FAQ

Business Stationery

Business Stationery: What stocks do you use for business cards?

Our standard card ranges use uncoated stocks from G.F Smith, in the main Colorplan which offers a great range of colours, we also offer a 100% cotton stock option, and recycled stock options.  We can offer alternative cardstocks on request as part of our Bespoke Business Card option.

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Business Stationery: What weights of stocks do you offer for business cards?

Our Simply Letterpress and Premium Letterpress card ranges are on 540gsm board, this allows use to print on both sides if required and maintain a good level of impression with great quality print.

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Business Stationery: Can I have different stock weights for my business cards?

Yes, as part of our Bespoke Business Card option, you can choose your stock weights as part of your specification. Typically the lowest we’d recommend for business cards is 300/350gsm, the majority of cards we print are 540gsm to 1080gsm though we regularly print up to 1500 micron (1.5mm) for very heavyweight cards.

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Business Stationery: Can I have duplex, triplex or quadruplex cardstock?

Yes, we laminate to order so you specify exactly the make-up of your preferred stock. You can choose from our standard Colorplan stock colours in multiples of 270gsm at no extra cost in our Premium Range. You can choose from any one of the Colorplan 50 colours in our Bespoke Business Card option.

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Business Stationery: Can I obtain samples of your business card ranges?

Yes, we offer a range of sample cards and cardstock swatches. We make a small charge for samples to cover P&P etc. Click to view our Samples Page.

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Business Stationery: Can I have a foil printed business card, no letterpress?

Yes you can have a foil or letterpress only or a mix of the two, available using our Premium Range or Bespoke Business Card option.

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Business Stationery: What’s the difference between pigment and metallic foil colours?

Pigment colours have a flat appearance and are more difficult to get a clean print than metallics especially at small type sizes. Metallic and pigment foils are opaque so can be used on dark cardstock.

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Business Stationery: Can I get a foil to match a Pantone reference colour?

No, there are relatively few foils compared to Pantone colours, so choice is limited. We’ll do our best to obtain the colour nearest to your requirement if you can’t find one in our standard range.

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Business Stationery: Can I have you design a fully bespoke business card?

Yes, using our Bespoke Business Card option we provide a full design and print service as required. Working from your brief or specification we can provide a fully bespoke design and layout including logo etc.

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Business Stationery: Can I provide my own logo?

Yes, we can design a logo or incorporate an existing logo assuming it meets some basic quality and file type qualifications. Please call or email for details.

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Business Stationery: Can I provide my own artwork?

We offer a print only service for graphic professionals and trade clients. We work from supplied press ready artwork, and have developed a Guide to Creating Press Ready Artwork to help you.

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Business Stationery: Can I choose a specific typeface?

Yes we can generally provide a particular typeface in our Bespoke Business Card option, there may be a charge for us to obtain if we don’t have the font in our library.

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Business Stationery: What’s the lead time for your business cards?

We work on time from approval to print, which is usually 10-15 working days to despatch, though we do have a “rush service” if you need your cards in a hurry – however there is a charge for this option.

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Business Stationery: Can I have other business stationery to match my business cards?

Yes, we can provide various options with regard to letterheads, continuation sheets, compliment slips, correspondence cards etc, all as part of our business stationery package.

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Custom Design & Print

Custom Design & Print: Do you undertake custom letterpress projects?

We’re always eager to look at a custom job, and often the trickier the better, as we like to get stuck in to something that’s a bit of a challenge. Please contact us with details of your project.

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Custom Design & Print: What type of custom projects do you undertake?

We’re happy to look at most projects, though our speciality is in short run precision work. Please view our Custom Printing page for more details on our capability and services.

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Custom Design & Print: How does your custom letterpress design & print work?

It’s very straightforward. We receive from you, or jointly create, a project brief to work to, and for us to provide a budgetary price from. Once agreed we ask for a 50% deposit and we start work on the detail design, after review and any changes we look for your approval to print and when given get on with the job of printing.

