Overprint Christmas Cards
In the days before the digital printing press and everything was printed offset then the only way to personalise the front of a Christmas card was by overprinting a stock design with the companies details. The favoured method was to overprint the company name or logo in a bright colour foil, such as gold, silver or red. The company name would then have a shimmer and would tick the box for brand awareness when the customer opened the Christmas greeting. Foil block overprinting is still extremely popular and is an economical method of personalisng Christmas cards for business. The foil block plates are now usually made from a hard polymer rather than metal which is cheaper to produce and is regarded as a throw away tool. Of course, the professional would argue that there is no substitute for quality and durability of a metal place made from Magnesium, Zinc or Copper and print quality may deteriorate after a few thousand copies. Christmas Card printers realised however, that they were not printing the cover of the latest John Grisham bestseller butshort run card jobs where the polymer plate was more than sufficient. The cost of a polymer plate at around a few pounds each can be up to 4 times cheaper than its metal counterpart. If it will not withstand another print run after the current Christmas season it can be thrown in the recycling bin.
Foil printing has its limitations however. A company name overprinted in foil will always look two dimensional and can make more complex logos and company name text look flat or, at worse, distorted. The ease of computer desktop design over the last couple of decades has meant that even the smallest of businesses have been able to produce sophisticated company logos and names in a variety of fonts, drop shadows, and text art. Many of this branding cannot be replicated on a hot foil press because any changes in colour or gradient fills are merged into a flat sheet of shiny foil.
To overcome the above limitations and to cooincide with advances in printing technology the digital printing press now plays a significant role in the modern print room. The digital print press can handle short run colour print jobs to a high specification very cheaply and economically. This now means that even the smallest companies who only require 30 to 4o cards can buy cheap personalised christmas cards with their company logo or name in full process colour. Many of these machines have gloss units attached to the end so as soon as they are printed they are finished with a high gloss finish to give them a professional edge. Just in case any customers were in any doubt that the cards had not simply been put through an office inkjet printer.