High-Impact Graphics

In a retail environment, a consumer’s first impression can be decisive. That means a package’s ability to deliver a sensory punch is a must for brand owners. The proliferation of specialized “high-impact” solutions (inks, foils, and other materials such as shrink labels, holographics, and lenticulars) is good news for consumer product companies (CPCs) looking to differentiate their products, as well as for designers working with a variety of applications. From a prepress perspective, the task is to supply end users with high-impact packaging with significant perceived added value that will create dramatic interest for the consumer, while presenting the converter with the fewest headaches.

What is a special effect?

A high-impact special effect can be a function of the inks and substrates used in printing, the equipment used to manufacture a package, as well as the software used to produce and refine a design. Examples include, but are not limited to, metallic inks, lenticular and holographic printing, and hot or cold foiling. Again, from a prepress perspective, the challenge is to provide the best solutions for graphic development, proofing, and final printing forms.

Lenticular printing uses graphics specifically designed for viewing through a “lens sheet” that enables the viewer to see different images, depending on the viewing angle. The image itself is a composite of multiple interlaced viewpoints of the artwork. Lenticular print can appear to show motion and three-dimensional effects because each eye is viewing the lenticular print from its own angle.

HumanEyes Technologies, Ltd. has developed software for creating and producing 2D and 3D lenticular effects. The company’s product lines include PrintPro for printers, Creative3D for designers, Capture3D for photographers, and LensFree technology, said to produce 3D and flip illusions without a lenticular lens on a substrates like Plexiglas, PETG, and glass.

Closely related to lenticular effects are holograms, flat surfaces that appear to contain a 3D image. In the converting realm, holographic films or foils may be laminated to paperboard to give it strength. The film is also cut into shapes desired for the final product and may be printed with messages. Heat- or pressure-sensitive adhesive is applied to the back of holograms that will be affixed to other objects or used as stickers.

Metallic inks

Traditionally added as decorations more or less after the fact, metallic inks are now an integral part of the printing process, thanks to the introduction of technologies that take the time, labor, uncertainty, and associated expense of working with spot metallics out of the production equation. One example is MetalFX®. This universal process and spot metallic color system, recently acquired by Ciba Specialty Chemicals, reportedly allows millions of metallic colors to be printed by adding only the one base silver ink to the CMYK mix. MetalFX licenses are available to printers and prepress houses around the world.

Since it is often impossible to reproduce the effects of lighting and a wide variety of specialty finishes (such as metallic effects) in a flat proof, designers can use simulation software to view how a finished piece will look. One example of software that can help resolve these issues is EskoArtwork’s Visualizer. This system builds 2D and 3D visual models from graphic files by adding information about substrates, special inks (like metallics), and finishes (e.g., varnishes).

A tradeshop speaks

Trinity Graphic USA (Sarasota, Fla.) is a prepress tradeshop catering exclusively to the needs of the flexographic market involved in producing flexible packaging, folding cartons, and tags and labels.

A separate company, Trinity Design Group, develops concepts and designs that will work well on press and that the client can afford. Says company President Robert Smithson, “Clients are always looking for that extra punch on their packages, but sometimes they don’t realize that what we design can increase the cost of printing by more than they have budgeted. This has to be discussed up front.” Sometimes a printer with limited technological capabilities will refer a client to Trinity to help ensure the printer can produce the package as it is designed.

Because Trinity has its own design division, the company generally drives the direction of the packaging using its own resources. From time to time, however, the company also works with outside advertising agencies to pull together a client package. Often the agency already will have a concept and is looking to Trinity for a solution that will print flexo and help sell the product, while retaining the integrity of the original idea. “This is where our flexo experience and our vast knowledge of image enhancement techniques pays off,” Smithson says.

Trinity uses Macintosh-based software and design tools including Illustrator, Quark, and Photoshop to ensure a seamless transfer when the final plates are output on a CDI platesetter. It also uses software from EskoArtwork for shrink-wrap work. Certain jobs, however, require Trinity’s artists to hand draw images that later will be scanned and added to the rest of the artwork.

The influence of structural design is integral to many of the packaging solutions Trinity recommends. As mentioned above, EskoArtwork software enables the company to engineer a shrink wrap to fit on odd-shaped containers that are multiplying in today’s marketplace. In the folding carton market, structural options might include adding a window or strengthening an embossed image, with attention to the rigidity of the carton and optimal exposure of the product inside. “In the food and beverage market, we must always ensure that the components of a package—ink, substrate, etc.—conform to USDA regulations for food contact,” Smithson says.

You want it when?

The approval process can be short and sweet, or it can take forever, Smithson says, especially if a given design fails to “wow” the client at the concept stage. In that case, the project could be subjected to numerous proofing exercises until the client decides which one they like best. As a rule, the proofing process usually starts with PDF proofs over the Internet, then to hardcopy proofs produced on the substrate to be used in the print run, which can also be used for photo shoots or mock-ups.

In Smithson’s opinion, the appeal of special effects cannot be discounted. “I firmly believe that packaging sells the product,” Smithson says, adding that this fact accounts for the growing demand for unusual effects like metallic and color-shifting inks, embossing and foiling, and iridescent films, etc., along with a host of new substrate options.

Research and education

Trinity Graphic has invested heavily as a vendor/sponsor of the Flexographic Trade School (FTS) located in Ft. Mill, S.C., which makes its facilities available to its membership to assist in research and development in the field. According to the school’s Web site (www.weareflexo.com), each month FTS runs from one to three product development efforts, or performs application testing for product or equipment advancement efforts to help its students and members develop and maintain a leading edge in their respective fields.

“We constantly bring companies to the FTS facility to show them new options for enhancing their packages, using our two 8-color presses to demonstrate technologies such as lenticular, hot and cold foil, holograms, embossing, on-demand inkjet, etc.,” Smithson says. “For example, we just press-proofed a wine label using new-to-the-market metallic pigments, with fantastic results.”

Facilities such as FTS, combined with available simulation software tools, can help design firms and package printers develop the high-impact packaging graphics that grab shoppers’ attention. In the highly competitive consumer retail markets, this is an essential requirement for the success of virtually any product. pP