Hot stamping is a printing technique that anyone can use to distinguish branding and packaging and add a touch of elegance to design. From bringing business cards to life, to communicating a sense of luxe or credibility, there are many ways in which hot stamping adds something to every aesthetic. If you’re keen to differentiate your business design this year, hot stamping is a simple and effective way to do it.
What is hot stamping?
It’s a printing technique that traditionally uses hot dies to add foil to a surface, such as cardboard or paper, as part of branding design or to make a product stand out on the shelf. The process is very simple: the material that is going to be stamped is positioned between a flat plate, the foil and the heated die. The die itself will already have been engraved with the final hot stamping design. As the hot die is applied to the foil it activates glue and the foil sticks to the cardboard in whatever design has been created by the die. This process can also be done digitally, without the use of hot dies.
Adding elegance in marketing with hot stamping
Finding opportunities to create distinctiveness in marketing is challenging today but working with hot stamping can achieve exactly that. Once the foil has been applied to a surface it creates a shiny, textural finish that will attract the eye of the consumer and encourage them to engage with the product. Especially if you’re keen to create a luxurious, elegant feel for a business card or product, hot stamping is an effective way to do it. The finished hot stamping looks expensive and high value and this creates a natural association that whatever is in the box – or the associated brand – must be too.
Creating a positive first impression with hot stamping
Packaging is the first opportunity that most brands have to make a positive impact on consumers and the use of hot stamping is an effective way to ensure that this is not wasted. Shiny foils and metallic colours are eye-catching, create a sense of reassuring quality and can be distinctive if used in the right way. Hot stamping can also help to create brand consistency and to bring elements of texture into physical design. If used in the right way it can result in something truly creative that makes a memorable first impression.
Brands that use hot stamping
Some of the biggest luxury brands in the world use the process of hot stamping to add elegance to packaging, including well-known skincare and jewellery brands and even car makers like BMW. Louis Vuitton has even integrated the process of hot stamping into its business to offer personalisation on a mass scale – any LV product can be hot stamped with three letters when taken to one of the brand’s special hot stamping stores.
If you’re keen to add elegance, distinctiveness and a sense of luxe then hot stamping is the ideal way to do it.
For more information on how Metallic Elephant can help with Hot Stamping can be found here.