Whether you’re new to online printing or have been printing product materials for your business online for a while, you might have observed online printers like us talking about type of lamination or finishes that you can add to your packaging product. This blog will answer your questions about the lamination printing, why you may add it to your print, and what products it looks best on.
First things first, let’s start with a rapid definition…
What Is Lamination in Printing?
Lamination is a finishing procedure in printing where heaviness and heat bind a thin layer of plastic recognized as a laminate to paper or business cards.
Lamination printing is usually use to protect the paper from wear and tear and improve the item’s longevity. It’s accessible in gloss, matt, and velvet textures.
What’s The Difference Between Types of Lamination?
For packaging designers, every new project grants new encounters. These exceptional challenges drive innovation in design, and materials play an important part.
Even the most familiar materials for Flyer printing have inherent properties that are often under-recognized or under-utilized. Careful consideration and thoughtful selection can produce unique packaging design novelties and trends.
It’s not astonishing that laminates and coatings of all sorts—well-known to designers and those who may be less aware—are contributing to advanced packaging design today.
As we’ve just mentioned, custom amination printing comes in three different textures: matte, gloss, and velvet.
The sort of laminated printing you choose marks how your print feels, with each giving a very dissimilar texture or surface to the print.
Here’s a little information on each category.
Matte
This great no-shine finish gives a subtle, smooth texture to your print. A widespread finish is often used on multi-use restaurant menus.
Matte lamination has a “velvety” touch that makes it enjoyable to handle. It also softens the difference between darker colors, so they don’t stand out quite as much.
Gloss lamination harvests a shiny, glass-like appearance that enhances the theme color and vibrancy of the ink on a page.
Gloss
The opposite of matt is high-shine laminated printing like that use on glossy magazine covers. Gloss lamination harvests a shiny, glass-like appearance that increases the color and vibrancy of the ink on a page. It is commonly use for professional applications such as marketing and promotional business cards. In addition, it also works well as a covering for bound information in the form of books and training materials.
Soft touch
Soft touch lamination, called Cellotouch, provides a protective finish with a matt effect and a soft, velvet-like texture. Moreover, this distinctive finish encourages individuals to engage with the product due to its appealing surface.
Velvet
This luxurious matt finish has a soft, almost peach fuzz-like texture. It’s often used on novel covers. Velvet lamination refers to a category of cover for your card. This cover, though, is permanent. This velvet packaging material is sealed over the custom paper until the two become one material. The result marks both the look and touch of presentation folders.
Nylon Lay Flat Lamination
Less common than the kinds listed above, nylon lay flat laminate is mainly used for book jackets and perfect-bound book covers.
It doesn’t yield the curl in the finished product that other laminates tend to create. This laminate is typically applied to only one side of the printed sheet and helps book covers last longer.
What are the assistances for adding lamination to print?
Individuals choose laminated printing for a whole range of dissimilar reasons. Here are the main ones.
Protection
As we’ve discussed, adding a layer of lamination to your printing can help protect your greeting cards. On business cards, this can help stop the edges from getting worn. It can support menus that last longer in restaurants and stay in tip-top shape!
Wipeable
As part of this extra protection, coated printing makes your item wipeable. Using menus as an example again, you can wipe them down after each use with a damp cloth without harming the print. High-quality, fresh menus for longer – what’s not to love?
Quality
Adding a specific finish also advances the perceived excellence of your print. Magazines use this all the time to create their covers lustrously and attractive, and novels often have velvet-coated printing, so it feels good in the reader’s hands. This is particularly useful for business cards too, where the feel of the card boosts the all-important first impression of your business.
Enhanced Color
Lamination printing also affects the overall color of your print. Matt creates a slightly duller color, whereas gloss lamination makes colors look more vibrant. In addition, velvet lamination makes colors look more profound and more prosperous.
Truer colors. By enclosing your printed packaging materials in a completely see-through layer, lamination ensures that customers see the sharp, bright colors you intended.
