Embossing and foiling - a branding folly?

Before you go that route, take time to check out the capabilities of your client's office automation equipment - their printers, photocopiers and multi-function devices (MFDs). It could just save your client a great deal of money - and prevent you from being fired.

That's the warning from Bevan Gordon Davies, Support Service Manager at Motion Business Solutions, South Africa's largest multi-brand supplier of office automation equipment. Motion supplies and supports most of the country's leading brands including Kyocera, Oki, Samsung, Mecer and HP.

According to Gordon Davies, the toner in the office automation equipment used by most businesses doesn't stick to embossing. So if your design demands that copy is to be printed or photocopied over the embossed area, it simply won't work.

However, the worst that could happen is that your client ends up with a large quantity of beautiful, expensive paper it can't use.

Foiling

Far more serious consequences are possible when foiling is used. Today's high-speed office equipment runs at extremely high temperatures. This heat can result in the foiling stripping off the paper as it passes through the machine's fuser unit. Repairing or replacing a fuse unit can run into thousands of rand.

"Don't take a chance," Gordon Davies warns. "Don't even run a 'test page' through a machine to see if it can handle foiling. That's like putting your hand on a stove to check if the plate is hot - you will be burned.

"If you want to use foiling, check with the suppliers of the client's office automation equipment first. It's the wisest thing to do," he concludes.