Business Cards: Foil-stamped Cards Jonathan Timmes

It’s always a treat when photographers are willing to try something new when it comes to their branding. That’s why we were so excited when Washington, DC-based photographer Jonathan Timmes (who we had previously worked with on a logo refinement) reached out to us about creating business cards with a little extra “something.”

Jonathan knew from the start that he wanted cards that would make him stand out. We had a few specialty printing processes in mind but knew right away his logo would be perfect for foil stamping. Also, we had a foil color sample on hand that perfectly matched Jonathan’s branding. 

Foil stamping is a printing process where you apply heat to a metallic paper (the foil), which transfers the shiny material onto another surface (such as a set of business cards). This is done with a plate that is in the shape of your design so the foil will only stick in the areas you specify.

I got right to work creating a few options for Jonathan to mull over. Here are some designs from round one:

Jonathan loved all the options, but it was the front of option three and the back of options one and two that really caught his attention. He also told me that he wanted to see some different variations for the back of the cards. Next, I sent him the second round of design options. Here are a couple of the ones we both liked:

And here’s the final design that we ended up going with:

At the beginning of this process, we already had foil colors in mind from a sample we had, so all we needed to do was pick a paper stock and coordinate with our printer. We selected 130# Classic Crest Epic Black (and yes, it is definitely epic) for the paper stock and reached out to Mainline Print Shop, a great local print shop that we work with frequently.

Jonathan was kind enough so send over a shot of the final product. Check out that foil!

Both Jonathan and I were thrilled with how the cards turned out. Here’s what he had to say:

The process was rather seamless, for Samantha’s as sharp with her problem solving as she is with her talent. Her design options were all wonderful…so it was a no-lose situation settling on a final choice. For printing… we ultimately decided to go with a shiny blue foil stamp on a rich matt black card stock. I really love the way light plays off the foil and intensifies the contrast at various angles. The final aesthetic has some real pop and certainly speaks to the contrasty quality of my work. I couldn’t be any happier with the results. Thanks Samantha!

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