The backstage passes you distribute every day to allow selected individuals access to restricted areas of the venue at specified times are, taken collectively, an access control system. We at Otto have been designing such systems for a wide range of situations for over 30 years, (nearly as long, in fact, as such pass systems have been in use in the entertainment industry). Let us put that hard-won expertise to work in your cause.
Our service offerings include.
As the world's leading company of printers working on pressure sensitive rayon acetate satin, we have the longest experience of printing on this unusual material. We know what it takes to deliver a clean image, from the first camera shot or scan in the art department, through the press and beyond, to deliver a clean, professional product every time.
It certainly makes life easier for your peer security folk to spot passes that don't fit in or wearers of passes who are where they do not belong.
Color coding is done by changing the ink color of a set of elements, such as a background, a picture, or type, several times during the print run to split the run into the desired number of colors. To determine the appropriate number of code colors to use, we generally use this rule of thumb: use one more code color than you will have play dates in a single market. There are two way you can color code your system.
Whichever option you choose, there is a practical limit of 5 or 6 colors to a color coding system. Beyond that, it is difficult, if not impossible, to find colors that can be easily distinguished one from the other under low-light conditions.
This is the more expensive of the two options, as color plates and press runs are generally required for each additional code color. The one exception to this rule is in the case of 4-color process designs. With Otto's recent acquisition of a dedicated 4-color press, this old fact of life is changing. Be sure to discuss with us how we can better suit your needs.
It used to be that this was generally the less expensive option. Generally all that is required was a slight upcharge for the ink changes. Now, that new press opens up new possibilities.
While metallic inks are difficult to work on satin, we have used them all at one time or another and know how they behave and we can design the work requiring them to get the maximum effect from these tricky pigments.
Fluorescent inks are somewhat easier but also more costly than most inks, and more ink is required to get good color on so absorbtive a sheet as satin. Despite that, we charge no more for the use of fluorescent pigments than for "regular" inks.
Please note that we discourage the use of gold, bronze, or copper inks on satin. The surface of the satin is simply too coarse to give a good, metallic sheen. Despite that, should your design call for it, you may trust that nobody does it better.
Shape-coding your system is an excellent way of extending the range of visual signals you can send your peer security folk. Shaped passes can be more readily recognized from a distance than any other type of visual signal. Color can be confused in a busy visual environment and text cannot be read beyond a given distance. But a diecut shape can be discerned from nearly as far away as it can be seen.
Originally practiced by bookbinders and medieval monks as decoration in illuminated manuscripts, this ancient printing technique has been updated to the 21st Century. Backed with heat-sensitive adhesives and faced with a dizzying array of colors, patterns, and textures, modern hot stamp foils have a singular advantage when used in backstage passes; they cannot be convincingly copied by color copiers. This makes them an excellent anticounterfeit device. We have used hot stamp foil to good effect for just that purpose on projects ranging from Bruce Springsteen's River Tour to the tickets for the Stones' '81 tour down to the passes on tour recently with many artists.
If you want a hologram on your backstage passes, this is probably what you're really looking for.
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