50 inspiring examples of letterpress business cards

[Rss Bot 1]

Letterpress printing has been around for hundreds of years and yet remains one of the hottest trends in stationery. Letterpress business cards still have the ability to turn heads.

The ancient technique involves a surface with raised letters or artwork inked and then pressed into thick, soft paper, adding an exciting, tactile quality to the design.

Known for producing a clean and elegant style, the letterpress technique is favoured by many designers for creating unique and creative business cards. Here we've picked 55 brilliant examples of letterpress business cards to inspire your designs.

• The 10 commandments of business card design

01. Stefan Leitner

These bold cards really reflect Stefan Leitner's personality

Photographer Stefan Leitner asked Kristina Bartosova to design a simple business card for him. Instead, inspired by his extrovert personality, she decided to do the exact opposite, and designed a bold logotype that really stands out when rendered in letterpress.

• 21 free business card templates

02. Voltalab

The Voltalab logo combines a test tube rack and keyboard

Voltalab is a recording studio built in the space where Cargo Studios and Suite 16 used to record classic bands such as Joy Division, The Fall, Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses. Fieldwork designed a whole identity package inspired by the building's rich heritage, including these stunning minimal business cards showcasing the logo mark that's a visual play on the Voltalab name, combining references to a test tube rack and an octave on a keyboard.

03. Garage Culture

You can't help but love this supremely heavy cotton paper stock

Designed by Rodrigo Cuberas for a custom bike garage in Buenos Aires, these letterpress cards make a real impact thanks to Rodrigo's use of rough and heavyweight artisanal cotton paper stock.

04. Spotted Zebra

Sarah Mangion's Spotted Zebra branding com is sophisticated but slightly quirky

Sarah Mangion's branding for Spotted Zebra, an online resource for writing, events and media management, needed to feel professional, bold and sophisticated with a slight quirkiness. Her letterpress business card design combines the logo in a simple geometric typeface, and a hand-drawn zebra illustration to add a custom feel.

05. Le Balene

Those little stamps make Le Balene's cards totes adorbs

We love Eleonora Petrolati's wonderful stylised whale-based logo for Italian communication agency, Le Balene, and how she's turned it into a distinctive business card design. But what really marks this project out is her inclusion of a set of stamps and coloured inks that people can add their own little customisations to.

06. Quentin Monge

The pattern work is great on these letterpress business cards

Created using white foil, these five-colour letterpress business cards on triplex colourplan paper certainly pop. Using a bold and colourful pattern only plays to the card's strengths, which will certainly make for a memorable exchange. Designed by Don't Try Studio for Quentin Monge, they're some of the best-looking we've ever seen.

07. The Fox Yards Company

3D embossed design makes its mark

Produced by Jukebox Print, these ultra-thick cotton paper letterpress business cards bring 3D embossed design to the table. Using Jukebox Print's own innovative method, the attention to detail is wonderful, with the letterpress used to add text as well as a quirky textured background.

08. Christina Yan

A sophisticated letterpress option from Belinda Love Lee

"Christina Yan is a talented prop stylist based in Toronto," explains creator Belinda Love Lee. "This whole stationery set exudes sophistication and timelessness with a bit of edge. Each piece was letterpressed with the finishing touches of gold foiling, gold edging, and embossing."

09. OF ZOOS

The cards were designed for Singaporean online literary journal OF ZOOS

Using a simple yet effective pattern of illustrative animals, these letterpress business cards pack a punch when it comes to originality. Designed for Singaporean online literary journal OF ZOOS, we love designer Charmaine Yeo's execution.

10. Rafal Borek Photography

The historic press was used for this business card design

The Letter & Press Behance page states: "Mr Rafal from Ireland needed some business cards for his photographic business. But not a usual ones – really wonderful and over the top. So we printed the graphic with our historic press which can really show fine detail."

