Print Only Service

Getting your embossing just right

Embossing presses your design up into the card for a beautiful raised finish you can feel. If you'd like embossing on your own design, please read through these guidelines before requesting a quote. They'll help your design press crisply and clearly.

What Works Best

Embossing is perfect for the hero of your design, like your names, a monogram, large florals or a pattern. Bold fonts, capital letters and sans serif fonts give the cleanest result.

It isn't suited to small text, as fine details can lose their shape and become hard to read.

File Setup

• Supply a high resolution, print ready PDF
• Set up your file in millimetres, not pixels
• Embossing needs vector artwork. Text (including Canva text) is fine, but photos, bitmap images and artwork made in Photoshop can't be embossed
• Set anything you'd like embossed to 100% black: C0 M0 Y0 K100, or #000000 in Canva

Lines & Text

• Keep all lines and strokes at least 1.5pt thick. Anything thinner may not form properly and can press as a blob without detail
• Where there are small gaps between letters or lines, use at least 2pt
• In Canva, keep text at 12pt or larger. 15pt or larger gives the best result
• Avoid very thin, intricate or tapered script fonts
• Tip: adding a thin outline (stroke) to your text is an easy way to make it thicker
• Not sure? In Illustrator or InDesign, draw a 1.5pt line and compare it against the finest parts of your design

Embossing With Printing

Combining embossing with printed text or colour? Please supply a 3 page PDF:

• Page 1: embossed elements only
• Page 2: printed elements only
• Page 3: the full design combined, so I can see how it should look

Printing can move up to 2mm as the card runs through the press. That's normal and can't be avoided, so leave a little breathing room between printed and embossed elements, and avoid designs where the two need to line up exactly.

Guest Names

Each embossed design needs its own custom-made block, so individual guest names can't be embossed. Instead, print guest names and keep the embossing for the parts of the design that are the same on every card.

Choosing Your Card

Embossing looks its best on mid to light coloured card, where the soft shadows make the raised design easy to see. Explore the options in my card stock guide.

Not sure if your design will emboss well? Send it through with your quote request and I'll let you know. For general file setup, see my print guidelines.