The Virtues of vistaprint.com (Yes, There Are Actually a Couple...)

One day, a friend showed me two separate business cards that looked exactly the same. I assumed they'd been given to him from different businesspersons within the same organization, and confused I asked "Okay, why are you showing me this?"

Then he nudged me to take a closer look, and I realized these were two different companies, with the exact same business card design! It seemed both these local businesses had selected the same 'template' from vistaprint.com, and both had had occasion to do business with my friend that day.

Laughable coincidence, maybe—but at the time, one I'd never seen before. It was heresy. I mean, by nature, the very reason for having an identity is to set yourself apart—not to look just like someone else. What fool would sabotage themselves this way?

As crazy as that was to me, I've since come to understand—or at least come to terms with—how these low-budget solutions such as vistaprint.com can actually be a godsend. Not just for struggling entrepreneurs, but also for us designers. We now have somewhere to refer clients who complain about how outrageous our fees are! (Just tell 'em to go 'pick a template' somewhere...)

Don't get me wrong—I don't see all this as some kind of twisted democratization or 'leveling of the playing field.' It's just about people now having more affordable options. And I'm glad my 'financially challenged' clients now have somewhere they can go, even if the design or production standard isn't as high as I would have insured for them. (Well, you get what you pay for!) With any luck, they'll come back once they can afford some real design, right?

Well, maybe and maybe not. It's like raising children: At a certain point, you've just got to let them do what they will. They're going to anyway...