Blog About Network

Raised ink printing for business cards have been a popular standard high quality method of printing offered for over 50 years. This type of printing, also called raised thermographic printing, allows the ink on the paper to rise up and harden so one can feel it sticking up on the paper. This raised ink feeling is thought to give a memorable higher quality feeling to what would normally be a flat printed surface.

To create the raised ink a powdered polymer is applied to the printed ink prior to drying the ink. Then when the ink is dried the ink that the powder stuck to dries with a raised feeling of thickness above the flat surface of the paper. Sometimes, it is desired to have only part of the ink raised so some of the ink is dried before the powder is applied. This portion of the ink will stay flat. It is only the portion of the ink that is wet when the powder is applied that will end up having the raised feel.

Most of the time raised ink printing is kept confined to main single color. Extra colors adds to the difficulty of the printing procedure. If two or additional colors in a design need to be printed quite close to together, then there is frequently another handling charge because the printing requires tighter registration than usual. Printing designs of 3 or additional colors has been a rarity due to the increased difficulty and costs it causes in the printing process.

One of the main options to help with a desire for additional color is the use of a colored paper stock. This must be considered carefully as ink colors will show up differently on different colored backgrounds. Options on colors, weight, and texture of paper stock can offer a very large variety of options for a business card design.

Another option which can add complexity and cost to the raised ink printing process is whether a design requires the ink to be printed to the edge of the card. When the design requires the ink to extend to the edge of the card it is called a full bleed to that edge. This also causes additional handling difficulty in the process which is usually covered again by optional additional costs for each side of the card the printing ink must come in contact with.

In recent years there has been the evolution of a 4 color choice to the raised ink procedure. Cards can now be printed full bleed on all edges, through a full 4 color printing process and have the whole printing raised. As a case in point, you might fill the front of the card with a color photograph and have it all raised. For now this process is only available on heavy weight bright white glossy paper media. It definitely extends the alternatives offered for thermographic raised ink prints.

This should provide you a brief study of the raised ink printing procedure. So with this information you should be ready to proceed to use your creativity and make raised ink business cards that brand your business image for success.

Tags: Business Cards, Marketing