- What it is
- A polypropylene film with a rubberised, micro-textured coating, bonded to the printed sheet under heat and pressure exactly as ordinary lamination is. It is a film rather than a varnish, so it also does the structural job any laminate does: it seals the sheet, stops it scuffing and stops it curling. What makes it different is the surface, which has almost no reflection and a very slight drag against skin. It is usually specified for a whole face rather than an area, because the effect is what happens when a hand picks the piece up.
- What it is printed on
Coated card, laminated after printing. Matt art card is the standard ground and the safest one. Gloss art card works too, but the film flattens the sheen the sheet was chosen for, which makes the gloss stock pointless. Bonded duplex is the choice where the cover has to be rigid as well as soft, and the combination of a dead-matt face and a squared edge is a large part of why premium folders feel the way they do.
- Matt art card, 350 gsm0.36 mmThe standard ground: already dull, so the film changes the hand without changing the colour twice.
- Bonded duplex, 600 gsm bonded0.72 mmWhere the cover has to be rigid as well as soft, and the squared edge is part of the effect.
- Gloss art card, 310 gsm0.28 mmIt laminates fine, but the film kills the shine the sheet was chosen for — pick matt instead.
- How it feels
- Like chalk, or like suede, or like the outside of a good camera. It is warm rather than cool, dry, and it grips the fingers very slightly instead of sliding under them. Blacks go deeper and colours drop about half a step. A fingernail drawn across it leaves a burnished line that catches the light, and that line does not lift out.
- What it suits
- Folders, report and book covers, presentation boxes, premium name cards and any packaging that is meant to be picked up rather than looked at. It does not suit anything that will be written on, it does not take spot UV without a tie-coat — the varnish lifts at the edges — and it does not suit a piece that has to survive a lot of handling while still looking new.
- Lead time
- Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days. Counted from approved artwork rather than from the enquiry.
- The common mistake
- Choosing it for a pale, large-area design. Soft touch invites handling and then records it: every fingernail and every corner rub leaves a burnished mark, and on a black or a deep colour that patina reads as use while on a pale ground it reads as damage. Put the soft-touch face on the dark half of the design, and put the light half on something that can be wiped.
Print idea
Soft-touch laminated cover
A rubberised matt film bonded over the print, with a micro-textured surface that reads as suede under a fingertip. It is the most-noticed finish in a stack and the one that shows every mark.
Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
What soft-touch laminated cover is
A polypropylene film with a rubberised, micro-textured coating, bonded to the printed sheet under heat and pressure exactly as ordinary lamination is. It is a film rather than a varnish, so it also does the structural job any laminate does: it seals the sheet, stops it scuffing and stops it curling. What makes it different is the surface, which has almost no reflection and a very slight drag against skin. It is usually specified for a whole face rather than an area, because the effect is what happens when a hand picks the piece up.
Coated card, laminated after printing. Matt art card is the standard ground and the safest one. Gloss art card works too, but the film flattens the sheen the sheet was chosen for, which makes the gloss stock pointless. Bonded duplex is the choice where the cover has to be rigid as well as soft, and the combination of a dead-matt face and a squared edge is a large part of why premium folders feel the way they do.
- The printed face, drawn in this stock’s own shade and its own surface structure.
- The cut edge, drawn at the estate scale of 1 mm = 22 px.
- The soft-touch film, visible at the edge as a hairline. It is the layer, not the sheet, that gives the hand.
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.
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
- Raised spot UVStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Combined finishes on one cardStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Perforation and scoringStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- BrochuresThe specification, and how it is quoted
- BookletsThe specification, and how it is quoted
- CalendarsThe specification, and how it is quoted
- FoldersThe specification, and how it is quoted
- Every print idea, indexed three waysThe section index
- The materials libraryCaliper, weight and what each finish costs
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
Artwork is welcome but not required to start. Email sales@ezprint.com.sg if you would rather attach files.