Metallic Wonderfoil and Lenticular Printing

Metallic foil is the classic of the five finishes. Your card prints on 16 point cardstock, gets silk laminated, and then a gold or silver foil layer is stamped onto the areas your mask marks out. The foil can go on the front, the back, or both sides, but each project runs one foil color only. Gold on the front and silver on the back is not possible, so choose the metal that suits your brand and let the design do the rest on our metallic foil business cards.

A few rules keep the result sharp. Avoid small or fine text in the foil areas, since thin strokes lose definition under the metal. Keep foil coverage under 50 percent of the artwork area for the best results. And remember the placement can shift up to 1/16 inch in production, so do not build a design that depends on the foil landing exactly against another printed element.

The mask file is where most orders go right or wrong. Alongside your full color file you upload a foil mask that is black and white only, with 100 percent black in the areas you want foiled and white everywhere you do not. The three frames below show the sequence, the CMYK art, the mask, and the stamped result.

Prepare the mask precisely and position it exactly where the foil belongs, because 4OVER4.COM cannot be held responsible for mask files saved to the wrong position. For a printed sample of the example above, email support@4over4.com and ask for samples, or order free samples to feel the silk laminated finish in hand.

3D lenticular cards hold two or three pictures in one. We take your images and create a swapping effect, each image vanishing and reappearing as the card tilts up and down. The lens sheets are 21 point and run 75 LPI, which means lenticules per inch, the tiny ridges that direct light to a different view at each angle. The two classic effects are the flip, the most popular way to show two or three distinct images one after another, and the motion effect, a short video style action sequence or product demonstration on the card itself. A flip can sell multiple products, make a card bilingual or trilingual, or simply earn a second look.

Lenticular rewards bold design. Dark solid colors and textured backgrounds work well, while white backgrounds should be avoided where possible, because white and light areas are transparent and other views show through them as ghosting. Light areas only behave when every view has the same light color in the exact same spot. Use bold sans serif fonts and skip small text, since fine type distorts through the lens, and make sure text that changes from view to view sits in a different position on each frame rather than overlapping.

File prep is a matter of counting views. A two image transition with no printed back uploads 2 files, a three image transition with no printed back uploads 3, a two image transition with a printed 4/4 back uploads 3, and a three image transition with a printed back uploads 4. Name them Front1, Front2, Front3 when you have a third view, and Back. An optional backside prints in regular four color process, and at the moment only a vertical transition or flip is available.

These cards are guaranteed attention grabbers. People look at the effect over and over, show the card around, and keep it handy to show others, which is exactly what a business card is for. Order 3D lenticular business cards, or email support@4over4.com for a printed 21 point sample first.

5th color white solves the problem every clear material has. Print color straight onto a transparent substrate and it reads translucent, because there is no white paper behind it. The fix is a layer of opaque white ink printed behind your artwork, available for Clear Labels, Aluminum Signs, and Clear Clings. We use clear clings as the example here, but the file prep and the color mask work the same for every product with the 5th color white option.

The white mask is a separate file from your artwork, and black indicates where the white ink prints. Build it at the same size as your color art file to prevent alignment issues, make it in vector format, save it as EPS or PDF, and use pure 100 percent K, meaning 0 percent C, 0 percent M, 0 percent Y, and 100 percent K, or preflight will not recognize it. Use vector paths and shapes for the black areas, and leave the rest of the file empty to represent the clear stock.

The logic of the result is simple. White ink prints behind any color in your artwork layer. Color without a white mask prints directly on the material and reads somewhat transparent. Color with a white mask prints opaque and solid. And a white mask with no color over it prints as clean white.

Once the mask is right, the substrate stops being a constraint and becomes the design. Order clear clings with the white base and watch flat color sit solid on glass.