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
Using the holiday sale offer saved a nice amount on my holiday cards offer. Their quality was good, colours were vibrant and the stock was of good quality. Most importantly: delivery wa on time (2 days later) Like every year I was late with my order, so there wern't a lot of options to get my cards done in time. When i saw the offer from Overnight prints i took it, and looking back im glad i did.
Rating: 5 / 5
I love Cafepress, this company has the best customer service: My sister ordered a printed sweatshirt for my son from them. Unfortunately it didn't fit him (the sweatshirt was to large). We contacted RMA and within a few hours they replied: we will send you a new one in the correct size. we didn't have to ship the old one back, which saved me postage and a trip to the postoffice. I never had this happen before, very impressed by Cafepress!
Rating: 5 / 5
Inkgarden rules! I'm a sucker for personalized plates and I will use any excuse to order some; my mother's wedding, Christmas season or a new neighbor. They're not super sturdy but they hold on pretty well. I started by ordering some of the designs they feature but soon started making my own. This spring I had to order some personalized hoodies for a marathon so it was obvious I would use InkGarden. The print was flawless and everyone loved them! Have to agree with Aurora Martin, if you don’t use a modern camera the photo won’t print out very good.
Rating: 5 / 5
Fist time ive tried vistaprint. They seemed to be a good option for photobooks, spend days creating and now i cannot upload. Been on call with their customers support for almost an hour now. I guess they are cheap for a reson.
Rating: 3 / 5
Have used Cafepress many times, and have absolutely nothing but praise for them. I have recently ordered t-shirts in the wrong size, and also got a mug with a hairline crack along the bottom, causing it to leak droplets of water, but within 30 mins of emailing, I received a response.
They even sent out a replacement mug and told me to the keep the old one, and the same for one of the t-shirts I had bought - that's $25 Dollars and a lot of hassle they saved me, even-though i would have happily returned it.
Best service, i definitely recommend!
Rating: 5 / 5