Low budgets can sometimes be disheartening and stop us from searching for clever solutions that result in something that doesn’t look, well, cheap. But there are indeed ways! Like faking an expensive die-cut with an oval punch worth $19 and printing digitally on a nice uncoated paper like Neenah’s Classic Crest. Of course, it also helps when your client is willing to do a little bit of the hard work… Designer Mette of Bureau of Betterment explains:
Jen wasn’t rolling in dough from creative writing (yet), so an economic solution was needed that would still help her stand out. I scoured the internet for an oval punch that could take the place of a diecut. Turns out, crafters have thought of almost everything, so after a bit of sleuthing I found several oval punches, perfect for the miniature platter shape that her business cards would become.
The cards were printed digitally and then hand punched by Jen in about an hour, after which she claimed she’d sprained her thumb. I told her she would have to toughen up, because once The Onion started calling and she had to churn out snarky story upon snarky story in record time, her thumb would have no reprieve.
Editor of FPO and co-founder of UnderConsideration LLC.
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FPO (For Print Only), is a division of UnderConsideration, celebrating the reality that print is not dead by showcasing the most compelling printed projects.
FPO uses Fonts.com to render Siseriff and Avenir Next.
FPO is run with Six Apart’s MovableType
All comments, ideas and thoughts on FPO are property of their authors; reproduction without the author’s or FPO’s permission is strictly prohibited
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UnderConsideration is a graphic design firm generating its own projects, initiatives, and content while taking on limited client work. Run by Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit in Bloomington, IN. More…
blogs we publish
Brand New / Displaying opinions and focusing solely on corporate and brand identity work.
Art of the Menu / Cataloguing the underrated creativity of menus from around the world.
Quipsologies / Chronicling the most curious, creative, and notable projects, stories, and events of the graphic design industry on a daily basis.
products we sell
Flaunt: Designing effective, compelling and memorable portfolios of creative work.
Brand New Conference videos / Individual, downloadable videos of every presentation since 2010.
Prints / A variety of posters, the majority from our AIforGA series.
Other / Various one-off products.
events we organize
Brand New Conference / A two-day event on corporate and brand identity with some of today's most active and influential practitioners from around the world.
Brand Nieuwe Conference / Ditto but in Amsterdam.
Austin Initiative for Graphic Awesomeness / A speaker series in Austin, TX, featuring some of the graphic design industry's most awesome people.
also
Favorite Things we've Made / In our capacity as graphic designers.
Projects we've Concluded / Long- and short-lived efforts.
UCllc News / Updates on what's going at the corporate level of UnderConsideration.
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