Printing and Finishes

Printing methods

• CMYK process — Four inks building full colour. Right for photographic imagery and gradients. Varies between runs, and that variation is most visible on solid backgrounds.
• PMS spot colour — A pre-mixed ink laid down solid. The same ink every time, which removes run-to-run variation. Essential for brand colours that appear as large solids or across a range.
• One-colour — A single ink, usually on white or kraft board. The most economical option and entirely appropriate for information-led packaging.
• Two-colour — A spot brand colour plus black. Covers most clinical and technical layouts at well below process cost.
• Inside printing — A second pass on the reverse of the sheet, visible when flaps or lids open. On flip top and two-piece structures it faces the customer throughout use.
• Variable data — On labels, each unit can carry its own batch, lot, date or serial number within a single run.

If you reorder regularly and a brand colour appears as a solid, specify it as a named PMS spot. That single decision prevents the most common complaint we hear about reprints.

Coatings and laminates

• Matte lamination — The sensible default. Reduces glare, resists fingerprints, makes small type easier to read, and provides contrast for spot UV.
• Gloss lamination — Higher colour saturation and more impact at distance. Shows handling marks more readily, and can block — stick to whatever is pressed against it — in warm storage.
• Soft-touch coating — A velvety surface with slight drag. The most noticeable finish upgrade available, and most effective on rigid board.
• Aqueous coating — A light water-based seal. Less protective than laminate film, but it keeps the carton in a standard paper recycling stream.
• Uncoated — No coating at all. The most reliable surface for applied labels, and the right choice for a reserved over-label zone.

Decorative processes

Each of these is a separate operation on separate equipment. Two effects cost more than twice one effect once setup is counted.

• Hot foil stamping — A heated die transfers metallic or pigment foil. Strongest on a dark surface. Fine detail is the limitation — thin lines fill in or break up, so we advise on minimum stroke width.
• Blind deboss — An impression with no ink or foil. Quiet, tactile and inexpensive relative to the effect. It rarely looks dated.
• Combination foil and deboss — Foil struck into a recess in a single pass with one die. The most refined option, and better value than the two effects separately.
• Emboss — A raised impression. Needs thickness, so it works on rigid board and disappoints on folding board.
• Spot UV — Gloss varnish on selected areas. Best over a matte base and best confined to one element; fine detail fills in at small sizes.

How these stack against structure and interior finish, and the point at which additional decoration stops adding anything, is set out on the premium build page.

Combinations that work

• Soft-touch plus blind deboss — Restrained and tactile, expensive-feeling without being loud.
• Matte lamination plus spot UV on one element — Clean contrast that directs the eye precisely.
• Dark wrap plus hot foil — Maximum contrast; the most immediately premium combination available.
• Kraft board plus one-colour print — Materially honest, and it looks deliberate rather than cheap.

Combinations to avoid

• Gloss lamination plus spot UV — There is no contrast between the two, so the effect is invisible and the cost is not.
• Three effects on one panel — Each competes with the others. If everything is emphasised, nothing is.
• Gloss laminate on a hinge line — Gloss film is less flexible and can craze into fine white cracks with repeated folding.
• Deep emboss on folding board — There is not enough caliper to hold the impression cleanly.
• Any laminate over an applied-label zone — Laminate rejects some adhesives. Keep that area matte or uncoated.

Substrate constraints

• Rigid board — Takes every process well, and is the only substrate that holds a deep emboss or deboss properly.
• SBS paperboard — Excellent print surface for fine type and gradients; shallow impressions only.
• Kraft board — Lower print contrast, so bolder artwork and one- or two-colour work suit it best.
• E-flute corrugated — Prints acceptably, but fine reversed type shows flute lines through it and foil sits unevenly.
• Label films — Take CMYK, spot colour and variable data; protection comes from an overlaminate or UV varnish.

What a substrate can carry is often what settles the finishing decision, which is why material and print are chosen together rather than in sequence — see packaging materials.

How to brief a print specification

• Name spot colours explicitly with their PMS reference; do not convert them to process.
• Supply foil, emboss, deboss and spot UV as separate vector layers in 100% black, not as visual effects.
• State which coating applies where, particularly if part of the panel must accept an applied label.
• Say whether lid and base, or carton and label, must match — that changes how the job is scheduled.
• Ask for a physical sample on anything with foil, soft-touch or deboss. They do not proof on screen.

File-level requirements, including how layers should be named, are set out on the artwork guidelines page.