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 love Cafepress for it's one of a kind, unique products. Whenever i am looking for a unique gift i shop at Cafepress. Their products are high quality, customer service is great (they will send free replacement if something is off) and prices are reasonable.
Rating: 4 / 5
Nothing but positive! Great turn around times (cards were delivered much faster then expected) Amazing quality of both paper and print (super crispy colors) and the best customer service I've experienced so far.
Rating: 5 / 5
Typical large company: it's impossible to speak to a human besides someone in a call-center who knows nothing about printing!! Result: crap useless business cards. Used vistaprint to save money: in the end it costed me money, time and aggravation.
Rating: 2 / 5
Im happy with the Vistaprint quality offered at a great price. We chose the slowest (and most affordable) shipping option, the invitations we ordered showed up in no time! Unfortunately i made a spelling mistake and didnt notice until the printed invitation cards arrived at our house. I contacted Vistaprint about it and they were kind enough to re-print them at no extra cost. Good service from Vistaprint!
Rating: 5 / 5
Snapfish is useless: I ordered graduation invites from their website. A few minutes after i placed the order i realized there was a spelling error, so i tried to contact Snapfish about it. Their Live chat was totally useless, their phone support seems to be outsourced to some third world country. It took me over an hour to finally speak to someone who promised me they would correct the spelling error.
The cards just arrived at my house, and guess what: They did not correct the spelling error! Totally useless!!
Rating: 1 / 5