DL postcard printing

98 × 210 mm: that is the size of a DL postcard, as tall as an A5 card but about a third narrower. Slimmer and more refined than the classic A6 postcard, it is made for things you announce, celebrate or serve at the table: invitations, wedding and birth announcements, menus and thank-you cards, for private occasions as much as for clubs, restaurants and companies.

The DL postcard configurator opens on the 9.8 × 21 cm portrait format, on 300 g matt coated paper. This version can be ordered from 10 copies; for a wedding dinner with 80 guests and one menu per place setting, choose the 100 step. The configurator shows the price in CHF for each step straight away, and each card costs less as the print run grows.

What is the long card for?

The narrow format reads from top to bottom, which suits anything with a running order: a wedding invitation listing ceremony, apéro and party, a four-course menu, the programme for a club anniversary.

• Invitations and announcements: weddings, christenings, births, your company's New Year apéro.
• Menus: one card per place setting at a wedding dinner, the autumn game menu, the team Christmas dinner.
• Thank-you cards: after a company anniversary, for guests and partners, or after the wedding in a simple, elegant version.
• Letter inserts: an A4 sheet folded twice is almost exactly DL size, so your card slips into the same DL envelope as the letter, for instance as an invitation enclosed with a client mailing.

Designing from top to bottom

Set up your file at the finished size of 98 × 210 mm, which is 1157 × 2480 pixels at 300 dpi. If you prefer a landscape layout, with an Alpine panorama or the shore of Lake Zurich, switch to 21 × 9.8 cm in the configurator: you then need 2480 × 1157 pixels, so check that your photo is wide enough.

In portrait, think in three zones: title or names at the top, the running order with times and venue in the middle, RSVP date and contact details at the bottom. Generous spacing between the blocks makes a narrow card easier to read than small type. The print templates for postcards show how far backgrounds run into the bleed and where the safety margin for text begins; the printing glossary explains both terms. We check every file before production.

Fine papers for invitations, menus and galas

The starting setting, 300 g matt coated paper, is smooth and true to colour for photos. For an invitation people will keep, the Gmund papers and speciality boards in the configurator make the difference:

Occasion	Paper	Effect
Wedding invitation, engagement	450 g Gmund Cotton Max white or 300 g Gmund Linen paper	a cotton or linen texture you feel as the envelope opens
Birth announcement, christening	250 g pearl cardboard	a delicate pearly sheen
Menu on each place setting	400 g cream natural paper	warm tone, sturdy, guests' names can be added by hand
Winery, country party	350 g kraft paper or 320 g Gmund hemp 100 %	a raw, natural look
Gala evening	350 g black board	formal and festive, especially with foil

On black board, colour print barely shows: go for hot foil or white print where the configurator offers them for this paper. Gmund Linen paper, Gmund Used 0 and Gmund Bauhaus Dessau also come in an FSC® version. Before ordering the whole wedding run, you can feel the fine papers first with samples on request.

Names, date, logo: a targeted finish

On a long invitation, a finish works best when it highlights a single element. The couple's names or a company logo suit hot foil, in gold or copper for example. For a monogram or a family coat of arms, blind embossing and colourless letterpress are a good fit. On a menu, partial UV varnish picks out the title or the name of the winery. If the card stands on the table and is seen from both sides, Soft-Feel with relief varnish is also available on both sides; the other varnishes and laminations go on the front only. The configurator shows which finishes match your paper, and rounded corners soften the long silhouette.

The back is printed 4/1 by default: colour on the front, black on the back, enough for directions, parking or the RSVP date. With 4/4 the back is in colour too, for a map showing the venue, say. One order can hold up to 10 designs, handy for a bilingual wedding with the invitation in German and in French.

DL envelope and related sizes

To send the card on its own, choose our premium self-adhesive DL envelopes. Folded or bound menus for a restaurant are in the menus collection. The classic 105 × 148 mm postcard has its own page: A6 postcard printing. Our guide to print sizes compares all the dimensions.

Within Switzerland, delivery costs CHF 7.00 and is free on orders from CHF 100; the 8.1 % Swiss VAT is included in every price.