somewhere else. Not with what the card looks like, but with what it has to do once it leaves your hand.
Three questions before you look at a single card
Will anyone write on it? Salons, clinics and cafés often hand over a card with an appointment time or a loyalty stamp on it. A laminated card won't take a ballpoint properly. If writing on it is part of the job, that decides it.
How long does it need to last? Most business cards get looked at, kept for a while and replaced. A membership or loyalty card gets carried and used every week. Those are different materials.
What should it say before anyone reads it? For some businesses the card is just contact details. For others, a designer or a consultant for example, the feel of the card is part of the pitch. If that's you, weight and texture matter more than you'd think.
Answer those three and you're usually down to one or two cards.
If you're not sure: Premium Classic
This is the card most businesses should start with, and the one we'd point you to if none of the questions above gave you a strong answer.
It's the standard UK size, 85 × 55mm, on four stocks: 300gsm Premium Smooth White, 350gsm Silk, 350gsm Recycled Uncoated or a thick 450gsm Silk. You can add gloss, matt or soft-touch lamination, or leave it unlaminated. Square or rounded corners, single or double-sided.
Two things make it the sensible default. You can order from 50 cards, so you're not sitting on a box of 1,000 when your phone number changes. And you can put up to five different designs in one order, which is handy if the whole team needs a card.
If you need them quickly, Express is one working day of production, plus delivery.
My pick for most people is 350gsm Silk with matt lamination. It feels solid without shouting about it.
See Premium Classic business cards
If you're stuck between stocks, our guide to business card paper weight walks through what the gsm numbers actually feel like.
If you write on your cards: uncoated
Uncoated cards have no coating and no lamination. The surface is natural and slightly textured, and it takes ballpoint, pencil and ink stamps cleanly.
There are five stocks, from a bright Premium Smooth White to a rustic Brown Kraft, at 85 × 55mm with square or rounded corners. Orders start at 100.
One thing to know before you design for kraft: there's no white ink, so anything white in your artwork shows as the brown of the card. Dark, bold designs suit it best.
If you want the card itself to be made from recycled fibre, the recycled cards are the same idea on 350gsm recycled uncoated board, in the standard size or a 55mm square, from 50 cards.
If the feel is the point: textured, triplex or foil
This is where people overspend or underspend, usually because they haven't decided what they want the card to do.
Textured cards are for when you want someone to notice the paper. There are two stocks, a felt-marked 250gsm Rives Shetland and a speckled 300gsm Textured Uncoated. Give the design room to breathe. Very fine text and hairlines can break up over the texture.
Triplex cards are three layers of board bonded into one 810gsm card, with a coloured middle layer that shows around the edge. You pick the core from eleven colours. That's more than twice the weight of a typical card, and it feels like an object rather than a piece of paper. Keep the faces simple and let the edge do the work.
Metallic foil cards have a matt soft-touch laminate with copper, gold, red or silver foil, on 350 to 400gsm, in the standard size or a 55mm square. Foil works best on one or two elements, like a logo or a name. Foil everything and nothing stands out.
See metallic foil business cards
There's also a creative range on seven stocks, from 300gsm kraft to 375gsm woven bamboo, for anyone who wants something a bit different without going all the way to triplex.
If it goes in a parcel: square
At 55 × 55mm, a square card is the one people pick out of the pile. It's also the shape we'd use for a thank-you card in an order, a product insert or a card with your social handles on.
There are five stocks, including silk, recycled, triplex and a magnetic option that turns the card into a fridge magnet. That last one is worth a look if you're a takeaway or a trade people need to find again.
A square has less room than it looks. Put your details on one side and something bold on the other.
If it has to last: plastic
Plastic cards are rigid white PVC, the same size as a bank card, in 570 or 760 micron. They're waterproof and tear-proof.
As a business card they're a bit much for most people. Where they earn their place is membership and loyalty: gyms, clubs, trade accounts. Add a signature strip, a magnetic strip or gold or silver foil and they become the card your customers carry every week. Orders start at 25.
Just starting out?
If you need cards, flyers and a banner all at once, the Smart Start Pack bundles 500 business cards on 450gsm silk, 250 double-sided A5 flyers and an 850mm roller banner.
What's the same whichever you pick
Every file is checked by a real person before it goes to print. If something's wrong, like missing bleed or text too close to the edge, we'll get in touch before anything gets printed.
Every order plants trees through our Print A Tree project with Ecologi. Automatic, every time.
And if you don't have artwork yet, our studio can set up your file or design the card from scratch. We'll price it before you commit.
Wondering what it should all cost? We've covered that in how much business cards should cost.
So which one?
If you've read this far and still can't decide, order Premium Classic on 350gsm Silk. It's hard to get wrong.
If you write on your cards, go uncoated. If the card is part of the sale, go textured or triplex. If it lives in a wallet for years, go plastic.
Choose the card for the job it does, not the photo it looks best in.
