Hot foil starts at 25 pieces, takes ten working days and needs a 300 dpi file. Three mistakes appear in 80 per cent of first files: a logo sent as a screenshot, lines that are too fine, and a logo placed too close to a fold. Avoid all three and you keep your deadline.
A file is not a drawing. We need a vector, or a 300 dpi PNG at 1:1. A logo taken from an email signature is 96 dpi and 4 cm wide: on an 18 cm box it turns blurry. You upload the file in the Studio, and it stays in your browser until you confirm. Foil is a film pressed into the board under heat and pressure. It likes large solid areas and thick lines, not hairlines. Anything under 0.3 mm fills in. Text under 6 points becomes a stroke.
The three mistakes
- A screenshot or a JPEG with a background. The logo arrives with a white rectangle, and the rectangle is printed too. Ask your designer for the mark as SVG or PDF.
- Lines under 0.3 mm and text under 6 points. They clog under heat. Thicken the logo by 0.1 mm, or choose screen print for fine detail.
- No margin. A logo less than 5 mm from a fold or a cut cracks when the box is folded. Leave 5 mm around the logo and 8 mm on the opening side.
What you can expect
A request in the Studio takes two minutes: you choose a format, a material and a foil colour, upload your logo, see the box in 3D and get a price per quantity. Your file is checked within one working day. We send a 3D proof before production, with the logo in the right place at the right size. Production takes ten working days from approval of the proof. Delivery follows: ordered before 14:00, shipped the same day, delivered within 48 hours in Belgium and the Netherlands. One foil colour on one solid area is the standard. Two colours means two dies and two passes, and that doubles the set-up. At 250 pieces, allow roughly EUR 0.25 to 0.45 per piece extra for one colour. The die is a fixed cost. At 25 pieces it weighs heavily, at 500 pieces almost nothing. That is why the unit price at 25 is not the unit price at 500.
The four techniques and when to choose them
- Hot foil: for solid logos in gold, copper, white or black. From 25 pieces, ten working days.
- Screen print: for fine lines and flat colours on board. From 25 pieces.
- Digital print: for short runs and many colours. From 25 pieces, but the unit price falls slowly.
- Laser engraving: for wood and board without ink. From 25 pieces, twelve working days.
The file checklist
- Vector: SVG, PDF or AI. No JPEG, no screenshot.
- One colour: the logo as a solid shape, no gradient and no shadow.
- 1:1: the logo size in millimetres, not in per cent.
- 5 mm margin around the logo, 8 mm on the opening side.
- File name: REF_client_logo_v1. That is how the Studio finds it.
- Approve the proof before production starts. No approval, no die.
Send your file this week and your box is ready for the Christmas collection. The 2027 collection is ready and the first 250 sleeves are in stock.