A logo reaches a leather or PU cover in one of three ways in our workshop: blind embossing, foil stamping, or screen and UV printing. They look different, wear differently and suit different logos. Here is how we think about the choice when artwork arrives.
What blind embossing looks like
Blind embossing presses the logo into the cover with a heated brass die, using no colour at all. The mark reads through shadow and light — close and quiet. On a textured cover it looks tailored; on a smooth one, architectural. And because there is no ink or foil, nothing can rub off: the finish lasts as long as the cover does.
When foil stamping is the right choice
Foil stamping uses the same brass die with a thin metallic or pigmented foil laid between die and cover. Gold, silver and copper are the classics; matte and pigment foils give a solid colour. Choose foil when the mark should read from across a room — a box on a boardroom table, a spine on a shelf. Foil is a surface layer, so on a piece used hard for years it can scuff at the edges; the relief underneath stays.
What screen and UV printing are good at
Screen printing pushes ink through a mesh, one exact colour at a time, at a friendly cost per piece. UV printing cures full-colour ink straight onto the cover, which makes it the only option for gradients, photographs or multi-colour marks. Both sit on the surface rather than in it, so they suit smooth covers best; on deeply grained leather the ink skips the valleys.
How we help you choose
Send the logo and the product, and we render the viable options on your actual cover material, in 3D, within two to three working days — at no cost. Most clients decide the moment they see their own mark on their own colour, not on a sample card.
One more thing worth knowing: the brass die is cut once and kept. When you reorder next year, the tooling already exists and the mark lands in exactly the same place.