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Print idea

Raised spot UV

A clear varnish screened onto chosen areas of a matt sheet and cured hard, so a mark stands proud of the ground. It is found by a fingertip before it is read by an eye.

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Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days.

What raised spot uv is

A clear varnish laid onto selected areas of an already printed sheet and cured under ultraviolet light in a separate pass. The raised, high-build version puts down a noticeably thicker film than a flood varnish does, so the shape has a measurable edge and a domed top rather than simply a change of sheen. It is a screened process, which means the varnish is a shape drawn in the artwork and registered to the print, not an effect applied to everything. The whole effect is contrast: a hard gloss sitting on a dull ground, catching a light source the rest of the sheet refuses to catch.

A coated card that has been matt laminated first. The film is what gives the varnish something to sit on and something to contrast with, and it is why matt lamination and spot UV are specified together rather than as two separate decisions. On an uncoated or a cotton sheet the varnish sinks into the fibre and there is nothing standing proud to catch the light — the effect that was specified is simply absent from the finished piece.

  1. The trim — where the guillotine falls.
  2. The keep-out, drawn inside the trim. Nothing struck may cross it.
  3. The varnish, sitting proud of the sheet with a hard edge, catching the light on one side.
Relief and gloss on a sheet Matt art card at 400 gsm, at finished proportion, 90 × 54 mm, carrying a spot varnish with a hard edge, standing proud of the sheet, at a standard depth, with the 3 mm keep-out from the trim drawn at the same proportion.

The specification

Six fields, and the last one is the useful one.

The same six questions are answered for every entry in this section, in the same order, so two objects can be compared without reading two pages of prose. The mistake is stated last and stated plainly, because it is the one that costs a reprint and it is the reason this page is worth sending to a colleague.

What it is
A clear varnish laid onto selected areas of an already printed sheet and cured under ultraviolet light in a separate pass. The raised, high-build version puts down a noticeably thicker film than a flood varnish does, so the shape has a measurable edge and a domed top rather than simply a change of sheen. It is a screened process, which means the varnish is a shape drawn in the artwork and registered to the print, not an effect applied to everything. The whole effect is contrast: a hard gloss sitting on a dull ground, catching a light source the rest of the sheet refuses to catch.
What it is printed on

A coated card that has been matt laminated first. The film is what gives the varnish something to sit on and something to contrast with, and it is why matt lamination and spot UV are specified together rather than as two separate decisions. On an uncoated or a cotton sheet the varnish sinks into the fibre and there is nothing standing proud to catch the light — the effect that was specified is simply absent from the finished piece.

  • Matt art card, 400 gsm0.41 mmThe dull, stable ground the gloss reads against, and heavy enough that a domed varnish does not make the card look thin.
  • Gloss art card, 350 gsm0.32 mmIt works, but half the effect is gone before it starts: on an already shiny face the varnish reads as relief rather than as shine.
How it feels
A hard, slightly domed pool that a fingertip finds without looking, edged sharply enough that a fingernail catches on the way across it. The surrounding matt film is dry and slightly soft, so the hand reads the difference as texture before the eye reads it as shine. Held flat under an overhead light the varnish is nearly invisible; tilted, it lights up and the rest of the card goes dark.
What it suits
A logo, a single word, a pattern sitting behind type, a folder cover, a book jacket, a packaging panel — anything that benefits from being found by touch before it is read. It suits dark grounds best, because the reflection has somewhere to happen. It does not suit uncoated, kraft or cotton stock, it does not suit soft-touch film, which the varnish will not key to without a tie-coat, and it does not suit a shape with detail finer than the screen can hold.
Lead time
Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days. A cutting forme, a foil block, an embossing die or a screen made for the first time is made before anything can run; a tool already held is not.
The common mistake
Drawing the varnish as an exact copy of a printed shape. Screen registration moves by about half a millimetre across a run, so a varnish cut to the same outline as a coloured element shows a bright sliver of gloss down one side of it on part of the job and nothing on the rest. Either trap the varnish slightly inside the printed shape so the movement has somewhere to go, or make it a deliberately different shape that nobody expects to line up.

Where this sits.

Every entry is indexed three ways, because a buyer arrives knowing the occasion, the object or the material and almost never all three.

Application
Format
Material and effect

Also worth looking at

Send the specification for this, and it comes back quoted.

Every job is quoted from its specification — stock, quantity, sides, finish, size and deadline.

  • Quantity
  • Stock — or the feel you want, if you do not know the stock
  • Sides printed
  • Finish
  • Flat and finished size
  • The deadline
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Artwork is welcome but not required to start. Email sales@ezprint.com.sg if you would rather attach files.