Receiving a card around the holidays can certainly be a moving experience, but how often do you receive a holiday card that actually appears to be moving?
That’s just the effect my good friends at highresolution printing [projects / website] achieved with this card for the law firm of Greenspun Shapiro. Their secret? The use of the latest digital printing and finishing technologies to enhance the simple-but-effective vision of design studio Hagopian Ink [projects / website].
“In matters of style, swim with the current,” the Thomas Jefferson quote, which inspired this card, begins.
To simulate that current, uninterrupted lines of Gold Foil were arranged in a square, spiraling pattern. By moving the card, the reflective pattern appears to dance in a flowing movement like an ocean.
The Blue is digitally printed CMYK, with the quote and law firm name knocked out to reveal the White of the 18 pt. WestRock Tango C1S paper underneath.
“…in matters of principle, stand like a rock,” the quote concludes, that rock nicely represented here by a small Digital Die Cut square at the pattern’s center.
To achieve the glittering look and feel, a Soft Touch laminate was laid down first, giving the Dark Blue an intriguingly dull look. Then Gold Foil was added to the front cover using the Scodix foiling system.
Remember, digital foiling systems apply a polymer to the paper’s surface first, before the actual Foil is added, allowing you to raise each foil detail to the same – or differing – heights.
Had this been a traditional Hot Foil Stamping, the Foil would’ve been pressed down into the paper’s surface, cutting down on its reflective qualities.
While this look could’ve been created by Embossing the pattern and then adding a Hot Foil to the Emboss, it would’ve required the creation of a die.
It also would’ve left a corresponding Deboss on the inside, making it impossible to write on half of the card’s interior. With the Digital Foiling, the card remains perfectly flat inside.
With all due respect to Thomas Jefferson, as this intelligent use of digital printing and finishing techniques clearly shows, sometimes it’s best to swim against the current.
