DT_Component1_3_paper_marketing
3 Papers and boards
3.1 Design contexts
By the end of this section, you should know:
The origins of some papers and boards.
The properties of a larger range of paper and board products.
That the papers and boards you choose have social and ecological footprints.
Learning objectives:
While designing and developing or modifying graphic products, consider the following factors:
Physical characteristics: appearance and behavior.
Manufacturing processes: printing, die-cutting, and finishing.
Performance requirements: resistance to forces.
Social and environmental impact: environmental damage or community problems.
Copier, cartridge, and tracing paper, folding boxboard, corrugated board, and solid white board were covered in Section 1.9 (pages 40–41).
Maths in practice 1: Calculating the weight of paper
To calculate the weight of paper, divide the weight of the paper by the area.
Example:
A sheet of paper is and has a mass of .
Calculate its weight in gsm:
3.2 The sources, origins and properties of papers and boards and their footprints
Paper, board, and packaging laminate
Paper and board are measured in grams per square metre (gsm).
Board is paper that is more than .
Thickness is measured in microns.
Getting started
Printed materials surround us.
Consider the variety of paper and board products at home.
Table 3.2.1 Properties and structure of examples of paper, board and packaging laminate
Bond paper (50–100 gsm)
Description: High quality, durable writing and printer paper; stronger but rougher than copier paper; originally used for important documents such as government bonds.
Advantages: Good quality and range of colors.
Disadvantages: More expensive than copier paper.
Heat transfer printing (sublimation) paper (70–140 gsm)
Description: Used for colored printing with sublimation inks; not too absorbent; dye particles stay on top while water is absorbed.
Advantages: Produces full color, good-quality printed images.
Disadvantages: Expensive.
Foil-lined board (1000–3000 microns)
Description: Laminated board with a foil (usually aluminum) layer and a board layer; used in food packaging.
Advantages: Strong; excellent moisture barrier; aluminum does not react with food.
Disadvantages: Expensive.
Packaging laminate, e.g., Tetra Pak® (220–300 gsm)
Description: Six layers: four polyethylene, interspersed with paperboard and aluminum foil; combines properties to package long-life food.
Advantages: Maintains nutritional value and flavors of food in ambient temperatures.
Disadvantages: Expensive; not recyclable in some areas.
Packaging laminate, e.g., paperboard (224+ gsm)
Description: Strong paper-based material, generally thicker than paper; used for packaging, book/magazine covers, postcards.
Advantages: Stable, strong, smooth printing surface.
Disadvantages: Absorbs water.
Packaging laminate, e.g., polyethylene (3.5–500 microns)
Description: Flexible plastic layered with foil or other plastics, especially in food packaging, to prevent preservative gas escaping.
Advantages: Excellent moisture barrier, enables paperboard to stick to aluminum foil.
Disadvantages: Does not biodegrade quickly; plastic layer often from oil.
Packaging laminate, e.g., aluminum foil (6.35–15 microns)
Description: Aluminum processed from bauxite ore for flexible packaging, particularly for food.
Advantages: Protects against oxygen and light.
Disadvantages: Making aluminum is an energy-hungry process.
Key terms:
Density: weight in grams per cubic centimetre or kilograms per cubic metre; the compactness of a substance.
Transparency: the amount of light transmitted through a material.
Texture: tactile quality of a material; how it feels (e.g., coarse, smooth, silky).
Physical characteristics of paper and board:
Density: mass divided by volume.
Ranges from (tissue paper) to (specialty papers).
Copier paper is about .
Transparency/Opacity: amount of light transmitted.
Opaque paper does not allow much light through.
Translucent paper (e.g., tracing paper) allows light through.
Important for printing on both sides.
Texture: paper's finish and feel.
Ranges from smooth to heavily textured.
Examples: smooth wove paper, linen paper, watercolor papers.
Sources and origins of paper and boards:
Table 3.2.2 Origins of different paper and boards
Pulp, paper and cardboard: China, USA, Japan, Germany, Canada, Finland.
Rice paper: Eastern Asia (primarily China and Vietnam).
Tetra Pak® Layers:
Layer 1: food-grade, low-density polyethylene (LDPE) seals in the liquid.
Layer 2: polyethylene promotes bonding of layers 1 and 3.
Layer 3: aluminum foil provides a barrier against the harmful effects of air and light.
Layer 4: polyethylene promotes bonding of layers 3 and 5.
