Make Eye-Catching Packaging Box with Print Coatings
What is vanishing? How to do spot varnish? Why do spot UV? These are some of the questions we usually get for packaging box printing.
Most will say that you need to use print coating to protect your packaging box from smudges, scratches and finger prints. But by using print coatings you can also make the appearance of your packaging eye-catching.
Here are the what, how and why?
Varnish coating
Varnish is a clear, transparent coating that is done during or after printing. It is available in gloss, matte, satin. If you want your packaging to look more shiny, you can use gloss varnish. On the contrary, matte varnish will make your packaging more subtle and give you a softer appearance.
If you want the best of both worlds, you can used satin varnish. It looks as if no varnish has been applied, so you can still enjoy a subtle effect. The benefit of satin is it will give you a greater resistance against smudges and fingerprints.
The only short coming of varnish is it can become yellowish in time. Especially on non printed area, the yellowish can be more noticeable.
Spot Varnish
If you want to make certain design and image stand out on your packaging, used spot varnish. You need to output an extra plate for the area where you want to do spot varnish.
You can used gloss, matte for spot varnish. Both will look like an extra transparent layer have been printed on that particular area. For example if you edge out your product image and do spot varnish, it will look more prominent on the packaging.
By all means you can consider using matte varnish for the background and spot varnish your product. The contrast of shiny gloss and matte background will make your image pop up on the packaging.
Water based coating
Some call it aqueous coating, but in Malaysia is more commonly known as water based coating.
This few year, water based coating have become very popular in Malaysia. Due to the reason that it is water based, it is environmental friendly so your packaging box can be recycled.
Normally if you do food packaging, you need to use water based coating because it is non-toxin and is more healthy for food consumption brands.
UV Coating
A clear and shiny liquid coating is applied to packaging box and cured with ultra violet light. This is called UV coating.
It will make your packaging shiny, and offer the most protection between varnish, water based and UV. If your packaging require more protection from frequent handling during delivery or shipment, you can consider UV coating.
Due to reason that UV coating is shiny, it is less popular to use UV coating for the whole packaging box in Malaysia. Most of us prefer to use spot UV to make the certain area stand out on the packaging.
Lamination
Lamination is not consider as a print coating. Similar to varnish, a layer of film is added to protect the packaging box. It makes the packaging box luxurious and also give better protection
Cost of doing lamination is higher that varnish. Majority choose to use varnish to protect the packaging but if you want to make your packaging premium and more durable, you can consider using lamination.
The advantages of coating
Apart from giving protection to your packaging box. You can apply coating based on what product your are selling.
For example, if you are selling luxury watch, you applied spot UV on the glass of the watch to make the watch main feature eye-catching.
Children prefer shiny packaging boxes. If you are selling a children product, you can consider gloss varnish for your packaging box because at the end of the day they will influence the decision of their mother easily.
Take advantage of the coating you can used for packaging box. Many different effects can be achieved and make your packaging box stand out on the shelf.
The disadvantages of coating
The biggest disadvantage of coating is it is not earth friendly. Most packaging box that used UV coating or lamination cannot be recycled and usually end up in the landfill for burning and this is very bad for the environment.
The only coating that is earth friendly is water based coating but the result is less impactful compare to spot UV and lamination.
Make eye-catching packaging with coating
If you understand coating and apply different coatings on your packaging, it can make your packaging box stand out among other products on the shelves.
Contact us today to learn how you can used coatings to make your packaging box eye-catching. We will be happy to show you samples and answer any questions you have.