How do you set up hot foil stamping?

Setting up hot foil stamping in Adobe Illustrator CC

In this tutorial we will explain step by step how to properly set up with Adobe Illustrator CC the hot foil stamping on your print file. Three basic actions will need to be taken:

• Create a spot color swatch
• Set up overprinting
• Verify settings with the Color Separation Preview

PLEASE NOTE: In this example the hot stamping will be gold. You will of course be able to choose from a wide variety of different color foils. Crucially, the items to be hot stamped must be set as a spot color named “Hotfoil” to which the overprint is applied.

1. Create a spot color swatch

First, create a new color swatch. To do this, open from the “Window” drop-down menu the “color” panel. Set the color value of the color to C40 M40 Y70 K0 by acting on the 4 values of the four-color [Fig.: 1.1]. From the color panel options select the option “Create new sample…”and rename the Color “Hot-foil”. Infinally change the color type to “spot color” [Fig.: 1.2]. Click ok so that the newly created spot color can be displayed in the “Samples” control panel. The next step will be to assign the “Hotfoil” spot color you just created to all the items to be hot stamped. To do this use the Select option to select the desired elements and assign them the Hotfoil color you will find in Color Swatches.

2. Set the overprint

All elements colored with the Hotfoil color must now be set to overprint. Call up the Window panel > Attributes. Select the affected elements and check “Overprint” [Figure: 2.1]. If the overprint affects an area, select “Overprint fill” if it affects an outline, select “Overprint trace.” Overprinting ensures that the areas below the object to be hot-rolled will not be omitted from four-color printing.

3. Check the settings

To verifify that the settings have been entered correctly, open the Window panel > Color Selection Preview [Figure: 3.1], and click on“Overprint Preview.” You can use the“hide” and “show” options to display the surface below the overprint or to highlight only the overprint. It is critical that the areas below the elements to be hot-rolled are printed in four-color and not omitted from the print.