You may be familiar with printing techniques like litho or offset printing which uses wet inks and plates, thermography printing that employs heat and digital printing with dry toners but have you considered foil printing and embossing as a way for your printed material to stand out from the crowd? Market leaders including IPW1 in London offer a full service including design so you can enjoy confidence that foil or embossed finishes are the right choices for you.
Perhaps you are sending out invitations to an event, striving to impress with packaging that speaks of the luxury your brand represents or want to highlight that your legal firm is successful by embossing your letterheads. Maybe you want to personalise a book collection with exquisite foiling on the spines or add style to certificates being awarded to graduates or a workforce? Public holidays and events including Christmas, Valentines Day and Easter based merchandise can maximise their aesthetic appeal with embossing and metallics that echo the decorations and vibrancy of the celebration. Foil can also be used as a security device on items, something that other printing techniques cannot deliver. Using foil or embossing work for corporate literature or brand packaging does not adversely affect the environment or diminish the recyclability of the paper or card that it enhances.
What is foil printing?
Foil printing uses matt or gloss foil and a layer of paper or other prepared surface to print the most eye catching, precise and attractive designs and text for company packaging, business cards, compliments slips, invitations and leaflets.
Heat and pressure combine as a die punches a microscopically thin layer of metal onto the surface being printed. As if by magic, a mesmerising effect is achieved. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by the wide range of colours available for hot foil printing and the effects of a hologram, iridescent colours and metallics. Your brand’s colour or your personal event’s theme can be represented beautifully without prohibitive fees. The best results are achieved with bold, captivating designs that are always printed on to a level, clean substrate.
Embossing and debossing
Embossing is a simple but effective tool on printed materials that provides aesthetic appeal, communicates about the brand and has an excellent return on investment in monetary and positivity terms. Its process is similar to foil printing. A block is created that raises or depresses the printing of specific words, images or logos on a base layer, for example card, producing embossed or debossed items that shine out at the recipient or onlooker.
Again, the variety of colours ensures that you achieve the perfect result for your needs. .
A Combination?
Why not allow your imagination to play. Foil printing and embossing are often used together to maximum effect and create a 3D image. They are professionally added to digitally printed or litho printed materials to increase the wow factor. Every printing order is as unique as you or your brand and turnaround times and fees are competitive. .
How will foil or embossing help my brand?
On average, it takes consumers seven or eight times of seeing your brand for them to remember it. Which of these would you recall more easily?
- A printed box or menu in the brand colours showing a logo in matt inks on a smooth sheet of paper or card. The colours are flat, absorbed into the material.
- The text is embossed and a company logo is configured as a hologram in the brand’s colours with stunning metallics that shine out into the room.
The first option achieves its objective of being seen and communicating a message but the latter immediately makes an impact as it arrests attention and creates a positive emotional response. Think of humans gravitating towards the shiny matter just like magpies, it’s easy to attract attention and distract us from what we were looking at or doing.
Consumers make choices with their emotions first and then allow logic to justify a purchase or another positive action later. You need to harness the emotions to win the sale. Therefore, investing in sublime foiling and embossing services is a worthwhile outlay that delivers high levels of return on investment.
Option 1 would, of course, be well worth the expenditure and should work effectively but it probably won’t give you that extra spark of interest to increase visibility as rewardingly.
If you’ve previously opted for a printing technique in which the ink and colour are absorbed into the base material, is it time to think again?
Image credit: Foil Printing via RossHelen/Shutterstock