I received an email from Moo a few weeks back introducing their new Luxe business card product. As a print geek I couldn't resist ordering myself a small batch to check out the quality.
Essentially the Luxe product is a poor man's Colorplan triplex, where 3 pieces of fibrous stock are laminated together. The nice thing about the combination of different stocks is that one can combine different colours, resulting in a nice sandwich effect. The Glasgow Press, a letterpress printing specialists based in Glasgow, have some lovely samples on their site.
Moo have created a premium product using Mohawk Superfine paper, resulting in a 600gsm business card - this is 2 to 3 times thicker than your average business card. Any recipient of this card knows you mean business when they feel the firmness and texture! Their cards (and other products) are printed using a digital press system which means there are no minimums on individual designs; Theoretically I could have had a different design on each card!
Just like Apple products the presentation was just too good not to record as I opened it… The cards were sitting on my desk this morning, and before I even put the kettle on I had to unveil the cards within. I admit, I was a bit giddy with excitement.
Inside the corrugate box was this beautiful white textured box with magnetic closure, wrapped with a purple ribbon.
Moo's foil-blocked ink droplet - a nice understated touch.
My pack came with an opening line suggestion on the top card - this one is from the film Anchorman. Another nice touch. The back of this card is a personalised referral URL to earn me discounts with Moo.
The red paper sandwich within the triplex.
A nice colour match between the red centre and the Vickers Creative logo. Great definition for digital printing.
Nice, crisp print on the very white Mohawk Superfine paper.
I took a gamble on the rear and reversed the text. This is 7pt Futura LT Book on flat black (100% K). As you can see from the image I could safely go down to 5pt with this fine typeface and very crisp print. (For more info on black for printing check out the very in-depth blog post The Professional Designer's Guide to Using Black by Andrew Kelsall)
The Mohawk Superfine surface texture.
A nice flat black - sometime 100% Black can look a bit washed out without a touch of Cyan, Magenta or Yellow, but this is perfect for me.
Summary:
For the price (a little over £30 for 50 cards, which is the smallest and therefore most expensive quantity, including VAT and postage/packing) I am immensely pleased with the quality of these cards. Make no mistake, these are not letterpress cards, and will never replace the indentations left by the letterpress plate, specific single spot colours, nor the hand finishing associated with letter pressing. But, for the money the colour is very good, the registration is excellent, the print is crisp, and the edges of the cards show clean cutting. Combined with a lovely presentation box Moo have really gone the extra mile here. I may even order another set once I've smugly handed this batch out.
Moo.com Luxe business cards
