It has many names Inline Foil, Cold Foil, Liquid Foil, or just ColorFoil. CardSox is not attempting to take credit for this revolutionary print process, however, our job is to help designers and entrepreneurs see the value of breaking away from the crowd without breaking the bank. By using the latest in foil print technology, you can afford to give all of your employees beautiful brilliant business cards.
Color Foil starts as a silver metallic foil that is applied beneath the the CMYK print process. This allows us to create an array of foil colors.
There are many reasons to choose Color Foil for your next business card project.
You can easily apply color foil to a design that you’re already using by creating a foil mask layer (file). Even if you only have a .jpeg (a flattened image), you can still select the areas which will become foil. This can be achieved by creating a new layer, and then filling in that layer with K100.
With color foil, you have the ability to use it on more design elements than you would with traditional letterpress foil. Because Color Foil can be used on images and gradients, you don’t have to deviate from your existing branding.
There is no setup cost and no extra charge for multiple colors either. Traditional letterpress business cards are beautiful, but the cost can be very unpractical. For example, 250 single color black on white cardstock could cost over $250, but if you add one foil color then it’s an extra $150. That’s $400 folks, and this is not including any of the setup charges that you would be charged. If you have pre existing branding, this could mean your designer spending hours preparing your artwork for print on the old presses. However, with Color Foil we do not charge per color and there aren’t any setup charges. Your designer can easily duplicate the areas they wished to change into foil and make that layer black and white. But here at Cardsox you can just submit your file and let us know what areas to make foil and will take care of it for you.
There are a few limitations when using Color Foil:
- The lighter the color the better the foil effect. When darker colors are used, they tend to have a less Color Foil effect. Color Foil is almost nonexistent in black, or other colors that use too much black.
- Our Color Foil comes only in standard 16pt C2S Paper, and we are unable to apply silk laminate. However, unlike traditional foil we are able to apply UV(gloss/varnish) to the foiled areas or the entire card.
- Another thing to consider is that the Color Foil process is not superior to hot foil stamping, it only opens the door to more print possibilities. So if you plan to use Color Foil for only silver or gold, you will be better off going with the Gold Foil or Silver Foil business cards.
Tips for designers when setting up Color Foil business cards.
- It is a good idea to lighten the the areas that will receive the foil treatment by a shade or two to increase the desired effect. This trick is especially useful if you’re using a monochrome style design. For instance, a blue foil on top of blue background.
- To increase the shine and foiled effect you should choose to apply spot UV to the foil areas.
- It is not a good idea to use foil on small text because it may become hard to read.
- We fully encourage you to order a sample pack first, before you place your order and download the print ready files for reference. This will help you to weigh the pros and cons for yourself.
- As with any print card if you’re unsure contact us about size or bleeds, and use our print templates to get started.
What you don’t know about the Square Color Foil business card included in our sample pack.
On the front of the card, the Cardsox logo is in Color Foil. The logo is surrounded by a Spot UV line pattern that is slightly aligned with different color blacks that are parallel to each other. The two different color blacks may look the same on your computer screen, however, they print completely different. The left side is rich black (C60 M40 Y40 K100) and the other is just K100 black. The scary thing is that they both look black on your screen, but all colors are not printed equally in CMYK. As a designer you must never make the mistake of sending a dull black (K100) to your printer, nor do you want to use the RGB black (R0,G0,B0) or the HEX Code black #00000. The best black when printing CMYK offset litho is 60,40,40,100.
On the back of the card, you will find the a small color wheel. The color wheel shows how different colors look with the Color Foil treatment. The color wheel is made of three parts; the solid CMYK, the CMYK with the foil process, and the Color Foil with spot UV on top. By using the source files for this card, you can select a color from this wheel to use as a reference when designing your cards.
