When you choose to apply a special finishing to text or lines, it is important to ensure that they meet the minimum printable size requirements indicated in the instructions:
Minimum line thickness: 1pt
Minimum font size: 10 pt
The finishing process is carried out by applying a transparent polymer to the areas marked in your file with the Finishing colour sample. If you have selected gold or silver foil, a film with the chosen finish is applied on top of the transparent polymer. If you have chosen 3D varnish instead, the polymer is cured, creating a three-dimensional effect.
If the text or lines are too small or thin, the polymer may not be distributed evenly (and therefore the gold/silver foil would not adhere properly), making the foiled elements barely visible on the final product.
In the example below, the text with special finishing with a size smaller than 10 pt is barely visible on the printed product. However, it is clear how the appearance of text and lines improves as the font size increases:
In the example below, lines with a finishing thickness of 0.5 pt are not clearly visible on the printed product.
Attention: always make sure that both conditions are met. It may happen, as in the example below, that text larger than 10 pt has a stroke thickness of less than 1 pt. As you can see, the print result would not be optimal.
Attention: if the text is reversed out (placed inside an area with special finishing), increase the font size to 14 pt and the stroke thickness to 2 pt. This will ensure that the text remains legible, as the polymer used for foiling naturally tends to expand by a few tenths of a millimetre once applied to the paper.
If your product contains text or lines with special finishing, always make sure that both conditions are met: the line thickness must be at least 1 pt and the font size at least 10 pt.
If you still have any doubts, please contact us. We'll be happy to help!