How do you set up a metallic foil artwork?
Metallic foil products, such as business cards, flyers and greeting cards, require a few simple steps to ensure the artwork file prints correctly. Currently, we are only capable of foiling a single side on a product, so please take that into consideration when creating your design. Foiling works best on simple and bold graphics. Thin lines are more difficult to foil, so try and avoid using script fonts and thin line weights.
Double Sided with foil.
For foil products, we require 2 extra pages within your PDF in order for the file to run through our printing system. In total, we need a 4-page PDF for a double-sided CMYK print with a single side foiled.
Page 1 is the print front.
Page 2 is the print back.
Page 3 is the foil page that will be printed on top of page 1.
Page 4 is a blank page.
The third page of your PDF will be the foiling page that is printed on top of page one. The foil is printed last, so will sit on top of any elements that you have on the first printed page.
Single Sided with foil.
For a single-sided print with foil, we request that you still supply a 4-page PDF to run through our system, however, you will need to insert two blank pages with only pages 1 and 3 having artwork on them.
Page 1 is the print front.
Page 2 is a blank page.
Page 3 is the foil page that will be printed on top of page 1.
Page 4 is a blank page.
Tip.
If your design requires a standard colour print on the front, and the foil page on the back, then you will need to rearrange your PDF page structure to work with this.
Vector graphics for foil.
The foil elements need to be designed using a vector graphic. We are unable to foil graphics that have been rasterised as they are not clear enough for our foiling machines to produce. Please use vector-based design software when creating your artwork.
2pt line weight.
The minimum line weight we can produce is 2pt thick. Anything that is below this will result in a patchy foil, and we will refuse to produce the product.
100% Black for foil elements.
All the foil elements must be supplied as 100% black. Our system colour checks the third page within your PDF and if it detects any other colour then it will fail to print correctly. Please make sure that the foiling elements are set to only black.
Foil Tolerance
During the production of foiling, a 3mm tolerance for movement is permissible. Achieving perfect alignment is challenging due to the hot pressing of the foil onto the print. Approximately 3mm of movement is expected during the application of the foil. Please factor this in when designing.