Easier disinfection. In today’s world of enlarged hygiene practices, laminated products are helpful because they can be quickly disinfected. Simply wipe a covered product with a disinfectant wipe, and it’s fresh and ready to use again.
Increased durability. Lamination is an important tactic for making your printed products sturdier and longer-lasting. Gloss lamination, in certain, gives your products an almost unbeatable quality, making them far less subject to water and difficult to harm. Fingerprints and oil are easily wiped off. They’re also less likely to slash or fold.
Fewer replacement costs. Lamination’s shielding qualities mean that your items are less likely to experience wear and tear, so you’ll need to swap them much less often.
Over time, this can be noteworthy savings; the small cost of adding type of lamination to your print order normally pays off in the long run.
Additional luxury. Sensory experiences are a vital influence when advertising and making sales. The beautiful look and attractive feel of laminated goods increase confidence in your company and make your goods more wanted.
Matt Lamination and Extra Finishes
Matt laminated printing is a doorway finish to other cool finishes! For many of our products, if you add matt lamination, you might notice a couple of other choices that complement this option exceptionally well.
These are:
Foiling
This finish lets you create patterns or add details to your design in gold foiling and silver foiling. It looks perfect on logos as well as text for invitations.
Spot UV
This classic finish permits you to add gloss to specific spots of your artwork, like a logo or icon. Premium finishes spot UV raised from the print and fantastic glossy, making it really stand out on a matt background.
What Print Items Is Lamination Available On?
Now that you know all about wholesale lamination printing, we bet you can’t wait to add it to your print creations! In addition, lamination is cool to add to flat and folded print items, meaning it can be used on many different things.
Here’s the complete list of what’s available type of lamination when you print online with Unique Custom Packaging USA!
- Business cards
- Flyers
- Folded leaflets
- Stapled booklets
- Perfect bound booklets
- Wire bound booklets
- Notebooks
- Diaries
- Posters
- Greetings cards
- Presentation Folders
- Menus
How To Select Matte, Gloss, Or Soft Touch Lamination?
If you’re trying to choose between the many categories of lamination, the good news is that you can’t go wrong. Each of the categories adds something special to your product. When you’re considering lamination sorts, remember the following:
- Consider your product’s use. Consider a thicker gloss lamination that offers extreme protection if many people handle it. This is the flawless lamination for items such as restaurant menus that can be used for months or even years.
- Keep colors in mind. If you’re looking for cheerful, exciting colors, such as on a poster, then gloss lamination is probably the true choice. If you’d prefer more delicate colors, such as for unique packaging products, then matte lamination is the way to go.
- Imagine your intended emotional effect. If you want your item to inspire luxury ideas, you probably want to opt for soft-touch lamination.
This is an excellent choice for items such as business cards, which donate to a new contact’s first impression of you and your brand or business.
Which One Is Right for You?
The answer to ‘Which one is well must be prefaced by ‘What will the lamination be used for?’ to make an informed choice. As debated above, each has its pros and cons; liable on the application, the drawbacks may not matter or be minor.
You can consider the ‘best of both worlds’ scenario.
For instance, applying a matte laminate over a glossy label can make barcode scanning easier and allow users to handwrite it when such a need arises.
Some may view matte lamination as being boring. However, adding glossy laminate over a matte label can provide a lustrous coating and a more detailed look to your product packaging boxes.
How Do I Add Lamination to My Order?
You might need to change your chosen stock to choose a type of lamination for your print. Choose 350gsm silk, and the lamination options should appear.
If you have more questions about print lamination or need extra help deciding which type to go for, get in touch with our expert team for a free consultation today! Wondering what does collate mean when printing? It refers to arranging multiple pages in the correct order before binding or packaging to ensure a seamless and professional finish.
We also provide collated printing services to ensure your documents are properly organized and ready for use.
Laminate Your Materials with The Experts at Unique Custom Packaging USA
Here at Unique Custom Packaging USA, we offer excellent printing and lamination services for all the products you need. In addition to world-class design, and print services, we offer custom matte, gloss, and soft touch lamination, so we are the top selection to take care of your printing desires from start to finish. We’re happy to work with you!
