Just wrapped a very trying project designing these business cards for James Avery of InfoZerk/ZerkMedia. The cards are printed on a solid black stock (no white edges), and feature a white foil for the content area and a raised shiny textured area that forms an off-set “Z” (for Zerk) at the top of the card which is rendered with thermography.

I learned the hard way while getting these cards produced that foil and thermography do not play together well. The reason (as it was explained to me) is that, in order for thermography to render properly, there is an upper limit on the weight of the card stock then can be used.

Unfortunately, foil requires the exact opposite: a thick, firm stock in order for it to apply properly. If it’s applied to a softer sheet the foil press tends to push into the material and the foil ends up “climbing” out of the letterforms. I compare this to a meniscus on a test tube (if you remember high school chemistry). This foil creep can cause the counters of letter forms to fill in, or to put it non-designer terminology: My lower case E’s looked like O’s.

(It’s possible that none of what I just wrote is accurate. If so, please leave a comment and set me straight. I’m going on what I was told by my print vendor).

So the thermography required a soft stock, which made it tough to apply the foil, which I had to use to be absolutely sure that the type would come out pure white, because the whole design was based around the contrast between shiny and dull on the black card, and that required a black stock upon which white ink could potential look slightly gray…and around and around we go.

In hindsight, and for future iterations of this card, I should have asked for Gloss Varnish instead of thermography and specified a thicker, heavier sheet in order to get the foil to apply properly.

Luckily I had a very understanding, patient client and a print vendor who bent over backwards to make things right. All’s well that ends well.