Your Guide to Commercial Print Finishes

Great commercial printing is a pleasure to behold. But achieving complex, eye-catching, and evocative results requires more than just crisp resolution and polished construction. Your printer must also be adept at applying finishes to the design. These treatments add visual interest, design depth, textural variation, and additional protection for the final product. Everything necessary to boost a print design to the next level.

This article will help you understand what different finishes can do for your print project. So, when it’s time to start your next job, you’ll be prepared to take full advantage of everything your printer has to offer.

Understanding Different Print Finishes

For the purposes of this article, we’re using “finishes” as a broad term for all the many kinds of layers and effects that can be added to print products. Some finishes are applied as a liquid ‘varnish’ or coating, some are a secondary material layer that gets laminated on top of the print. Gow a finish is applied can impact its aesthetic results as well as the functional protection it provides the final product.

Matte Finish

The term matte literally means ‘without shine’. Depending on the technology a printer uses, this finish can be achieved with either a coating or lamination. It gives prints a softer appearance and is a good choice for fine details and small text sizes, since it can nearly eliminate glare from the page.

Gloss Finish

Gloss is matte’s opposite – a finish designed to make a print extra shiny. It can also be applied via either a varnish coating or lamination, depending on the print technology. A glossy finish helps saturate colors and enhances the depth of your print, making it popular for use with colorful artwork, graphic designs, and photography.

Soft-Touch Coatings

A soft-touch coating makes a print feel softer and more velvety. It adds a pleasant, textural interest for anyone handling the print materials, and can be applied as an all-over finish or used on select details. It helps print products resist both fingerprints and scuff marks.

Raised UV & Spot Gloss

While a traditional gloss finish lies flat on the page and is more often applied to the whole print, a raised UV or ‘spot gloss’ finish creates a raised effect. The details it’s applied to are ultra glossy and stand slightly proud of the print surface, creating strong visual and textural contrast. It’s commonly used to draw attention to important design components. It can also make a print sturdier when applied all over.

Foil Finishes

A foil finish involves the lamination of a thin metallic foil to your print. Foil comes in many colors and patterns, and expert printers like Wallace Carlson can even combine precision color print techniques with foil finishes to create hundreds of different shades. This finish is often used to evoke luxury and prestige, or to catch the eye in visually crowded settings.

Embossing and Debossing

This is the only finishing technique on our list that is neither a coating nor a lamination. Instead, stamps are used to physically raise or depress the paper, leaving a three-dimensional design behind. This technique is commonly used for details like logos, seals, and headlines.

Varnish vs. Lamination: Which is Better?

For finishes that can be achieved through either a varnish coating or lamination, choosing the right solution requires consideration of more than just aesthetic effect. Using a coating typically provides less protection for your print than lamination, but is typically more flexible. Lamination can also result in a thicker, less flexible final product.

Perhaps most importantly, depending on the technology your printer has available, one option may be more affordable and accessible than the other. Discuss your options with your printer directly to know exactly what’s available to you and how a given approach may affect your results and budget.

The Role of Print Finishes in Commercial Printing Projects

Generally, print finishes are used to create more compelling, successful commercial print products. For a more detailed review of how different finishes impact different print product categories, you can check out our blog dedicated to the topic here.

Marketing Collateral

The thoughtful application of print finishes on marketing collateral can have a significant impact on things like brand perception, customer attention, and campaign success. Depending on what’s applied, they can help materials read as more upscale, playful, refined, elegant, modern, even futuristic.

Packaging

Print finishes can be an excellent way to boost the visual appeal of packaging, drawing more eyes and increasing the perceived value of the product within. Finishes can also help protect packaging from scuffs, water damage, and other hazards of shipping and handling.

Publications

With countless different publication types out there, the potential for print finishes is limitless for these print products. For example, gloss can enhance the artwork in coffee table books, while foil can make event programs feel more prestigious, and soft touch adds both refinement and durability to product catalog covers.  

Corporate Documents

Print finishes can help corporate documents feel more prestigious to investors, increase enthusiasm in employees, and communicate success and prosperity to all stakeholders.