By Liz Stevens, writer, PostPress

Precise Digital Printing, Inc. (PDP), of Bensenville, Illinois, is a leading wholesale supplier for the Chicagoland area of signs, banners, graphics, point-of-purchase displays and other printed and embellished materials. It offers an array of full-color print options from large-format flatbed printing to 10-foot roll-to-roll photographic quality signage and graphics. The company offers digital printing, installation, product development, quality assurance, lamination, banner finishing, fulfillment and kitting. About two and a half years ago, PDP decided to add digital print embellishments to its line of services and offer added value to the printed materials it provides with the addition of a Scodix Ultra 2000 digital embellishment press.

To showcase PDP’s embellishment offerings, the company recently created an impressive self-promotion piece for display at tradeshows, providing customers and potential customers with an example of what is possible. The self-promotion is a large two-piece box, including base and lid. The box is black with blue text, with a concentric 8-point chevron star design on the top of the lid, which is overlaid with the PDP logo. The lid’s front features panels of colorful geometric stained-glass designs with the PDP logo overlaid. The short sides of the lid display the company’s slogan in blue text. Joe Koritko, digital manager, gave PostPress more details on the making of the piece.

“The impetus for this piece,” Koritko explained, “was that we needed a promotional box for a tradeshow coming up. I wanted to make the box as large as possible, so the engineering team at PDP came up with the two-piece box style. They produced a dieline to the maximum size of the Scodix digital embellishment press, which is approximately 20″ x 30″.

Koritko took the project from there with the goal of producing a box that would catch the attention of passersby and stand out at a show. “I went through various samples that I had made before and incorporated some of them into the design for this box,” said Koritko. He also included two original samples of a stained-glass design. “The stained-glass samples were printed on decal material,” he said, “and mounted to 3/16″ foamboard. We wanted to show customers that a wide variety of substrates can have embellishments, and that they are not limited to only thin stocks. The stained-glass rainbow pattern looked really nice on this substrate.”

For this piece, Koritko used vinyl decal material, which was mounted to e-flute cardboard after the embellishments were applied on the Scodix machine. “To design the graphics,” said Koritko, “I ran various samples of optical illusions. I chose one – the star pattern – and modified it to fit the top of the box. Then I incorporated our logo into it. For the sides of the box, I took a stained-glass image and modified it in Photoshop. I separated the frame for the holographic foil and pulled the texture from the image for the spot UV.”

The specialty effects on this project included spot UV, textured spot UV, metallic foil, holographic foil and glitter foil. “The top of the box is a holographic rainbow foil with the PDP logo in blue metallic foil, along with spot UV over the logo to make it stand out,” said Koritko. “The sides are a light screen of blue foil over the letters with spot UV.”

The front of the box includes the unique stained-glass design created by Koritko, which first was digitally printed in 4-color to showcase the stained-glass panes in different colors. Then a pass of holographic diffuser foil was added to outline the panes and foil the PDP logo. The fill of the PDP logo is made using glitter foil. A final pass of spot UV using a diamond-like pattern was used to help make it glisten.

Production of the piece was all digitally done. “I used a HP R2000 for the decal print with latex ink,” Koritko explained, “and a Scodix Ultra 2000 for the embellishment of the decal.” Koritko used a Vanguard 300D-HS direct print to cardboard for the bottom of the box with UV ink and then used a Zund cutting machine to cut the box shape. “The box design was unique,” Koritko explained. “It was created to fold and hold its shape without tape or glue.”

The project presented a few design and production challenges for PDP but nothing that Koritko could not overcome. “There was a lot of trial and error,” he said. “In many jobs, I need to make adjustments after the first run. A piece may need more spot UV in some areas, or we may need to screen it back. Another common challenge is the number of times a piece will need to be put through the machine. This design had to go through a handful of times.”

Koritko’s hard work to design and produce the box handsomely paid off. “People loved the box!” he said. “It drew many people to visit our booth to see it. They picked it up, touched it and were able to feel the quality of the product. And it made for a great conversation piece.” 

For more information, visit www.precisedigitalprinting.com.