What is the difference between Hot Foil Press and Digital Gold/Silver/Metallics?

(Top) Hot Foil Press business cards. (Bottom) Digital Gold and Digital Gold Metallic Coloured business cards. Although it's hard to tell in a photo, hot foil press has a consistent shine and smooth metallic feel, while the digital gold shows the texture of the card stock and glimmers only as the card is turned in the light.

Hot Foil Pressing vs Digital Gold/Silver/Metallics

Traditional Hot Foil Press is a process where metallic foil is applied to the surface of the stock using heat and pressure. It involves making a negative, which is then etched onto a magnesium block. The block is locked into position on the machine, heated up and then the foil is placed between the block and the surface of the chosen stock to be stamped/pressed.

Due to a combination of the time and costs involved in set-up, as well as the manufacture of blocks, minimum run is 50.

Digital Gold/Silver/Metallics uses dry toner directly onto paper/card without the need to create expensive printing plates which also makes Digital Gold/Silver/Metallics a much quicker process in comparison to Hot Foil Press.

With no plates to make we can also print variable data, do short runs, and print samples for you.

Please understand the difference in the finished product and be realistic with your expectations (and manage those of your clients!). There's a reason Hot Foil Press costs more - it's the bee's knees..... the doggy's doo-dahs - sparkly, glamorous and with unrivalled luxury.

Digital Gold/Silver/Metallics are amazing too.... pretty and shimmery...... but definitely not in the same league as Hot Foil Press. Please don't expect to be able to match Digital Gold to Hot Foil gold - they look very different.

Please buy our Luxe Printing Services Pack  and The Luxe Digital Pack to understand and demonstrate the difference between the two processes.

Designs incorporating white ink with digital gold/silver/metallics

We usually print a double hit of white when printing in white ink only BUT we cannot print a double hit of white ink if also printing gold/silver/metallics. This means that the white ink component of the design won't be as saturated/crisp as usual.