Nowadays, die-cutting, letter pressing, and embossing are all available techniques in the printing industry, but spot UV printing is one feature that may truly help your client’s products stand out from the crowd. 

The company logo on their custom boxes or other types of packaging will have a wonderful, glossy sheen if a spot UV finish is applied. This allows their brand to be recognised with a more distinctive packaging design that appeals to the eyes.

Spot UV is a high-gloss finish that is applied to specific sections of the products, and it's a terrific method to emphasise a pattern or define words. 

While it may seem futuristic, the method is actually quite simple. UV light is used to dry a varnish that has been applied to the printed material. A well-considered design in the products can yield a stunning final output.

What is Spot UV?

Spot UV is a luxury option for business cards, invitations, tags, sales brochures, and other printed materials. It entails applying a clear, shiny coating to specific sections of artwork to create an eye-catching contrast.

The ‘Spot' portion of the process is worth emphasising, even though it can be applied to the entire product. This is the practise of highlighting a specific design feature to create a strong contrast with the rest of the design and leave a lasting impression. 

Spot colours are used to indicate the specific point and can be as straightforward as a one-point line. It improves the consumer perceptions of printed products in the same way as laminating does. This process can be used to improve critical aspects of your design, such as:

• Slogans
• Logos
• Images
• Artwork designs

UV coating has various applications, including:

• Flyers
• Brochures
• Card stocks
• Postcards
• Packaging boxes
• Invitation cards
• Business cards

How Does Spot UV Work?

Sheets are run through the DuSense, a single-colour, single-pass inkjet printer with 600dpi heads producing variable-heights and thicknesses in the same pass. This technology enables the combination of heavy solids and fine detail in the same image, as well as smooth curves and detailing in beautiful fine lines, down to 6pt fonts. Following  application of the varnish, the sheet is heated with Infrared and UV rays, which instantly dries it.

What Makes Spot UV So Special?

Spot UV has been quite popular in luxurious printing processes since you can easily use in packaging materials; it's a unique approach to market products and leaves a lasting impression. It is recommended to couple the Spot UV with a matte lamination because of the excellent clarity and eye-catching finish. 

This will provide proper contrast and depth to your design while also providing additional durability from the lamination process. The quality UV varnish also gives the products a smooth feel, making them the ideal method to market your customer’s brand with something that is irresistible to touch.

How to Set Up for Spot UV

When submitting artwork, the first must be the artwork itself, while the second must have the sections that the clients want the UV varnish applied to, marked clearly in a contrasting colour such as 100% cyan. It pinpoints the exact location where clients want the varnish to be applied, ensuring that you complete their order according to their specifications.

The customer must specify the UV areas, and the artwork team will take care of the rest. You can send the proof to your clients via email once you’ve completed the initial printing, so the customers can double-check everything and make sure the UV lines are aligned correctly according to their preference.

To complete the process, take advantage of Duplo’s digital shape-cutting table, an ideal cost-effective solution for a wide range of finishing needs, including adhesive sheets, custom-shaped greeting and business cards, invitations, labels, and tiny packages, tags, and much more.

You may now add extra creativity to your product offerings by cutting, kiss-cutting, die-cutting, and creasing various card and paper materials, expanding your innovative capabilities and providing value to your customers.

The Benefits of Spot UV 

Overall presentation

Anyone who views it for the first time will notice the additional process of spot UV, which creates an undeniable and remarkable notion. It provides a textural impression that a regular-coated print would not. It is an excellent idea to incorporate it in marketing and sales brochures to be more effective.

Quick and effective

UV coating dries incredibly quickly, resulting in faster turnaround times. The precision achieved is highly astounding for a rapid drying procedure.

Protective layer

Spot finishes also provide consistent moisture resistance because the colour on the printed item is sealed in.

8 Brilliant Spot UV Design Examples 

Spot UV with Embossing

The addition of embossing to a design paired with the high shine of spot UV makes it both eye-catching and tactile. Your customers will have complete creative control over where spot UV is applied and which features are embossed. This allows you to create the most spectacular and unique product catalogue design possible.

Product covers or business cards that were embossed or 3D printed have a unique look and feel. It adds a 3D sheen to your text, logo, and graphics. The raised printing offers a glossy finish that customers enjoy running their fingers over. It’s an excellent approach to making products and companies stand out from the competition.Spot UV with an Intricate Background Pattern

Spot UV with an intricate background design provides an eye-catching and tactile feature. It creates the impression of colour without overpowering the meaning of the item. Also, using embossed spot UV printing with intricate background designs brings their concepts to life.

The more intricate the design, the more impactful it will be. Consider our compact Duplo DuSense Sensory Coater allows you to give consumers a high-end, profitable digital embellishment service to enhance the texture.

The Duplo DuSense allows you to develop your premium offering in a flexible, practical, and affordable way with its compact size, automated design, and dynamic nature. You can now obtain first-class details that add significant value to both your customer and the end consumer.

Monochromatic Design

A monochromatic cover or card doesn't have to be dull: the cover or card shows how the high-gloss shine can truly make text stand out, even when they're black-on-black. You’ll be amazed at the the way gloss looks on black; it's one of the most versatile colours to work with.

This type of design on covers or cards uses the power of spot UV's capabilities for texture. Many product covers use spot UV to highlight the logo, but a monochromatic design makes the logo stand out against the raised background by keeping it plain.

Highlighting Text Design 

This isn’t really particular in a business card, but it’s a simple-yet-stunning example of spot UV. Highlighting text is a terrific way to employ the finishing technique. Printing the high-gloss shine over a slightly darker text than the background colour helps it stand out even more. This design would be perfect for a presentation folder cover.

Absence of High-Gloss Spot UV

Consider omitting the high-gloss spot UV to put emphasis on what you're truly trying to express. The words are matted here, making them stand out against the high-shine surface. This spot UV example also highlights what you can do with larger projects like presentation folders or flyers.

Blind Spot UV

Blind Spot UV is done when UV coating is applied to an area that doesn't match the rest of the artwork. When the high-gloss varnish reflects light, the UV pattern shines through, whether it's across the full print or on a blank page.

The use of a blind spot UV coating does not impact readability because the varnish is transparent, but it does provide another way to display your brand or design.

Hidden Shine Design

This innovative UV gloss coating is intended to play with the idea of layering by adding spot gloss to the matte surface of the super paper material. It not only adds another dimension to the texture but also gives a twist to the theme.

Limited Colour Palette Design

There's no need to go crazy with colour selection when designing a folder or business card. After all, your eye is already able to distinguish between two colours. If you add too much, you'll lose sight of what's important: the brand or contact information.

However, a plain white card isn't the solution. Based on the survey, coloured business cards are kept 10 times longer than white business cards. Limit your spot UV business card design to no more than three colours for stunning effects. The rest will be handled by the UV spot.

Ready to Add Spot UV Finishes to Your Printing Business?

Applying Spot UV to business card, postcards, presentation folders and other business products is a favourite added feature. Adding this printing method to your portfolio of services will allow you to increase your revenue and make you stand out from other printing businesses. 

Remember that creating something different from your competitor makes a good marketing impression on your customers. You can also look at what’s popular in the industry today and make sure you’re recommending the correct spot UV design idea that will help your customer’s brand send a more powerful message.

If you’d like to see more about different print tips and techniques and how we can help you, visit Duplo International blogs. You can also check out our wide selection of efficient machines perfect for your company