Should I Pay Someone to Design My Comp Cards or Print My Own?

So you're getting started as a model. You'll need a few things: a portfolio and a set of comp cards.

Obviously, you'll need a professional photographer to take some pictures for your portfolio. You get what you pay for, and your portfolio will suffer if you try to do this yourself with a low end camera or cell phone.

What's less obvious, though, is whether you really need a graphic designer (or a photographer) to put together your comp cards. There are plenty of digital printing companies that can handle the printing. So why shouldn't you design the cards yourself? And... is it worth it?

Considering the Price Trade-off

First, you should think about how much you'll save.

On the one hand, you can pay someone to design and print the cards for you. This kind of all-in-one service will vary somewhat in price. The cheapest price you'll find online for comp card printing is about $60 per 50 cards. Depending on the quality and quantity of cards you want, you could end up paying upwards of $100.

On the other hand, you can design the cards yourself and have a digital printer do the printing for you. There are tons of options, like Vista Print and UPrinting. The cheapest price you'll find is probably in the neighborhood of $40 per 50 cards, and up from there.

Your cost savings? About $20 to $25 by doing it yourself.

What Do I Need to Do This?

Let's assume you want to save that $20. What do you need in order to design and print your own zed cards?

You'll need some design software. Adobe InDesign and Adobe Photoshop are the premier graphic design programs, and either one would be perfect. They're also exceedingly expensive. You could also use an open source (and free) alternative like Gimp or Scribus. However, the learning curve on these programs is typically somewhat higher than the more user-friendly Adobe programs.

Your life will also be easier if you have some kind of template to work from. You can find some free InDesign templates on the Internet. The advantage here is that you can simply drop your photos in without worrying about the more detailed aspect of the design. You might have more trouble finding free templates for the free, open source programs, though. It may also help to look through some sample comp cards to get a feel for how they're typically designed.

You'll also need a digital printer lined up. Printing at home on your inkjet is unadvisable, as is going to a place like Kinkos. You want to balance quality with cost, and find a high-quality digital printer that won't gouge you on prices. There are dozens of printers out there, and you'll have to weigh the pros and cons of each, keeping in mind things like paper quality, color reproduction, and finish.

Is It Worth It?

Well, that's up to you. If you have a budget approaching zero dollars, then it's probably worth it for you to invest time to learn how to use Scribus or Gimp, design the cards, and find your own printer.

If you have a budget, however, consider this. Your saving about $20 by designing the cards yourself. In exchange for that $20, you'll need to find and learn a design program, find or create a design, and find the most cost effective printer. How long will all of that take? If you can accomplish this in an hour, then you're coming out ahead. But let's say it takes you a total of 6 hours to complete all these tasks. You just paid yourself about $3/hour to design your own comp cards, while you could have outsourced that task to someone who is better prepared to complete it.

Sometimes it's better to just pay a professional to do what they do best, so you can use your time to do what you want to do.