Printing your cards
Every upload gives you a PDF for printing as well as a picture file (a PNG) for each card. Cards are 3.5 by 5.5 inches, the standard US QSL size, and they are drawn at 300 dots per inch, which is full print quality. The PDF comes in four layouts, so pick the one that matches your printer or your print shop.
The four presets
Letter 3-up with margins. US Letter, portrait, three landscape cards stacked down the page with a quarter inch at the top and bottom and cut guides between them. This is the safe choice for any home printer, because every printer can reach a quarter inch margin. Three cards per sheet.
Letter 4-up borderless. US Letter with four portrait cards in a two by two grid. Four per sheet is tempting, but read the next section first. It only prints true to size on a printer that can print borderless.
A4 4-up. A4 paper with four cards in a two by two grid and cut guides. A4 is taller and narrower than Letter, so there is room for small margins and no borderless requirement.
Print shop, with bleed and crop marks. One card per page, drawn at trim size plus 3.175 mm (one eighth of an inch) of bleed on every side, with crop marks outside the bleed. The PDF carries TrimBox and BleedBox entries, which is what a commercial shop's imposition software looks for. Send this file when a shop is printing and cutting for you, and tell them the trim size is 3.5 by 5.5 inches. If your design has no bleed of its own, the artwork is scaled slightly to fill the bleed area, which is the normal prepress fallback.
Why Letter 4-up needs a borderless printer
Two cards at 5.5 inches add up to exactly 11 inches, the full height of a Letter sheet. There is no room for a margin at all. A printer that cannot print to the edge will either shrink the page to fit its printable area, which makes every card slightly smaller than 3.5 by 5.5, or clip the top and bottom edges of the outer cards. Neither is what you want on a card someone may measure for an award.
So use Letter 4-up only if your printer has a borderless mode and you turn it on in the print dialog. If you are not sure, print one sheet, cut one card, and check it with a ruler. If it is short, switch to Letter 3-up, which gives up one card per sheet in exchange for working everywhere.
Print settings that matter
- Print at 100 percent, Actual Size, or Scale 100. Never Fit to Page, which quietly resizes the sheet.
- Turn off any automatic rotation or centering option in the driver.
- Choose the paper type that matches your stock so the printer lays down the right amount of ink.
- Cut on the guides with a rotary trimmer or a guillotine rather than scissors. Straight edges are most of what makes a home-printed card look printed.
Card stock
Use 12 point stock or heavier. That is roughly the weight of a store-bought postcard, around 100 pound cover in US paper terms. Lighter stock, such as 65 pound cover, bends in the mail and feels flimsy in the hand. Most home inkjets and laser printers handle 12 point through the rear or straight-through feed; check your printer's maximum paper weight, and feed heavy stock a few sheets at a time.
A matte or satin finish takes ink well and can be written on with a pen, which matters because many operators still add a note by hand. Glossy photo paper looks good for photo cards but needs a photo-capable inkjet, and ballpoint pens skate on it. Bright white gives the truest colors; a natural or cream stock suits a classic ruled design.
For a print shop, ask for 12 point or 14 point cover coated on one side, printed side coated and the back uncoated for writing, and tell them the trim size and that your file has an eighth inch bleed with crop marks. Most shops have a postcard price list that already fits.