Share your Feedback; New product launch: Foil Prints

[James]

Hi all, 

Please feel free to share your feedback or thoughts on our newest product edition, Foil Prints! 

Check out the announcement, here. 

Thanks!

[Cat]

My feedback on these is pretty much the same as it is for all the other new foil & print products. The products are wonderful, but the mockups are horrible. I really don't understand it because the mockups on the old foil products were beautiful. But I'm having a hard time making myself design these because I end up spending hours on the covers just trying to get something that might look vaguely presentable - especially in a thumbnail size.

Is this something that's being worked on, or is it just the way it is? 

[PAZP]

I'm not sure how the foil will appear in person but I like the option to add a faux white border mat.  I also like the mock up variety so I don't intend to make cover photos if I design more. On some of the mock ups it is difficult to tell that the text is foil as in the mock up I added here, however, some of the angled mock ups / insitus offer a better idea that the text is foil. 

[Cat]

Maybe I should add a few more specifics to my complaint rather than just whining. 

The rendering of the foil on all of the new foil & print mockups (invitations, cards, posters, etc.) is done using a rounded gradient which makes large text look all one color in the center with a dark border around the edges. Small text doesn't get any "center" area, so it just looks dark. This has the net effect of making large text look washed out on light backgrounds, and small text look impossible to read on dark backgrounds.

Is this the way the foil is actually applied? I mean is it attached around the edges leaving the center bubbled out like it looks in the rendering, or is it pressed equally throughout the foil area? The renderings on the old foil products looked like they were evenly pressed, so I'm trying to sort out if it's a different print process or just a different artist's rendering.

Assuming that the print process is the same as it was for the old products (meaning that the foil is actually pressed evenly across the entire foil area, and not just attached around the edges and bubbled out in the center) it would be SUPER helpful if we could download the foil layer separately so that we could render the foil layer in the cover image in a way that's more convincing and legible for the given artwork. 

Another question. The gold foil on the old products looks like it's a completely different color than the new products. Is this the case or is this also just a function of the artist's rendering?

Thanks for any information you can provide!

[Fiorenzo]

I wouldn't worry, the foil will be smooth and shiny and evenly pressed. Granted, it's standard. It's just an attempt to make it look foil-ish on the preview. I agree with the separate foil layer as transparent PNG, so we can put our own foil effects on them

[Cat]

It would sure be helpful to have that. As it is I've been going through all sorts of machinations to try to separate out the foil part for my covers. As long as it is evenly pressed, I might try a different approach to simulating the foil to see if it looks better than the rounded gradient.

[Fiorenzo]

There is a trick: delete all objects on the front layer, set the background to white, then cut the foil content from the foil layer and paste it on the front layer. This way you have a black foil content on white background. Get/download the image for the cover creation, open it in your image editing software, and put a mask on the black foil content. Now create your own faux foil effect on that mask and add this to your cover image (you want also to download a front image without the foil content to use as the background for your cover image).

[Cat]

That would work, but unless you publish (& later delete) the black and white version you wouldn't be able to download it as artwork, would you? Is there any penalty for creating a bunch of stuff that you just delete an hour or two later?

I guess you could take a screen shot, but it won't be the same size/resolution as the actual downloaded artwork or mockup. Maybe you could include some easily deleted feature from the front print layer on the black and white version that will help to align the two. Hmmm...

Well, either way, it's a better approach than trying to select the foil layer out of the mockup (which is what I've been doing), so thanks for the tip!

[Fiorenzo]

I create my mockups AFTER I've published the product. This way I can edit the product at will, change the text and images etc to get the content I want to have on my mockup, and still have the original product untouched. On foil cards, I use to copy the foil part on the front layer, set it to a darker color that fits the background, and then I take the image. This lets the foil part pop up a little. I also don't use Zazzle's prepared downloads for mockups because the option is often grayed out when I edit the product. I use the old trick instead to get the images.

[Fiorenzo]

@Cat Send me a message and I will show you in the chat how to get the high-res images for your mockups without relying on the downloads. This way you always get what you see on the preview and you can modify at will. Give me 1 hour to reply, will make some shots and give you a walkthrough.

[Fiorenzo]

@Cat Sent you a message in Zazzle's chat.

[Caprice]

I agree the mock ups could be better - especially the silver - so hard to see well.

[Fiorenzo]

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! A dream comes true. These are PERFECT for remembrance prints. Holy Moly! Thank you for this awesome Easter gift! P.S. I'll check them later, so be prepared 😉

[Fiorenzo]

Did a quick test. 2 remarks:

1. THIS ORIENTATION ONLY Publishing option needed

Due to the nature of the foil content, these posters will have text or foil decorations and frames. This will be different for every orientation. We have a "This Size Only" publishing option, but there are several horizontal and vertical sizes. Please add a "THIS ORIENTATION ONLY" that includes either all horizontal posters, all vertical posters, or all squares.

2. Issues with refilling of background images after orientation switching

Filled background images are resized incorrectly after switching orientation. The result depends on how you switch. I have addressed this issue separately in the Tech forum with screenshots here: https://community.zazzle.com/t5/technical-issues/foil-posters-incorrect-background-re-filling-at-ori... 

Didn't find other issues for now. LOVE that product, btw. Please address the publishing option, this is an important one to have or customers may have issues, especially if the content doesn't get resized & repositioned correctly when the customer switches back. Thank you!

[Fiorenzo]

Just to be safe: I assume, the faux border does not change the chosen physical size of the poster? In other words: the design itself is printed smaller to accommodate the border?

[James_C]

Yes that is true.  The image is shrunken 80% and the material stays the same size.  

[Fiorenzo]

Thanks for the confirmation, James. Again, great product, perfect for memorials, awards, and similar. Just the price of the 2 smallest sizes hurts. Have a great weekend and sorry for having been pretty stressful these past days. It's for a good cause, tho 🙂

[Fiorenzo]

Me again, sorry. Regarding pricing this time. The prices are generally high, but that's OK on the larger prints. What hurts me though, and what let me fall off the chair is that the small 5x7" print is as expensive (20$!) as a 5-pack of flat foil holiday cards! Taking into consideration that cards are often at nice sales, this print will cost more than 5 card equivalents. And I'm pretty sure, the paper is the exact same. 30$ for a 8x10" print is also pretty extreme. I would consider lowering the prices for these sizes, perhaps to a fair 10$ for the 5x7 and maybe 15 or max 20 for the 8x10 - just to get these at reasonable numbers. My 2 cents.

[CreativeLeahG]

They are higher than our competitor site which offers customizations

[Fiorenzo]

I don't know what other PODs charge, but 20$ for a 5x7" card-sized foil print and 30 for a 8x10" sheet are insane. Foil prints aren't usually that much more expensive than regular quality prints, perhaps 50% more. I simply can't recommend these to my people at these prices. I would feel bad, and I'm almost sure they will think I will get 15 of these 20. No way. What a shame.

[Caprice]

Does the faux mat border have to be white - or have I missed how to change the color?  I feel white isn't always the BEST choice for a print...

[Megan]

Hi @Caprice, 

There is only one option for the faux mat, but I will certainly pass along your feedback to the team!

- Megan 🦋

[Caprice]

Thanks!

[WHS_Designs]

In the "About this Product" section, there's usually a thumbnail and accompanying link to the right of the first paragraph that lets us create the product from scratch, but it's missing here. Could this "Create your own from scratch" link please be added to foil prints?

Thank You!

[WHS_Designs]

Could we have a "this orientation only" option under Product Merchandising, please?  

[Phrosne_Ras_Des]

Hi, is there any additional info about this product i.e. paper thickness mg 

Thanks