Emboss? Deboss? What’s the difference?
This blog has been written in response to the number of times we at Printing Brisbane are asked what the difference is between embossed and debossed.
You might be reassured to know that even experienced designers get the terms embossing and debossing confused! So you are quite right to do some reading and find out exactly what the difference is.
And, good news, it’s simple!
Embossing
When something, like a business card, is embossed, it has a raised texture. You run your finger over it and you can feel that parts of the design are raised above the rest of the card. This is embossing. It is done by pushing from the reverse, or underneath the card. It will usually leave the reversed impression on the back of the card. Though there are some pretty tricky ways to avoid that if you don’t like the look.
Debossing
Deboss is the opposite to emboss. When you run your finger over the face of the card, you will feel the texture has been stamped down into the card, leaving an imprint, indent or depression. The good thing about debossing is that, if you use a nice thick card stock, you are not likely to get any of the indented design showing through onto the reverse of the card. If you feel strongly about the show through, one way or another, it is very important to make this clear to your printer, to give them the best chance of producing exactly what you are after!
Blind v Registered Embossing
This is important! Blind embossing (or debossing) is when the embossed area does not line up with any printed artwork. It may be done on an unprinted area of card, or over the top of a printed pattern or solid colour. The crucial part is that it does not need to line up totally perfectly with any other element. Registered embossing is where the embossed area needs to line up perfectly with a printed area. For example, a printed logo on a business card that is raised all over, perfectly in line with the print. this is totally possible to do, and simply requires a higher level of care from the person doing the job.
Other special effects that go with embossing
Hot foil stamping often goes hand in hand with debossing. This is because the two processes can be done at once. When you are arranging your foiled business cards, just make sure to ask for the foil to be stamped a bit deeper than usual, if you are after this effect.
Letterpress style printing totally goes hand in hand with embossing and debossing. The beautiful thick and textured artboards are often well suited to adding texture like this, and adding foil and ink at the same time really enhances the final result.
And, if you want to get really fancy, you can look at 3D embossing! This means multiple heights, and is true speciality process. It takes time, and much consultation with the die/plate makers, and so you will need time, patience, and a healthy budget if you want these kinds of results!
Cheaper alternatives to embossing
We are doing more and more raised spot gloss effects on printing these days. This gives a really wonderful shiny, textured result, and is far cheaper than embossing. So before you go too far down the embossing path, work out what your goal is, how you want it to look, and what your budget it. That way you can go straight to the best possible solution for your needs.
Things to watch out for
Make sure you choose a stock (cardboard, paper) that is well suited to taking the impression from the die. Some papers are very prone to cracking, and won’t take an impression without cracking – a particular problem if print is involved too.
At Printing Brisbane, we are happy to go into all the details of embossing and debossing with you! Feel free to contact us to discuss your options.
