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Consumers are bombarded with marketing messages on a daily basis delivered via numerous different media channels, which means that print has never had to work so hard to find a place for itself in the mix. While this presents challenges, it also creates an opportunity for print buyers to take advantage of the many benefits of a printed piece over that of other media.

And the good news is that through simple but effective finishing techniques, buyers can add value to a job and appeal to the senses of consumers without incurring a substantial rise in costs. At present, the most popular value-added finishing technique is foil blocking, according to print finishers, but other options such as embossing or spot UV varnish can pack just as much of a punch. Even using some of the more creative substrates available on the market can help to create a stand-out product.

To showcase what can be achieved by employing these different embellishments, this issue of Printing World contains five examples of print using five very different techniques, which show the power of the printed image in its best light.

Some of these techniques may take longer to achieve than your typical run of the mill job, there may be additional environmental implications that need to be taken into account, and it may end up costing you a little more money. But at the end of the day it all boils down to whether or not you can afford not to take advantage of the value-added finishing features that print has to offer.

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EMBOSSING
Embossing creates a raised impression on the surface of the paper using male and female metal dies to mould a sheet of paper between them.



The process is typically used on books or magazine covers, but Paul Haslam, managing director of London-based stationery print specialist Benwell Sebard, says that the firm uses it a lot on invitations and point-of-sale pieces.

According to Haslam, unlike many processes there’s still an element of craft involved in embossing. This means that makeready times can be as much as an hour, but once the machine is up and running the job usually goes through pretty smoothly. For the cover image, the firm used blind embossing, which creates a much more striking image with a lot more depth. “It’s like a 3D image,“ explains Haslam. “You can feel it, touch it – it’s a lot more tactile than a four-colour image.” In terms of cost, it could add up to 10%, but it depends on the area being embossed and the run length. There are no negative environmental considerations. Indeed, the only downside is that the sheet cockles slightly when you emboss it, but that usually doesn’t cause any binding problems. A final factor worth noting is that you can’t emboss too fine an image on too thick a stock – the general rule of thumb is that the embossing line weight has got to be three times thicker than the stock.
Benwell Sebard 0207 237 5111
www.benwellsebard.co.uk

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FOIL BLOCKING
Applying foil to a surface, using either a metal die that can be chemically etched or by hand from supplied artwork, can add value to all sorts of products, from greetings cards to expensive packaging of high value items.



One of the largest foil blocking companies in the UK is Celloglas, which has sites nationwide. Sales and marketing director Steve Middleton says the process is “relatively inexpensive for the amount of perceived value that is added”. There are a lot of different techniques that can be applied – from texturing the foil to creating bespoke holograms – but the main things to consider are avoiding putting foil over folds or creases and making sure the substrate is foil-compatible.

The good news for the environment is that the foil itself is usually a small percentage of the overall job, so it would normally be allowed to be recycled with normal print waste. The cover was printed on EBB Paper 130gsm Satimat Green stock (as were the embossed and spot gloss UV covers in the series). Kevin Smith, sales and marketing manager at EBB, says that the paper is a 50% recycled and 50% FSC-certified product. “We wanted to show that you could be just as creative on recycled paper as on a virgin paper product,” says Smith. “If you look at the whiteness of the sheet you wouldn’t know the difference between recycled and virgin fibre.”
Celloglas 0118 944 1441
www.celloglas.co.uk

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SPOT UV VARNISH
Leeds-based Best Cover UV has combined water-based matt and spot gloss UV to give the same visual highlighting effect as matt lamination and spot gloss UV, but produced in one pass on a machine running at speeds of 15,000 sheets per hour.



It is much more cost-effective than the traditional alternative, according to Darren Crake, managing director of Best Cover, which has the only two Heidelberg offline double coaters in the UK. It is also totally recyclable and no volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are released during application or drying, unlike conventional varnishes, which release VOCs into the atmosphere. When compared to lamination, UV varnishing also comes out on top in the green stakes as the laminate uses more weight of material to produce the finish and is significantly harder to recycle than UV-coated material.

Crake says that, due to the speed of makereadies that the firm achieves, it can service anything from small runs through to large complex orders. “One of our most complicated jobs to date was spot gloss UV, die-cut, crease and perforate in five positions on a run of over 600,000 sheets, returning flat sheets to our client to strip out,” he says. “It ran at 14,000 sheets per hour and saved more than £20,000 over running the job on silk screen for the spot gloss UV and then running it again through a flat-bed die-cut machine, not to mention the time saving too.”
Best Cover UV 0113 277 1607
www.bestcoveruv.co.uk

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METALLIC PAPER
This cover, which bore a mosaic of the Madonna and Child on a throne to stunning effect, was printed on special paper called Conqueror Digital Multi-Technology Iridescent White Shimmer 240gsm, provided by paper manufacturer Arjowiggins. The firm’s creative iridescent papers, give a metallic look and feel to the final print without the use of any additional techniques or processes, according to UK and Ireland marketing communications manager James Dudney.



The Conqueror brand has more than a century of history and the Digital range was added in 2002 in response to the increasing number of digital machines in the market. The “Multi-Technology” tag is a promise of optimum performance across a range of different machines and technologies, including HP Indigo, NexPress, Xerox’s iGen3 and DocuColor series, as well as offset litho and most desktop inkjet and laser printers, without the need for additional treatments.

The Iridescent White Shimmer grade was introduced in 2004, as the market demanded more creative papers with special textures and finishes to give an extra dimension to a project. This coincided with the increasing ability of printing technology to handle these stocks. As for any environmental concerns, since the beginning of October this year, all products in the Conqueror range are carbon neutral and produced using FSC pulps from sustainable, well-managed forests.
Arjowiggins 0871 200 3098
www.arjowigginsfinepapers.co.uk

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MIRRORED BOARD
Printed, foiled board is widely used in packaging – especially for DVD and CD cases – as well as for paperback book covers, annual reports, prestige brochure covers, special edition magazine covers and bound-in advertising inserts. In this instance, our cover was produced by London-based specialist UV printer Colour Five using UV inks and UV varnish on a foiled board called Mirri Board, supplied by Celloglas.



UV litho uses UV cure inks and varnishes which are dried by the press’s high-intensity UV lamps and this enables companies such as Colour Five to print on a wide range of substrates that conventional litho might find more difficult. This includes not only Mirri Board, but plastics such as polypropylene, PVC and vinyl, as well as speciality papers such as Flockage, Simulator, Plike and Curious Touch.

According to Colour Five joint managing director Neil Atkinson, one important aspect of production is that the firm’s press applies a high gloss UV varnish inline. “This provides a high level of protection and gloss, which is ideal if the printing is to be used for long-life applications, such as packaging or book covers,” says Atkinson.

As Mirri Board is a reflective surface, Colour Five often prints a selective white ink underneath the four-colour inks. This means that the areas that print over the white appear solid, while the areas that print in four-colour directly on to the foil surface are reflective. Atkinson adds that this may require some careful image manipulation in the studio.
Colour Five 0208 733 9800
www.colourcards.co.uk