In an age when you can fire off an email to anyone in the world in the time it takes to make a cup of coffee, it’s easy to forget the benefits of the humble handwritten letter. It’s not just the pleasing feel of pen on paper, but also the deliberate way it forces you to relax and take stock of your thoughts and surroundings. It was this notion of slowing down to savor the finer things in life that Marques Associados Creative wanted to communicate with their labeling for Magnum Carlos Lucas Vinhos’ Ribeiro Santo Envelope Wine from Portugal, and boy did they ever succeed.
They began, as you might with any piece of correspondence, by choosing just the right type of paper for their message to wine lovers: Fedriogni’s Constellation Snow Silk Ultra WS (supplied through the paper company’s Manter adhesive label division).
VOX – Organização Industrial Gráfica printed the authentic-looking postage stamp 4-color offset. And what about that rich-looking embossed “Envelope” name?
Aha! If you’re a PaperSpecs PRO member, you’ll already know that it isn’t embossed at all, [Read the PRO Tip] but rather printed through the use of thermography! [PRO Guide to Thermography]
And if that wasn’t enough, the gold postage stamp framing and indicia were all hot foil stamped.
“In a world where everything is so fast and instantaneous, spending time to write and send a letter is almost a heroic act filled with a unique symbolism that demonstrates the real appreciation for the recipient,” Marques Associados Creative maintains. “This Envelope delivers feelings and emotions; it carries love, friendship, joy. An Envelope that freezes time and makes us travel, awakening extraordinary aromas from a real nectar of the Dão region [of Portugal] in each of us.”
For its bold use of thermography and creative application of foil, I raise my glass to printer and designers both for – I’m going to say it – pushing the envelope!
Hot foil stamping brought a distinctive touch of elegance to this piece, but there are so many other ways to get the shimmer and shine of foil. Discover them, as well as the pros and cons of each, in our free Foil Cheat Sheet. Download yours now for a limited time!
