Printing services
for Seattle, WA.

Printing for the way Seattle does business.

Seattle is software, aerospace, coffee and biotech, and it hands out surprisingly few business cards, so the ones it does hand out have to be good.

Seattle’s economy is the largest tech and cloud companies in the world, aerospace across the region, a global health and biotech cluster in South Lake Union, and a food and coffee culture that exports itself. South Lake Union and downtown carry the tech and the offices; Capitol Hill, Ballard and Fremont carry the restaurants, studios and independents; the Eastside carries the rest of the tech.

Seattle print is minimal and slightly reluctant. People here hand over a card only when it matters, so it should be considered: matte, small type, one idea. Postcards and flyers do well in the neighbourhoods, where a coffee shop board is still a real channel. Sales sheets matter for anyone selling into the big campuses.

Where print earns its keep in Seattle.

Print works differently in different parts of a city. These are the places in Seattle where a printed piece tends to do the most work, and the piece that usually suits each one.

South Lake Union and downtown. Tech and biotech. Minimal cards and a sales sheet that gets the details right.

Capitol Hill, Ballard and Fremont. Restaurants, bars, studios and shops. Postcards and flyers with real design.

Pike Place Market and the waterfront. Visitors and makers. Rack cards and postcards visitors keep.

The Seattle Convention Center. Tech and medical conferences. A retractable banner and a sales sheet.

One clear purpose. The right piece of paper.

What Seattle tends to order. Seattle hands out cards carefully, so business cards lean minimal: matte or uncoated stock, small type, one idea. Sales sheets matter for anyone pitching into the big tech and biotech campuses, where a packet gets read before a meeting is granted. Rack cards and postcards suit the working waterfront and the makers around Pike Place. In a city of apartments and condo towers, mailed postcards often reach a household more reliably than a door hanger, which matters in Ballard as much as any subdivision.

Put a readable name first, then one line about what you do, then the one contact route you want people to use. A finish should support that, never make it harder to read.

Make the whole set feel like your business.

A Seattle note. Seattle likes quiet design: greys, greens, a clean sans-serif, a matte finish. Uncoated stock fits the city’s taste. Keep the card to a name, a role and one contact route, and let the QR code on the back do the rest.

A brand does not need every piece to look identical, only a consistent voice, a deliberate palette and type that works at several sizes. Bring your logo, or start from nothing: print product design is $97 and logo design is $250, set up for the product and finish you picked.

Plan around the day you need it in hand.

Work backward from the day the materials have to be ready, and leave room for artwork, the proof, production and shipping. Each product page states its own time on press: two to three business days for most cards and postcards once you approve your proof, three to four for soft touch and door hangers, seven to twelve for the XL banner. Shipping sits on top of that. Give us the delivery address and your date when you order, with a receiving name if it is going to a venue, a hotel or a shared office. If the date is fixed, say so and we will tell you whether it is possible before you pay.

Getting print into Seattle. Seattle's hills and one-way arterials make a short-looking trip across town slower than the map suggests. Downtown and Capitol Hill towers are typically secured buildings with a concierge or dock that wants a name and suite ahead of time. Islands such as Bainbridge or Vashon sit inside the metro but are reached by ferry, so a delivery there is its own trip, not an extension of the mainland. Damp winters can soften a box left on a porch, so bringing deliveries in promptly matters here.

Mailing in Seattle. For postcards by route, Ballard, Wallingford, Queen Anne and West Seattle are neighbourhoods where a mailer reaches households and gets read.

Give the file your full attention.

Use the artwork guide on the product you picked, because the finished size, the bleed and the safe area are not the same for every format. Upload a PDF, PNG or JPG and the size, bleed and resolution are checked in your browser, then your proof arrives by email and nothing goes to press until you approve it. Read your own details out loud when it lands: names, numbers, web addresses, dates, spelling and which side is which. If there is a QR code, scan it yourself.