Finish Question - Please help.

[design1]

I am a marketing designer (design adverts/brochures etc...) for a property developer.

I am just wondering, companies who have done work for us in the past have shown us mock up's which have, what look like, raised shiney parts and normal matte marts on the print outs.

I hope that makes sense i dont know how else to explain it. I think this effect looks brilliant and wondered how they do this? is it a particular printer/program or both?

Normally i would't be need to know this and so have never needed to know how to do it, as i mainly did the adverts which are printed in newspapers and magazines so it's not up to me how there printed but now the contracts we have with design companies are coming to an end, i am going to take on the brochure and other design work so i'd like to find out how this is done.

any help would be great, thanks.

[Teej]

Are the shiny parts actually raised to the touch? As in, if you look on the reverse is there an indent where the raised part goes? If so then it's been embossed which is not something I would expect someone to produce in a mock-up unless they are a complete design/print outfit. It sounds as if the entire thing is matt laminated with the shiny bits being spot UV varnish. When this is designed you just include an extra spot colour on your job which is then overlayed as the spot varnish when it is printed.

[design1]

thanks for your reply,

no, it's not actually raised up to touch, it just looks it...

below is the design

http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/3614/untitled10xx.jpg

i have removed all of the text for confidentiality reasons, on this design the purple bits look raised and are very glossy, so is the curly bit of the fossil. the rest is make a normal flat matte finish.

could you please explain what you meant by:

When this is designed you just include an extra spot colour on your job which is then overlayed as the spot varnish when it is printed.

i have no clue about this so will need it explained to a think person :P

[PrintDriver]

Why don't you ask the printers?
We can only guess at the process.
It could be cut vinyl on a matte lam print depending on how big it is.
They could tell you what you need to know to set up your files correctly.

[design1]

aks the printers?

We don't have printers! everything will be done 'in-house' apart from adverts but there kinda irrelevant to this.

They could tell you what you need to know to set up your files correctly

i am hoping to learn how to do this myself, if it's a specific program or printer then i am looking to get them and learn this process. we dont have printers all our art work is produced 'in-house' now, that includes printing.

[PrintDriver]

Steep learning curve then.

How big is the piece?

[design1]

Steep learning curve then.

yeh well everyones gotta start somewhere
.

well thats just a mock up so it's not that big. at the moment its just a sign design idea, so doesnt need to be big.

it's roughly 6" x 2", i dont necessarily need to do that one, as thats been done b another company.

I'm not on any deadline, i just want to learn how its done for the future.

[Teej]

We don't have printers! everything will be done 'in-house' apart from adverts but there kinda irrelevant to this.

I'm slightly confused. If you're printing this in-house, what are you printing it with? Unless you've got some seriously sophisticated in-house printer, then I doubt you will be able to achieve the desired effect.

[design1]

exactly!! thats what i am askin. is this effect just the result of a sophisticated printer or is a specific program needed too.

I just want to know how this effect is achieved so i can look into getting the right stuff for the future, we are looking to do EVERYTHING 'in-house' soon.

[Teej]

It's not created by a program. Without seeing the finished item it's hard to tell but as I mentioned before, it is most likely a matt laminated finish on the artwork with a spot varnish finish on top of certain areas. This is something which would be done by a print-house, not something you can achieve in-house (unless you plan to invest in some seriously costly equipment). If it were to be printed by a print-house then you would need to mark areas that were to have the varnish applied and then they will do that for you.

[design1]

ok, thanks

[cornfed]

unless you want to go back to the old college days and cover the parts you want a varnish on with clear nail polish!!

[design1]

no thats ok!

[Zendada]

I worked with a designer once who went so far as to create his own die to emboss something on a mockup. It was a city skyline he reverse cut into black mounting board, then laid the piece over it and used a burnisher to press it out.

Its not impossible on a mock up. In this case the boxes and lines would be easy to do. The shell however would be hours of work. As for the varnish, again, applying that by hand would add more hours to it. It seems strange to do all that for a mock-up, but not impossible.

When people talk about a UV varnish, its a clear coat printed last to make those areas smooth and glossy, the remainder being matte. Lets say you have a page with four pictures and you want those varnished. Create your layout in 4/C, create a color called “varnish” making sure it is a spot color, select the boxes your pics are in, copy, paste them in the exact same position eliminate the photos and fill them with the varnish color. Wa la.

Now, tell your printer that “varnish” plate also needs to be embossed. They’ll take that, create a die, and press your piece with it giving it a physically raised impression in the paper. Add that all up and you have a varnished and embossed piece.

[1ooScreamingTrees]

That faded mark in the background looks so much like the 'downward spiral' mark that NIN used in the 90's.

http://tds.nin.com/spiral2.gif

[design1]

it's a fossil. it's from a photo of a fossil found on the building site where the development will be.