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General

General: Where are you based?

We’re very lucky to work and live in rural North Yorkshire, in the U.K. We are however easy to reach from both the A1 and A19.

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General: How long have you been in business?

We started Noble Fine Art in 2001, specialising in fine art, traditional printing and bookmaking. We’re very fortunate to have grown the business but still be able to enjoy the making process that inspired us to start out.

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General: Can I visit your studio?

Yes, we’re always pleased to receive visitors by appointment. We offer consultations with regard to wedding and business stationery in particular, which can be very useful for us and our clients. Just call or email to arrange a visit.

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General: Where is the design and printing done?

We do all the design and printwork in our studio, we do almost everything in house which allows us to control schedule and most importantly quality. Experience has shown us that there’s no better way than to take the time to invest in skills that serve us well in the longer term.

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General: Do you accept designs from others to print?

Yes, we offer a print only service to graphic professionals or trade clients. We work from client supplied press ready artwork and have created a Guide to Creating Press Ready Artwork to help you. Please call or email with any questions.

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General: Can I obtain samples of your work?

Yes, we offer samples of most of our work. You can for example buy sample business cards and wedding stationery, the price of samples is often refunded against an order. Please click here to order samples.

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General: Do you create bespoke designs?

We offer a full range of services and products, which includes a fully bespoke design and print service. We’re very happy to work to a brief and specification or from a blank sheet, we’ll provide whatever level of service or input our clients require.

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General: Do I get to see proofs of my order?

We print nothing without our client’s instruction, which is always based on approval of a proof. Typically we send proofs electronically, but you can opt to have a paper proof sent by post if required. The proofs are not printed letterpress, as this would be prohibitively expensive, but digital representations.

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General: How long does it take to print?

We work from print approval to despatch for production, typically business cards and correspondence cards are 10-15 working days, wedding stationery around 20 working days. We offer a “rush” service if you need your order in a hurry, though this is subject to availability and an additional charge.

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General: What is letterpress printing?

Letterpress is a low tech’ high skill printing method.  Initially developed over 500yrs ago it’s now a highly stylised technique creating a print with a unique look and feel.  Letterpress prints one colour at a time (spot colour), so each colour requires a separate pass through the press and each character or graphic shape is impressed into the print stock.

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General: Do you offer a digital print service?

Yes, but our digital print is mainly a support option for our letterpress wedding stationery. We have very good quality large format colour laser and inkjet printers but it’s not a service we typically offer unless specifically requested.

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General: What kind of paper/cardstock do you print on?

Letterpress works best on what’s called uncoated paper stock, this is where we print directly onto the fibres used to create the paper. Usually the stock is either a wood pulp mix or cotton, each has it’s own merits – so we choose for the application.

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General: What’s your environmental policy?

Printing has an undeserved reputation, from a time long past, for being wasteful and less than sensitive to the environment. Today the truth is much less dramatic and much more commercial, no print business can afford to be anything but very careful indeed about energy conservation, transport costs, and waste management etc. We endeavour to locally source whenever possible, we recycle all our waste stock, use the best environmentally sensitive options in our  process and are diligent in keeping our general waste to an absolute minimum.

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General: Can I have recycled cardstock for my stationery?

Yes, we have a number of recycled stocks in our standard range, though there are often compromises that have to be made in the look, feel and print quality when using recycled material. Please call or email for details.

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Press Ready Artwork

Press Ready Artwork: Do you accept press ready artwork?

We offer a letterpress print service for graphic professionals and trade clients. We work from your press ready artwork to our guidelines, please have a look at our Guide to Creating Press Ready Artwork.

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Press Ready Artwork: What type of files do you accept?

We accept Illustrator and InDesign, files for production, with all type outlined. Our preference is for vector images, though we can accept Bitmap Tiff’s at full size and1200dpi. For more details on outputting for letterpress printing please have a look at our Guide to Creating Press Ready Artwork.

