Our digital foiling technique produces a slightly raised, shiny metallic effect in a choice of different colours. The result is a slightly embossed, polished texture which can be used to highlight selected elements of your design, such as a logo or an abstract pattern.
To supply artwork for foiling, you will need to provide a vector file of your design. This means that your design should be made up of geometric shapes and paths, rather than pixels. Vector files can be created using software such as Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw.
If you're supplying artwork for a foiled design, we require two separate artwork files. In addition to your standard CMYK artwork, we require an additional file containing only the elements you would like to be foiled. To ensure all the elements align perfectly, we recommend the following:
- Create your CMYK artwork as normal and set it as a print ready PDF
- Duplicate the CMYK artwork file and delete any elements you do NOT want to be foiled
- Recolour all remaining elements as C:0 M:0 Y:0 K:100, so all your foiled elements are 100% black
- Add any additional foiled elements you would like to include, again using 100% black
- Save the file, adding 'Foil' to the filename
- Supply us with both the CMYK and foiling artwork files
For the best results, and to avoid any possible registration issues, don't apply foiling to thin lines; small text; finely detailed artwork; and keep foiled areas at least 3mm from the trim edge. Be aware that foiling will overprint any printed elements positioned underneath it.