smonster so much ~ma for you. You're doing good work, but I can't imagine how difficult it must be.

We're snowed in and the CSA is locked into our pick up location which probably won't be unlocked until Thursday. Good thing I went to the market.

Maria, I've used Vista Print. It's best to upgrade from the free version, and not to get the font too small. My first ones were pretty ugly. The second ones are nice. I uploaded a custom image rather than use theirs. Do you want some help?

eta: Now I've gone and looked at Moo; they look pretty good.

Maria, moo cards are pretty good. The business card size is slightly different than US standard though.

I need to order personal business cards for my job search. I'm thinking about going with Vistaprint, but reviews are mixed.

Maria, Vistaprint has been my go-to for years...and years.

I have used their stock cards and now use my own designs. The only two bad experiences I have ever had with them involved:

1) A stock card that I loved but for some reason, the color saturation they used changed after a couple years.

I complained and they reran the order for me, without asking for the old order back, but it still wasn't right.

2) I had them print a baseball hat for me with the doggy lama logo. It was my fault for not thinking through the physics of printing on cloth, but the colors didn't show up well on a black hat. It was free (except for the design and shipping cost), so I can't complain. I must add, it's still my favorite ball cap. It fits really well, is a great quality fabric and is just super comfortable.

I have never ordered a business card from them that I didn't admire the quality of the card stock.

Deena, I definitely upgraded to the premium cards. I like the designs better. Should I upgrade to the heavier paper stock as well? I don't think I need to go through the hassle of designing a custom image, but I'm curious to find out how you've determined if the font is too small.

Sox, thanks! I'm going to check them out now.

bonny,that's good to hear. I'll ask you the same question as I asked Deena--upgrade to the heavier stock or no?

edit: Please, everyone, be safe during Snowpocalypse 2011 v.2 (or is it 3 now?).

I like the heavier paper. I only determined the font was too small after I ordered the first batch and it was much too small. I think I wouldn't go smaller than 10pt, and would prefer 12, on anything and it should be okay.

For a small fee, Vistaprint will send you a pdf proof of your design before you order. That has been really helpful to me to see how it finished product will work.

I like the heavier card stock too...especially for your profession. But, honestly, I didn't upgrade on my last two orders and the cards I have are not flimsy. I think the choice is between 'normal' and 'luxurious.'

ETA: The one thing I won't do again is take the glossy finish. It's very nice, but I need to be able to write stuff on my cards and the glossy is so thick, a ballpoint won't even work on it.

Thanks! I'm actually ordering two batches--one to give to clients with my personal contact info, and the second to give to networking/job search/interview types that has an additional phrase printed on it that hits on my areas of expertise (Strategic-Thinking Professional with Policy, Consulting, Sales, and Operations Expertise). I think I'll spring for the heavier stock on the search cards, and keep the normal on the personal ones.

I don't like the look of glossy cards, and I hate when I can't write on cards, so that's definitely not an option.

Dear Support Personnel,

I'm sure I'm annoying you with what you probably consider my obvious and trivial questions. I don't care. I will keep emailing you whenever I have the slightest uncertainty about what to do, because our software is like unto a pile of dogshit in both its usefulness and the lack of desire I have to deal with it, and I know from sad experience that if I, in the course of doing what seems logical to fix the problem, confuse it at all, it will crash and I will be unable to work for at least four hours. I will then have to explain the resulting delay to my boss, keeping in mind that "problems with the software is never an acceptable excuse for delay". Thus my youthful joy in experimenting to figure things out for myself has crumbled into exhausted cynicism and a focus on getting you to do this crap for me.

Cheers, Me.

I buy stock blank cards and use the Avery templates to create my own. No artistic talent, but I can customize those template. Can futz with it until it is what I like. Not sure cheaper than services, but very cheap and I like results.