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Press Ready Artwork: How does colour work with letterpress?

Letterpress is a spot colour process, each colour is applied in a separate pass through the press. The inks used are translucent so are affected by the cardstock colour, so to obtain colour accurate results a white stock is required. We’d recommend choosing your Pantone colour reference from the printed Pantone swatch not on screen as it can vary considerably. For more information please have a look at our Guide to Creating Press Ready Artwork.

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Press Ready Artwork: Can I print large areas of colour?

Letterpress has a particular weakness with large graphic areas of colour if your requirement is for the colour to be fully resolved. Large fill areas tend to have a slightly diffused look to them, depending on the stock, ink, pressure etc.

For more information please have a look at our Guide to Creating Press Ready Artwork.

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Press Ready Artwork: How do I show colour and any special process’ on my artwork file?

Each colour and special process, perforating, creasing etc should be shown created on a separate layer. We need to able to view and extract individual layers to enable us to make the printing plates. Please have a look at our Guide to Creating Press Ready Artwork.

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Press Ready Artwork: What’s the smallest type size you can print?

Legibility’s the key here, letterpress is capable of printing very small type. As a rule most of our clients don’t drop below around 8pt, though this can change from font to font as the size can vary. Please have a look at our Guide to Creating Press Ready Artwork.

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Wedding Stationery

Wedding Stationery: Can you create a line drawing of my venue or church?

Yes, we use an image supplied or approved by you and draw by hand to create an image specifically for use on any item of stationery we print for you. Please call or email for details.

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Wedding Stationery: Do you offer Guest Books?

We offer a personalised hand bound guest book with your details, monogram, or line drawing printed on the cover. The first internal page is personalised with your wedding details, all supplied in a keepsake box. Please contact call or email us for details.

 

If you can’t find the answer to any of your questions on this page, please view our comprehensive Wedding Stationery Guide, or if you’d prefer to ask us directly please call or email.

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Wedding Stationery: Do you offer thank you cards?

We have a number of standard thank you cards, letterpress or digital options with an image from your wedding. You can order these on line via our Wedding Shop, or directly by contacting us.

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Wedding Stationery: Can you print my menus and place cards?

Yes, we can print these in a variety of styles, with or without your guest names as required. You can order these on line via our Wedding Shop, or directly by contacting us.

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Wedding Stationery: Can you print my seating plan?

Yes, we have a range of standard seating plans to match our invitation styles. You can order these on line via our Wedding Shop, or directly by contacting us.

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Wedding Stationery: What’s the difference between Order of Service and Order of the Day?

Order of Service is a generally a booklet which contains hymns, readings, and other details for the congregation. Order of the Day is often a printed card with details of what’s happening and when during the day. We of course offer both items if required.

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Wedding Stationery: Can I have my reception stationery match my invitations?

Most of our clients follow the style, theme, colours etc through to their reception stationery, your designer will be happy to discuss the options with you.

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Wedding Stationery: When should I order my Information Sheets or RSVP Cards?

Information Sheets and RSVP Cards are usually ordered with your invitations, though can be ordered later if required. You can view a timeline for your stationery in our Wedding Stationery Guide.

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Wedding Stationery: What other items should I send with my invitations?

Many of our clients choose to add Information Sheets – providing your guests with all of the details of your wedding, and/or RSVP Cards or RSVP Postcards to confirm attendance and any special dietary requirements. We can provide Information Sheets and RSVP Cards for all of our invitations.

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Wedding Stationery: How much does it generally cost to send invitations in the post?

Usually our invitations are sent as a ‘large letter’, but you should always ask the Post Office to check them before you buy the stamps!

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Wedding Stationery: What are my options for Evening Invitations?

Many of our clients opt to have letterpress printed day invitations and digitally printed evening invitations, this simplifies the design and keeps the costs lower. You’ll find evening invitations options for each of our products.

