Decorative Process

Printing finishing techniques enhance the final appearance, durability, and tactile experience of your printed materials. The right finishing can make your product stand out, add a professional touch, and provide additional functionality.

• Lamination

Lamination is a fairly familiar process to most people. It involves bonding a separate, often protective material to the printed piece. Most commonly this is done by heat-sealing the printed piece between two sheets of plastic. 

Best For:

• Brochures and Flyers: Enhances durability and visual appeal.
• Business Cards: Provides a professional finish and protects against wear and tear.
• Menus and Packaging: Offers resistance to spills and damage.

• Embossing and Debossing

Embossing creates a relief in a printed piece. A relief is a slightly raised design, which can sometimes be accented by foil or ink. A common example of embossing is raised text on a wedding invitation or a professional seal.

Debossing is the opposite of embossing, as it creates an indented design instead. 

Best For:

• Business Cards: Adds texture and a premium feel.
• Stationery and Invitations: Creates a sophisticated, high-end look.
• Packaging: Enhances the visual and tactile experience of the product.

• Varnish

Varnish is applied during the printing process. It is a liquid coating that seals and protects the ink on a printed project. Varnish is available in several finishes, including matte, glossy, semigloss, and UV. Most of the time, the varnish matches  the color of the printed piece. Examples of glossy varnishes are magazine covers, whereas matte varnishes are often used on things like business cards.

• Spot Varnishing

Spot varnishing is similar to the standard varnish explained above, but it allows a specific part of the design to be highlighted. For example, a project can have a matte varnish over most of it and have a glossy finish applied to a small part of the design. Spot varnishes are typically applied like ink and have a heavier body than the other varnish types.

Best For:

• Business Cards: Highlights key elements and adds a sophisticated touch.
• Brochures and Magazines: Makes certain design elements pop and attract attention.
• Packaging: Enhances product appeal with shiny accents.

• Foil Stamping

They are highly reflective and can be done in various shades of silver, copper, or gold. They are applied using metallic dyes, pressure, and heat which permanently bonds the thin foil to a surface. Foil stamping is often combined with embossing to create a design element called foil embossing.  

Best For:

• Business Cards: Adds a touch of elegance and luxury.
• Packaging: Enhances the visual appeal and stands out on retail shelves.
• Event Invitations: Makes a memorable impression with shiny accents.

Why are Printing Finishing Services Important?

Most people have printed something on a standard at-home inkjet printer. When printing at home, these individuals probably noticed that what they saw on their screen did not match what was printed, or they may have issues with white margins on the sides of their print when they wanted the design to reach the edge of the paper. 

Print finishing services are the processes that help a person achieve the result that they want. There are three key benefits to using print finishing services, including the following. 

A Professional Look

Projects printed on a general printer with no special finishes do not look professionally done. They will give the viewer the impression that the person designing did not care to put effort into the final product and give them a bad first impression about the content of the finished piece.

Print finishing services help take a project to the next level. They have a professional, high-quality look that sets the tone for what the reader can expect.

A Long-Lasting Impression

Anyone who has ever sifted through a stack of resumes knows how easily they can blend together. Pages of black text on matte white paper are boring and do little to catch the attention of the reader.

However, with print finishing services, printed pieces have extra visual interest that catches the eye on the person reading the material. Not only will it stand out from the rest, but the design will leave a long-lasting impression on the viewer.

Maximized Value

When a person takes the time, energy, and money to come up with a high-quality print design, they should not waste it on a boring, low-impact print job. By using print finishing services, the designer avoids wasting the resources they have invested into the printed piece by giving it an eye-catching, professional finish.