Layer 5: paperboard layer provides stiffness and shape.
Layer 6: polyethylene provides protection against outside moisture.
Social footprint
Trend forecasting:
Designers need to know what customers will buy months or years ahead.
Trend forecasters compile mood boards and color palettes.
Brands subscribe to trend forecasting websites.
Trade shows showcase new developments in packaging and printing technologies.
Working properties of paper and boards:
Weight: Expressed in grams per square metre (gsm).
Surface finish: Smoothness or roughness.
Absorbency: Amount of water absorbed.
Printability: Ability to accept a printed image (porosity).
Link it up.
Working properties of flexibility, printability and biodegradability were covered in core content (Section 1.9) on page 41.
Impact of logging and material production on communities and wildlife
Paper and board are made from hardwood and softwood fibres.
Harvesting trees can threaten biodiversity, destroy wildlife habitats, and cause soil erosion.
Transporting timber generates carbon dioxide emissions and air pollution.
Processing pulp can lead to noise and air pollution.
Manufacturing requires a lot of water, affecting ecosystems and communities.
Waste water effluent can pollute water courses.
Excess waste wood fibre needs to be disposed of via landfill or incineration.
Recycling and disposal
A huge amount of paper and board is used in the UK (more than 12.5 million tonnes per year).
The average person uses of newspapers per annum.
Two-thirds of paper in the UK is recycled.
Recycled paper produces 73 per cent less air pollution.
Reduces energy consumption by 28–70 per cent.
Generally, oxygen is used to bleach recycled papers.
Paper and board can generally only be recycled seven times.
Paper-based items contribute to litter.
Reduction of packaging materials
Online shopping has increased demand for cardboard packaging.
Many companies are committed to reducing the amount of materials used.
Marks & Spencer devised Plan A to reduce non-glass packaging by 25 per cent.
This reduction reduces energy use and waste.
Brand identity
A brand identity is the way a company wants customers to perceive it.
This includes its logo, marketing messages, customer service, and reputation.
Ecological footprint:
Human activities consume resources and produce waste.
Sustainable development usually includes considering environmental, social and economic factors.
Sustainability:
It is important to consider whether paper is a sustainable material in terms of environmental, social and economic factors.
Consumerism:
Businesses are dependent on customers for their income.
Consumerism can relate to unnecessary consumption of products.
Companies need to balance these ideas within their brand identity.
The environmental impact of producing and using paper and board
The modern printing press and mechanised harvesting have made paper and boards very cheap.
High levels of consumption and waste.
The pulp and paper industry is attempting to take a more sustainable approach.
Demand remains unsustainably high.
Harvesting and erosion
Most paper comes from forest trees, which can result in large areas being cleared at once (deforestation).
In the USA, paper is often made from small trees thinned from forests at intervals of around 15 years.
Thinning improves overall forest health and decreases fire risk.
Demand for paper products has risen by 400 per cent in the past 40 years.
35 per cent of harvested trees are used for paper manufacture.
Plantation forests can be a monoculture.
This can lead to a reduction in the range of wildlife living in those forests.
Practices also affect people who depend directly on forests.
Wood chipping to produce paper pulp is a sensitive environmental issue in Australasia.
In New Zealand, the government stopped the export of woodchips from native forests.
Processing
Processing wood into fibres can cause noise pollution and damage, as well as emitting dust particles into the environment.
It can even redirect watercourses.
However, processing plants provide employment for the local community.
Transportation, wastage and pollution
Transporting raw materials to the processing plant can cause increased emissions.
Toxic chemicals are used in paper making, particularly chlorine compounds for bleaching.
Fossil fuels used in the production of paper pulp and in operating the mills can result in emissions and other air pollutants.
Waste effluent from a paper processing plant contains solids, nutrients and dissolved organic matter which, when present in high levels, pollute water.
Water pollutants from paper production can include:
toxic chlorine compounds like dioxins
organic materials that consume oxygen during decomposition
sulphur dioxide that contributes to lake acidification
air-polluting nitrogen compounds
phosphates that boost algae growth
Key terms:
Deforestation: removal of trees so that land can be put to other uses.
Monoculture: production of a single type of crop.
3.3 Selection of papers and boards
Many factors need to be considered when selecting materials for a specific application.
Learning objectives:
That there are various factors affecting the selection of materials, including aesthetics, environmental issues and availability.
Aesthetic factors
Color: varies depending on the use of the product and appeal to target customer.
