8 Benefits of using coloured card stocks for printing

You get to work with new, exciting colours.

Coloured boards are dyed which means you can work with colours that cannot be replicated using full colour printing. Everything from pastel and intense colours to metallic or even eye-catching neon colours are available! This allows a lot of creative play for premium Coloured Card Business Cards, as well as, stationery and invitations!

coloured card stock printing

Uncoated coloured card stocks have a premium look and finish.

If you take white uncoated card and digitally print it, the toner adds a glossy sheen to the card. This can give it a cheaper looking appearance. Coloured cards have a natural matt finish as the fibers of the stock are dyed.

black ink on black card spot UV effect

Free spot UV type effects.

Since coloured card has a natural matt finish, the glossy sheen digital toner creates contrasts beautifully with the uncoated finish of the card, creating subtle spot UV type effects - just by using ink! (Did we mention this effect is free?) A popular approach with this is printing black ink on black card, but you can also use blue on blue, red on red etc. This works really well with background patterns too.

Eliminate colour variation.

Have you ever tried to print your business cards, flyers, price lists and stationery a specific colour, such as cream? Every printer, press and print run is a different colour. This is part and parcel of using CMYK process printing; you will always get colour variation and should expect a 10% shift in colour between runs. This is not great when you are trying to get everything to match, and it's a common concern we hear from our customers. They have had business cards from us, but their folder printing company has not been able to get the same colour. Selecting and using a coloured stock will eliminate this issue, as the same colour card can be used throughout all your printing.

coloured cards vs printed card

No banding/streaking.

Standard digital printing involves printing a specific colour on white card stock, e.g. a dark blue. When using digital printing, you often gets lines/banding with a slight variation in colour depth. Dyed card stocks do not have this issue, because the paper fibers are dyed a specific colour. You will get a gorgeous solid colour across the whole sheet when the card is dyed.

duotone edges

No ink flaking/cracking on the edges during guillotining.

This is mainly prevalent on textured card stocks or coated/uncoated boards that do not have a laminate finish protecting the surface. During guillotining, the ink cracks/flakes along the trimmed edge revealing the white card underneath. By using a dyed card stock, the fibers of the card are the same colour throughout, which means when the job is guillotined there are no white edges of the card to show, resulting in a much better finish.

coloured core

Duotone edges and coloured cores.

In a world where everyone is looking to make their business card stand out, duotone edges and coloured cores are a unique and eye-catching benefit of using coloured stocks. The edges of coloured stocks match the surface colour, so by duplexing or triplexing (gluing together) different coloured card stocks, you can create a myriad of exciting edge colour combinations.

white ink on coloured card

White ink!

Yep, it’s a thing. We are constantly surprised by the number of customers who ask us what white ink printing is or how it works? Many of them don’t even realise it is an available option. Digital white ink printing is cost effective for short runs and can create some great effects on coloured stocks. A lot of our business cards orders combine coloured stocks, white ink printing and foil stamping. Cards made with these combinations never fail to impress, and we often find the customer keeps coming back again and again, due to the positive feedback they receive when handing them out. Setting up files for white ink printing can be a little bit confusing, but our friendly Artwork Team are always available to help. We can print solid white, gradients of white and we can even invert black and white photographs. Designs can also be set up to use a white underpin, which involves printing white under light colours to ensure they stand out on darker card stocks. White ink can be used on coloured paper ranges, kraft, metallic card, holographic card and many more!

hot foil on coloured card

Coloured card stocks are excellent for foil stamping.

Hot stamping foils are opaque which means you can use any foil colour on any card colour. As an example, gloss white foil stamping looks stunning on black card stock, the white foils is opaque and really 'pops' against the black card. In addition, unlike foiling on laminate finishes, you can get a nice debossed indentation with the foil on uncoated coloured cards. This combination is almost always used for the most luxurious invitations and businesses cards. It's very popular for wedding invitations.

As the popularity of coloured card stock continues to grow, many designers and brand agencies are now incorporating coloured card stocks in to branding projects. There are also more coloured card colours being added all the time. GF Smith recently launched four brand new colours to their Colorplan range including Slate, Chartreuse, Hot Pink and Rust. Watch this range continue to expand, as businesses and individuals embrace the multitude of benefits of coloured papers!