11. Mild Whistle

Beautiful letterpress business cards for a Singapore-based agency

Combining craft and precision to produce a beautiful aesthetic, these new cards from Singapore-based agency Oddds are about as beautiful as they come. The Oddds website states: "The identity broadens with usage of letterpress accompanied by glamour with modernism. This is created with the intertwining between bronze and a soft tone of turquoise. The play of metal tones and pieces with cotton represents the designer's ideologies of art direction and design."

12. Elias Mendoza

These classic-looking cards aim to convey the unique and personalised touch that Mendoza brings to his work

When Cocoa Branding was hired to create branding materials for Elias Mendoza, an immigration and naturalisation attorney in the US, it needed to convey the unique and personalised touch that Mendoza brings to his work with all types of family and business immigration needs. Part of the branding solution was these heavyweight letterpress business cards, designed by Rodrigo Suárez.

13. Bailey H Robinson

Two Arms Inc aimed for a turn-of-the-century look with this card, and got it spot-on

Brooklyn-based tattoo artist Bailey H Robinson has a very distinct take on traditional American tattooing. Two Arms Inc was keen to design something that looked and felt like traditional turn-of-the-century type. The resulting letterpress card is an ornate delight that wouldn't have looked out of place in 1901 (except for the contact URL, of course).

14. Motor City Chop Shop

We can practically hear the thunder of the engines

This design for Motor City Chop Shop has its finger on the pulse of Detroit's motorcycle culture. Created by Company Folders, the card's surface features a dotted emboss effect for a cool background texture that doesn't compete with the letterpress text. Tires and handlebars turn the curvy font into a chopper, while the slanted letters add a sense of speed and movement.

15. The Yard VFX

The striking silver contrasts perfectly with the inky blue background

The Yard VFX is a visual effects company based in Paris. When Mr Cup Studio was tasked with redesigning the studio’s identity, the entire graphic language was built around the fact that it would be printed using letterpress. The eye-catching letterpress business cards feature a debossed astrological design, with the studio’s URL in striking silver.

16. Mia Parcell

Typographer Mia Parcell gets a circular letterpress card

Impressworks printed these letterpress business cards for designer Mia Parcell. The job features a two-colour, double-sided print on our 600gsm Fluoro White Crane Lettra stock. Parcell took care of the artwork herself, with Impressworks coming up with the circular execution.

17. Simon Featherstone

A contemporary logo design and letterpress card for the lighting designer

Simon Featherstone is a freelance lighting designer and programmer, with vast experience in video and LED technology. The contemporary logo marque uses a pattern derived from LEDs and combines it with a bold gradient running from cyan to magenta. The branding collateral uses a range of cool grey tones to suitably reflect the high-end nature of the industry and communicate a professional and knowledgable tone of voice.

18. Adicto

Combining authentic design with passionate craftsmanship

Offizin Parnassia is a fine art studio born out of a love for old books. The team there combined authentic design with passionate craftsmanship to create these beautiful Adicto letterpress business cards.

19. Lucky Cat Acupuncture

A adorable anime-influenced letterpress business card

This playful letterpress business card was created as part of the identity for designer Kevin Hayes' wife's acupuncture clinic in Minneapolis. "She requested something that had a little bit of an anime style with some whimsy," he explains. The business cards were printed at Studio on Fire.

20. Pepelatz

Andrej Barmelaj developed these postage-stamp inspired letterpress business cards for advertising agency Pepelatz

Ukraine-based designer and illustrator Andrej Barmelaj is the designer behind these brilliant postage stamp-inspired letterpress business cards for independent advertising agency Pepelatz. With four different designs to choose from, each stamp adds a splash of colour to Pepelatz employees' otherwise simple white letterpress business card.

Next page: 20 more brilliant letterpress business cards

21. German Torres

Letterpress business cards for illustrator German Torres feature his character transforming from a human to a werewolf

These beautiful letterpress business cards feature the wild illustrator German Torres transforming from a human to a werewolf. Print shop La Trasteria created them using a two-colour split fountain for the transformation and black ink for the other details. These creative business cards are beautifully printed, and we just love the playful design, which depicts a smiley character by day and the stages that turn him into a wild illustrator by night.