Form: the thickness, physical properties and size of the stock forms.
Texture: placing of the product.
Surface graphics: the material’s ability to accept surface graphics will be crucial.
Environmental factors
Sustainability:
Designers should research the range of possible materials to ensure the smallest environmental impact possible.
Materials made from plants are generally considered more sustainable than those derived from crude oil.
Example: Vegware uses biodegradable polymers derived from plants.
Pollution:
The designer should choose the product that creates the least pollution when constructing and disposing of the product.
Genetic engineering:
The yield of usable wood fibre from trees can be increased by genetically modifying their levels of lignin to reduce pulping costs.
Chemically modifying the lignin makes it easier to break down without affecting the material’s strength.
Availability factors
Use of stock materials:
Easy to order, widely available and ready for immediate use.
Manufacturers can guarantee a good-quality finish.
Stock finishes are gloss, dull and matt.
Specialist materials:
Designers need to research how specialist material could, for example, fold, accept print and join.
The impacts of using specialist materials could include inflated costs; however, they could also suggest better quality.
Cost factors
Quality of materials: the higher the quality, the higher the cost.
Decorative techniques: die cutting, embossing, and hot foil blocking all add to unit costs.
Manufacturing processes: laser printing vs. offset lithography; number of colors.
Commodity price: cost of the paper or board used in the product; bought in bulk.
Cost of recycling: consider both the cost and benefits of using recycled materials.
Key terms:
Lignin: the naturally-occurring polymer that makes the cell walls of usable wood fibre.
Laser printing: a type of printing popular in offices that uses toner (dry powder) instead of ink.
Offset lithography: a method of printing used for high volumes, such as magazines and newspapers.
Social factors
Different materials appeal to different social groups.
Packaging can be a symbol of the product’s brand identity.
Certain paper products can become popular.
Cultural and ethical factors
Avoiding offence:
Designers need to research cultures carefully.
Suitability for intended market:
Market research is important.
Use of colour and language:
Different colours have different associations in the world.
Language should be carefully checked.
The consumer society
Customers want products quickly and easily.
Large quantities of convenience food packaging.
The effects of mass production
Mass production is often the most cost-effective way to produce many identical products.
Disadvantages include cheap products leading to a throwaway society, resulting in depletion of resources and increased habitat destruction.
Unskilled jobs are also harder to find due to automated production methods.
Built-in product obsolescence
Food packaging is only required for a short time.
Some coffee shops are encouraging the use of reusable ceramic mugs.
Electronic media means that short-lived posters and flyers are less common than they once were.
Summary
Key points to remember:
Different types of papers and boards have different working characteristics and physical properties that influence their use.
Designers and manufacturers must balance the social, cultural and environmental impact of the materials in their products with customer requirements.
3.4 Forces and stresses
Learning objectives:
That materials will undergo forces when processed and used.
That different techniques can be used to reinforce materials.
Papers and boards are subjected to many forces when used in products.
Their ability to withstand these forces determines if it is a successful choice.
Table 3.4.1 Types of force and stress on paper and boards
Bending: A force that moves the material into a curve or an angle.
Application to paper and boards: The ability to bend is important when paper has to be fed into machinery.
For boards, stiffness prevents cartons from bulging when full, enables them to be stacked and protects the contents.
Flimsy paper could cause feeding problems in larger sheet presses.
A sheet that is too stiff will cause problems in copier machines, as it will be unable to bend around feed rollers.
Stiffness is measured in mNm (millinewton metre).
It is the force required to move the free end of a 38 mm wide vertically clamped sample from its centre line when load is applied 50 mm away from the clamp.
The higher the value of the force needed, the stiffer the paper or board.
Torsion: A force that twists the material (torque).
Application to paper and boards: Papers and boards can be tested for their resistance to torsion.
Cardboard boxes will undergo twisting when moved. They need to be resistant to tearing to protect the contents.
Shear: A force that acts in opposite directions.
Application to paper and boards: Tearing paper exerts a shearing force.
The tearing strength is the force needed to continue to rip an existing tear. After several tests, the average is taken.
Tear strength can be improved by blending in fibres resilient to tearing or by improving the construction of the product to alleviate weak spots.
Longer paper fibres make it more resilient to tearing.
Tearing resistance is measured in mN (millinewtons).
Papers can be given a tear index value.
Compression: A force that tries to squash or shorten by decreasing the thickness of a material by increasing the force applied to it.