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Wedding Stationery: I’m working to a budget, what are my options?

Most of our clients are working to a budget and we’ve designed a wide range of invitation options with this in mind. We don’t compromise on quality but can suggest a number of alternatives to reduce cost. Please call or email for details.

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Wedding Stationery: Do I need to send Save the Dates?

Save the Dates are a kindness to your guests, giving them ample notice to ensure they can make arrangements well in advance to attend. We would recommend you sending them if your wedding or event is at key times of the year such as, Bank Holidays, Christmas and New Year, Easter or during summer holidays, of if you’re getting married overseas.  Save the Dates should be sent around 12 months prior to your event.

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Wedding Stationery: Can I choose or change the typefaces on my invitations?

Generally yes, please view our Wedding Stationery Guide for typeface choices. There are some stylised invitations which we don’t offer in different typefaces, but most will allow you to choose your typefaces and ornaments.

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Wedding Stationery: Can I choose my ink and/or ribbon colours?

Yes, we offer a range of standard inks & ribbon colours for you to choose from – there’s no additional charge for choosing from our standard colour options, please view our Wedding Stationery Guide for choices. We’ll also mix a bespoke ink to match a swatch, or order a bespoke ribbon to fit with your colour theme, there’s a small charge (+30.00) for each of these services.

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Wedding Stationery: Do you charge for proofs and design changes for wedding stationery?

Proofing is free for the first three rounds and almost all of clients complete their design within this. When you’ve completed detailing your stationery with your designer we’ll provide a first proof as an electronic file by email, you can then make any necessary changes, we’ll send another proof for approval or further amendments. Should you require further proofs over three we apply a charge of £15.00 per round.

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Wedding Stationery: Can I make changes to my order?

Yes, we’re often asked to make changes during the design process. Just ask your personal designer about making any changes you require and they’ll advise and confirm, it’s very straightforward. Changes after print approval can be more of a problem, when you approve we immediately start the print process so it may be impossible to make any changes after this point without incurring additional costs. You should contact us immediately if this occurs, we’ll stop the print process to limit any further costs.

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Wedding Stationery: How long does it take to print my wedding stationery?

Our standard lead time to despatch is 20 working days from print approval, though we do have an Express Service if you need your stationery in a hurry. The Express Service is 10 working days to despatch, and is an option available when you specify and place your order.

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Wedding Stationery: When do I pay for my order?

When you’re ready to accept our quotation and the specification has been agreed we’ll ask for a 50% deposit and start the detail design phase. We won’t print anything without your written approval, and when your project’s ready for despatch of collection we’ll ask for the balance to be paid. The exception to this is for bespoke line drawings for which we ask for full payment for the drawing at the time of your order.

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Wedding Stationery: How do I place my order?

Have a look through our products online and give one of our designers a call or email to start a discussion. Your dedicated designer will ask some questions about style, numbers, and other details to give you a budgetary price and a preliminary proof of your stationery.

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Wedding Stationery: How many invitations should I order?

A general rule of thumb is 50% of your guest numbers plus around 10%. So 120 guests would be 60 + 6 invitations. It’s worth making a detailed list and perhaps adding a few extra invitations to your order as a reprint can be very expensive.

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Wedding Stationery: When should I order my invitations?

We’d be happy to provide a timeline for your stationery based on your wedding date. However for general planning we’d suggest ordering around 6 months prior to your wedding. You can view a timeline for your stationery in our Wedding Stationery Guide.

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Wedding Stationery: Can I add finishing touches like ribbon, diamantes, calligraphy or foiling?

Yes all these options are available as standard to allow you the freedom to create. Your dedicated designer will advise you on your options, please call or email for details.

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Wedding Stationery: Can I personalise my invitations?

Yes, you can create your own tailored invitation. You can choose from a wide range of options to create perfect stationery unique to you. Your dedicated designer will advise you on your options. Please call or email for details.

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