22. Dane Holmquist

American artist Dane Holmquist created the illustration for these letterpress business cards himself

These detailed, beautiful letterpress business cards belong to illustrator and graphic designer Dane Holmquist. The talented artist created the intricate illustration himself, before enlisting the help of printers DSJ in Santa Monica, who helped bring his vision to life. Holmquist's mantra is: "If it has the potential to be cool, I will do my very best to make it so." And he's certainly achieved that with this gorgeous design.

23. Jee

Johanna Ecker's gorgeous letterpress business cards double as a tiny notebook

Brand consultant Johanna Elisabeth Ecker wanted a business card that reflected both the quality of her work and her personality. Working alongside designer Kurt Glanzer at Moodley Brand Identity, she developed these beautiful letterpress business cards, which double as a tiny notebook, including a personal handwritten message for the receiver and 15 more empty pages for them to use as they wish.

24. Bentply

One minute it's a business card, the next it's a Gerald Summers armchair. Cool, huh?

What you see here is one of the neat letterpress business cards for furniture shop Bentply in Marylebone, London that can be made into mini bent plywood chairs. The ingenious card design was created by art director, writer, and designer Richard C Evans and produced by Elegante Press in Lithuania. Just follow the instructions and the kiss-cut card can be folded into a miniature replica of the iconic 1934 plywood armchair designed by Gerald Summers.

25. Dot Design

The distinct shape makes these creative business cards instantly striking

Printed using two colours on both sides and die cut to shape, the carefully placed design elements on each side of these letterpress business cards avoid any overlapping. They're printed on 425gsm cotton and are instantly striking. Creating such a distinct shape really makes these creative letterpress business cards one of our favourites.

26. Derek Welsh

The sleek finish represents Walsh's work perfectly

Glasgow Press achieved a monster 810gsm when creating these letterpress business cards by bonding 270gsm sheets of Ebony, Citrine and Bright White to achieve a stand out card for furniture maker Derek Welsh. Black letterpress to the Bright White side with the gloss black foil to the Ebony card really make this a unique creation.

27. Whitney Shaw

We love the colours used on this letterpress business card

The colours really won us over with Whitney Shaw's letterpress business card. Incorporating a variety of fonts, as well as a playful illustration, this is a design that would surely be cherished by the receiver. The use of larger 'W's' also allow for Whitney's name to stick in the mind, while keeping the design aspects to a minimum.

28. Bryon Darby

The clean-cut, minimal approach works for this letterpress business card

Often, less is more when it comes to design. It's certainly the case for this letterpress business card for photographer Bryon Darby. Using a minimal colour scheme and using the letterpress to create a series of beautiful patterns, we love its simplicity.

29. For Luca

A lovely letterpress card for a worthy cause

When Luca was just three years old he was struck down with Meningococcal Septicaemia, losing both of his legs along with muscle and skin below his hips. When his dad contacted Blush Publishing in North Wales for some business cards to help with Luca's campaign they fired up the presses and produced this delightful design. We love the bright blue typography placed on a simple, white backdrop. Instantly eye-catching.

30. Amy Weibel

The typography is simple but effective

Amy Weibel is an art director and designer with a passion for food, travel, technology and, of course, design. The typography treatment on each side is simple and effective, while the trim is bold and memorable.

31. Kitty's Beauty Parlour

The card was letterpress-printed on double thick 236lb cotton card stock

Print & Grain is full service graphic design and letterpress studio. They offer original custom design and letterpress printing. Print & Grain encourage a collaborative effort with their clients during the design process to create a unique and personal card, which will be letterpress printed on double thick 236lb cotton card stock, using an antique Kelsey Excelsior printing press. A strong example from their portfolio is this creation for Kitty's Beauty Parlour.

32. Mei Yen Chua

The card combines slab-serif and serif typefaces

A variety of techniques were used on this business card for Mei Yen Chua. The experimental techniques using overlays of ink works wonders. Each shape also been embossed into the card, combining slab-serif and serif typefaces. A confident and eye-catching card.

