Print is the starting point but there are many options available to enhance the finished piece that may be considered. I have pulled together some which are worth thinking about. If you wish to find out more on any of these we are happy to discuss.

Foil

Foil is used on many products we touch each day. Commonly on food packaging and when used in marketing collaterol it usually would be to demonstrate a premium luxury piece. The methods used to achieve this vary. For packaging usually with high volume it can be reasonable to use cold lamination which is fast and done in line with lithographic speeds.  The set up involved could not be justified with most promotional campaigns. So the most common way we achieve this is to hot foil stamp on a cylinder or platten.  For this we first produce a block which will be reusable should the job repeat. The block is heated and compressed to the material with the foil sandwiched between. There are many options of foil available gold & silver being most common with a range of colours including holographic or clear.  We also have digital foiling for short run jobs which is quite new and currently restricted to certain stocks but can definitely make your work stand out.

Emboss / deboss

This process is very similar to foil only we don’t require the heat. The block is the same but there is a second part as it requires a male and female to be compressed with the material sandwiched between. It is optional to foil and emboss at the one image. Again the touch of the finished product would give a premium feel.

Die cut

Well it is what it says. Cutting shapes of any design you wish.  We see it everywhere, folders with pockets, cards with rounded corners. Anything that is not finished with straight cuts at right angles. Marketers are constantly generating new ideas to make there campaign memorable. We have seen many clever designs from iPhone to various fruits shapes. A cutting forme needs to be produced but would be long lasting. For shorter productions digital die-cutting is now available.

Spot UV

Spot UV is still a very popular way of high-lighting aspects of the design. The look is high gloss and often can make an image or logo for example really stand out. This is screen printed so we must make a mesh first to apply the varnish.

Lamination

Lamination is the process of applying a fine plastic layer to the printed piece. It would not always be considered environmentally friendly on one hand. However acting as a protection to ware and tear helping the item to last longer would counter that argument. In many cased it would be essential, such as menus which may be handled frequently.  Lamination also protects against cracking on folds with heavier materials. There are many special options of lamination but the most commonly used are matt, gloss and to a lesser extent soft touch.