Design your card as usual, then put each special finish on a layer of its own: one for foil, one for spot UV, one for deboss or emboss, one for a die-cut outline. Draw those layers as solid vector shapes and type, not photos, and give the file 3 mm (0.125 in) of bleed. In our online designer, you add finishes to objects instead.
Which finishes can my card have?
It depends on the paper. Deboss, emboss and doming are only on our letterpress business cards, which are printed on 100% cotton paper. Metal cards are engraved, etched or printed instead of foiled. The finishes page has the full table, and each product page greys out the finishes that card can’t take, with the reason.
How do I set up foil?
- Put everything that should be foil on a separate layer named Foil, as solid vector shapes and type.
- Fill it with one solid color. The color only marks the area: you choose the foil color on the product page.
- Keep foil to a name, a logo or a line or two. Very fine lines and small gaps can fill in.
- An object in hot foil can’t also be printed in ink: the foil replaces it. This applies on every card that takes hot foil.
Cold foil, on Laminated 15pt and 32pt, goes on during printing, so color can be printed over it, for example to tint silver foil. Set it up the same way, and keep the color that goes on top in your normal artwork.
How do I set up spot UV?
- Make a separate layer named Spot UV with the areas that should be glossy, as solid shapes.
- Raised UV, on Laminated 15pt and 32pt, is thick enough to feel. Flat UV, on Laminated 13pt, is a smooth gloss you see more than feel.
- Flat UV doesn’t show on gloss lamination, so choose matte lamination with it.
How do I set up deboss and emboss?
- Deboss presses your design into the paper. Emboss raises it, with the matching recess on the back. Put each on its own layer.
- An object can be debossed or embossed, not both, and doming can’t go on top of either.
- Deboss can be inked or left blind, with no ink. In the online designer you choose Blind, With ink, or Blind and inked; with an uploaded file, tell us in the file notes.
- On Wilde 300g and Montericca 360g, a deboss on both sides can show through, so we recommend one side.
How do I send a die-cut or laser-cut shape?
- Draw the outline as one closed vector path, on its own layer named Die-cut or Laser cut.
- On a paper card, a die-cut shape sets the whole outline, so you don’t choose rounded corners with it. A die-cut metal card keeps its rounded corners.
- Laser cuts are on letterpress cards only. On light paper heavier than 360gsm they can scorch and turn yellow at the edges. Dark paper cuts cleanly.
Painted edges need nothing in your artwork: you choose them when you order.
What about metal cards?
Metal is decorated by laser engraving, etching or printing instead of ink on paper. Send engraving and etching as solid vector shapes, and use full-color print for photos and gradients. Metal cards come in three fixed sizes with rounded corners and no custom size, so set up the file at the size you order plus 3 mm of bleed on every side. Each size has PDF and PNG templates on the product page.
Which file should I send?
PDF, AI, EPS or SVG work best, with photos at 300 dpi and 3 mm of bleed. The File setup section on each product page shows the trim and safe area for every size and has PDF and PNG templates to download. A custom size has no template: make the file at your size plus the same bleed.
Can I skip the layers?
Yes. In our online designer, open for all five business cards, you pick an object and add foil, UV, deboss or emboss, doming, engraving, etching or numbering to it. Die-cut, laser cut, painted edges, duplex and NFC are options for the whole card. When a line or text is thinner than a finish allows, the designer asks you to fix it before the card goes in your cart, and it warns about lines close to the limit, small gaps, QR codes that are too small and pieces a cut would let fall out. Or upload the file you have and describe the finishes in the notes. Either way, we check every file by hand before printing, usually within 1 business day, and email you if anything needs to change. See How to place an order.