33. Meg Gleason

We love the incorporation of natural images into this card

Moglea is a boutique letterpress stationery design studio created by Meg Gleason. She loves bold pops of colour, hand-lettered typography and intricate floral and geometric patterns. The letterpress studio is within a farmhouse in Western Lowa, and this influences her style, which incorporates animals and nature into the designs.

34. Denim Geek

Blush pull off yet another beautiful letterpress printing job

This gorgeous letterpress business card comes from those talented folks at Blush – a bespoke and custom letterpress printing service that offers 
wedding stationery, personalised correspondence, greeting cards and of course, business cards.

Even though white letterpress ink is often extremely diffcult to work with and doesn't give a very good solid on dark stock, it works extremely well in this design. The card was printed on 1000mic recycled board, so it's good for the planet too!

35. Leigh Cameron

We love the stark contrast within the colour choices

The guys over at Typoretum have an incredibly impressive array of letterpress business card designs on offer. Specialising in comprehensive letterpress business card and stationery design, the printing service can work from artwork supplied or help you to design your own.

This creation for Leigh Cameron is simple, elegant and engaging. We love the stark contrast of the green coupled with the grey. The cards are printed on 750 micron recycled greyboard.

36. Britt Boyd

Combining stunning graphic design and typography, this is one of their best examples

Print and Grain are quickly becoming known for their letterpress business card offerings within the design industry. Based in Portland, Oregon, they also provide letterpress inspired greetings cards through their Etsy shop.

This design for Britt Boyd is a stunning feat in typography and graphic design. The beautiful graphics, combined with an eye-catching font and coloured edges, make it one of their best examples.

37. Ninja star

A letterpress business card that will get 'the point' across

Now, here's a letterpress business card that'll catch a potential client's eye for all the right reasons. Showcased on Beast Pieces, this design will certainly get your 'point' across (sorry!) Although it might not be the ideal shape and size to slip into your wallet, the letterpress design and carefully placed typography make it a must in this list.

38. Nili Studios

Print & Grain triumph again with this letterpress design for Nili Studios

Another addition from the guys at Print & Grain, this lovely-looking letterpress business card was designed for creative agency Nili Studios. The nautical-inspired theme is perfectly executed with the chosen soft blues as well as the waves and anchor logo. The easily-readable font is also a brilliant choice.

39. Druckerei Eisenhardt

The bold choice in size, shape and typography make this business card stand out

A printing press that's been operating for over 42 years, Eisenhardt is a trusted German company offering the best in letterpress design. A family-run business, it works with both modern and traditional techniques in the centre of Frankfurt.

This letterpress business card design immediately caught our eye thanks to its bold choice in size, shape and typography. The orange-on-white colour scheme enables the font to stand out whilst the understated letterpress gives it the edge it needs.

40. Stu Horvath

Dolce Press showcase the intensity of one-colour printing

Dolce Press is a boutique print shop and design studio located on the eastern end of Long Island. Specialising in letterpress, the design studio creates one-of-a-kind prints. This letterpress business card was printed on super-thick kraft stock in black ink, showcasing what can be accomplished with one-colour printing. The letterpress cards were finished off with black edge colouring and printed on a Chandler & Price 8x12.

Next page: More brilliant letterpress business cards

41. Fizz Creative

These coasters complement Fizz Creative's 'Design straight up with a twist' motto perfectly

Graphic designers Jasen Melnick and Katie Major used letterpress printing to create these awesome retro-style coasters to promote their award-winning boutique studio Fizz Creative. Their letterpress business cards design perfectly complements the duo's motto, 'Design straight up with a twist'. Featuring two Pantone colours, and printed on thick, ivory white stock, these business cards won awards from the AIGA Cleveland Design Competition and from the HOW+Print Color in Design Competition.

42. Dare

These letterpress-printed cards feature ASCII images of individual employees. We want some!

