Posted by Olivia dela Rosa on October 23, 2014
With all the printed materials and designs that we have right now, my eyes get pretty tired seeing the same old thing over and over again. There's nothing new in the market and nothing really stands out anymore. Though I don't find this totally wrong, the lack of inspiration is what frustrates me. A good design not only ignites something in you, it also challenges you to seek out and push the limits. It calls you to try and think of something new until you find the perfect design you need.
After searching endlessly throughout the Web, I found comfort after seeing these letterpress cards. Letterpress is basically a printing process that uses a movable type - reversed and raised letters and images made of metal or wood - which is then inked and impressed upon the paper and often with sort of an indentation from the pressure, creating a debossed effect. Its first use is dated back in the 15th century, used widely in printing books back then but has moved to business cards and wedding invitations later on. If you decide to do it yourself, you might find it labor-intensive but once you see the results you might consider the whole thing worth it.
Scroll through to see our thoroughly selected letterpress cards and discover new designs for your next project. Happy exploring!


Happy Notes from Anthropologie

Alexandra Huckabay by Print&Grain


Roar Projects by Principle Design



Bonjour Letterpress Card via Etsy

Letterpress cards by Colorquarry via Etsy




A Little Bird by Belinda Love Lee


Brad Goreski business cards by Sarah Drake Designs

Bon Voyage notecards by Inhaus Press

Letterpress wedding invitations by Minted

Greeting card by Denotecard via Etsy


Wedding invitation by Print & Promise via Etsy

Pinup Art letterpress card by Ink Pop Studio via Etsy

Wright & Goebel by The Working Assembly


Type Letterpress Desk Calendar by iSkelter

Hooray postcard by Parrott Design Studio via Etsy


Wondrous Co. by Mitch Bartlett




Ten Thousand business cards by The Distillery

2011 Holiday Word Search greeting card via Dolcepress
Enjoying so far? If you'd like to see more design inspirations, go and explore the rest of the site. Who knows, you might also end up getting the printing deal of your life with all the discounts we're offering!
Restaurant branding and design idea's
Square business card design examples
Business card dimensions and paper weight
Electronic business cards with NFC technology
Wikipedia: Letterpress
I prefer Print Place over any other printing company and have been using them for years. They are my one stop shop for any printing job. Service level is wonderful, product quality excellent. The only negative i can think of are their outrageous shipping rates if you order multiple products. They really need to fix that.
Rating: 4 / 5
I absolutely love Cafepress! I have ordered from small stickers to shower curtains and pillows. The t-shirts are very well done and the design lasts for years; I have a dino tshirt that I bought two years ago and it still looks brand new. Super great service and fast delivery, Cafepress never disappointed me!
Rating: 5 / 5
We used Overnightprints for our wedding invitation cards. The marriage was planned for a long time. Our initial plan was to celebrate it with a small circle of friends and family. Just 10 days before the wedding we finally decided to trow a huge party - you only marry once! Needless to say it was stressful to change things in the very last moment. We needed our wedding invitation cards FAST, read the review on overnight prints on this site and decided to use them for printing our invites. Everything turned out wonderful for us: The cards were delivered within 24 hours and the quality was wonderful. Overnight prints - for us - is a company you can count on.
Rating: 5 / 5
I used Print Place only once and was satisfied with their service. My business cards looked very professional and they even spotted a typo which they corrected for me. After reading some online reviews I decided to give them a go and I'll use them for my future projects. Very satisfied, professional service.
Rating: 5 / 5
Being their customer for several years and never encountered any problems before, the last order was dissapointing. The quality of the photo's was grainy, but they did solve the manner and reprinted my invitation cards free of charge.
Rating: 4 / 5