We love these innovative designs by creative agency Dare. The company describes itself as 'a merger of a traditional agency and digital shop', so it wanted letterpress business cards that also combine old with new. An ASCII image was automatically created using characters from employees' contact details. The company then chose to letterpress these images onto individual business cards in order to re-emphasise the idea of traditional techniques meeting digital.

43. Pablo Abad

Pablo Abad created this sans-serif typeface specifically for this project

This beautiful letterpress business card was created by Madrid-based graphic designer and art director Pablo Abad. In a quest to create a new visual identity, Abad designed a bespoke geometric sans-serif typeface, gara. The clean yet edgy letterpress business card design makes it eye-catching but still easy to understand. Abad's love of illustration and typography is clear in this very personal project.

44. Shyama Golden

Shyama 'Rhymes with Llama' – as in Shama-Llama, get it?

It's always an awkward moment when you can't pronounce someone's name or get it wrong. To ensure that never happens again, artist and designer Shyama Golden designed these funky letterpressed business cards with her catchphrase 'It rhymes with llama'. Printed on Cranes Lettra cotton paper, with 100 per cent hand-drawn type and a hand-drawn llama, these beauties are one-colour letterpress printing at its best.

45. Luke Lucas

Luke Lucas's card uses specialist ink to make it glow in the dark. Ooooooooh!

After developing a new script-based logo, typographer and graphic designer Luke Lucas decided to update his business cards to show it off. Featuring his name on one side and his logo on the other, Lucas's card is no ordinary one. Printed on 600gsm Lettra cotton stock, this letterpress business cards design uses phosphorescent ink so that in regular light it appears as a simple debossing but when the lights dim, the logo glows bright green. Very cool.

46. Ovi Prunean

James Prunean lovingly created these awesome business cards for his brother Ovi

As is often the case, simplicity can work wonders. A perfect example of this is these gorgeous letterpressed business cards created by graphic designer James Prunean for his brother, Ovi. Prunean used strong, bold colours that immediately catch your eye and at a first glance look very similar to Pantone colour cards. Printed on 220lb cotton paper, the soft yet strong impression has reportedly helped painter Ovi beat off a lot competition. And we can see why!

47. Jennifer Daniel

Jennifer Daniel loves unicorns. Can you tell?

These quirky but cool letterpress business cards belong to Bloomberg Businessweek's graphic director Jennifer Daniel. An internationally recognised illustrator, designer and art director, Daniel is also a lover of unicorns. After having a hard time choosing from her designs, she decided to have three printed, each one as memorable as the next and featuring her RSI-inducing contact email along the bottom. We wonder whether she's got any unicorn grooming business off the back of them?

48. Rabbit Hole

With this business card you also get a cute desktop companion

This beautiful design grabbed our attention as soon as we saw it. Why? Not only because of the gorgeous impressions in fluorescent green with a double hit of silver on Beer Matt Board 390gsm but also because you can turn it into a rabbit. Yes, you read that right. Several shapes are die-cut out and can be put together to create a stylised bunny. Cool, huh? We bet the guys at letterpress and design agency The Hungry Workshop had great fun creating these for The Rabbit Hole Ideation Cafe.

49. Still Liquor

The message here is not to drink and drive. Hence the word 'Still'

This classy design was created for Still Liquor, a bar and micro distillery in a reclaimed bootleg liquor and auto shop in Seattle. To convey the bar's rich heritage, New York-based multidisciplinary design practice Javas Lehn Studio decided to use the iconic Ford Model T silhouette, bold type and unexpected contemporary compositions. The final, clean design was then letterpress-printed onto Eska board stock, using a bright shade of red to accentuate the bold type. If the bar itself is a classy as its business card, we'd definitely drink there.

50. Jason Carne

Carne's business cards echo his website's two-tone colour scheme

Graphic designer Jason Carne's personal letterpress business cards are certainly eye-catching. Featuring metallic red edge painting, two-colour foil stamped letterpress on duplex black Neenah paper, this is one design you'd want to keep.

Related articles:

• The 10 commandments of business card design
• 10 business card fails
• 20 tools to make your team more productive

View the full article