Application to paper and boards: A paper’s ability to change its surface contour and to conform to and make contact with the printing plate or blanket during printing is important.
The paper or board’s ability to ‘bounce back’ or recover is called resilience.
Reinforcement techniques
Reinforcement means to strengthen or enhance the stiffness of a material.
Different techniques can be used to strengthen card and paper structures.
These include adding overlapping or double layers, particularly on corners or sides of boxes, bracing structures using triangular pieces (or ribs) and adding bracing.
Laminating builds up material by adding layers.
Paper and card are often already laminated with layers of fibre and can be further laminated with plastic film, foil or other types of paper.
This will improve the qualities and strength of the base material, making it more resistant to shear forces.
Encapsulation is to contain paper within two layers of plastic with a sealed edge.
This makes the item strong and waterproof, making it last longer.
Examples of encapsulated sheets include maps and menus.
Corrugated board consists of a fluted inner board sandwiched between two smooth unbleached containerboard sheets.
They can be constructed of a single fluted layer with one or two sides or doubled or tripled to make thicker, stronger boards that will resist compression.
Corrugated card is an example of sandwich construction.
Another is foam board, which consists of an inner layer of polystyrene or polyurethane foam clad on each side with white clay-coated paper.
It is a strong and lightweight material that is easily cut with a sharp craft knife or picture framing mat cutter.
It is used for mounting prints and photographs or for interior design and architectural models.
Packaging laminates are used for different purposes, for example:
Tetra Pak® provides hygienic packaging for food. It consists of a multi-layered board that takes on the properties of the contributing layers (see also page 128).
Portabio® is a cellulose-based metallised film applied to a base board. It is more sustainable than other films and is easily recycled and biodegraded.
Metallic and holographic finishes to board or paper are used on packaging for high-quality products such as perfumes.
One type of laminate layer is designed to convert microwave energy into radiant heat to promote browning and crisping of microwaved food.
Key terms:
Laminating: to make a material by bonding layers together.
Encapsulation: to contain an object in another material.
Sandwich construction: composite materials made by attaching two thin, stiff outer pieces to a lightweight but thick core.
Summary
Key points to remember:
The types of force and stress on paper and boards are bending, torsion, shear and compression.
Reinforcement means to strengthen or enhance the stiffness of a material.
3.5 Stock forms, types and sizes: calculating quantities required
Learning objectives:
That materials are produced in set sizes, called stock sizes, such as A4.
That there are B and C series of stock sizes too.
Table 3.5.1 Typical values of paper grades (accepted trade tolerance ±5 per cent)
Grade
Newsprint: 40–50 gsm
Tissue paper: 22–25 gsm
Bond paper: 50–100 gsm
Paperboard: 220–300 gsm
Stock forms/types
Weights:
The main advantage of standard weights is that paper suppliers and printers all use the same system.
The basis weight determines the area of paper the buyer gets for a given weight.
When the basis weight is expressed as ream weight (weight per 500 sheets), the buyers know how much paper they are getting for a given weight.
Sizes:
Common A sizes: All ‘A’ sizes are half the previous size, with A0 being the largest, with an area of 1 m2.
The International Organization for Standardization sets out the common paper sizes used and 161 countries adhere to this standard.
Laminates:
The thinnest common laminate is 0.04 mm, followed by 0.08 mm, 0.1 mm and 0.2 mm.
The thickness will affect the rigidity of the finished product.
Paper and thin card also come in rolls (webs) that allow printing of longer objects, such as banners and products that need to be printed quickly in high quantities, such as newspapers.
Bond paper:
Bond paper is commonly used for letterhead, business forms, writing, typing and copying.
It is durable, with a high surface strength to withstand writing and corrections.
It is stiffer than copier papers and can be produced with or without a watermark.
The highest-quality bond papers have a high cotton content.
B series
The sizes of B series paper are also defined by ISO 216
The B series sizes are halfway between the A series sizes.
The printing industry uses B sizes to set printing presses.
C series (envelopes)
Envelope sizes are called the C series and are defined in ISO 269.
The area of C series sheets is the geometric mean of the areas of the A and B series sheets of the same number.
This means that C4 is slightly larger than A4, and slightly smaller than B4.
A letter written on A4 paper fits inside a C4 envelope.
The advantages of using standard sizes are that they are widely available, they fit in printers and they are understood internationally.
Foolscap
Foolscap is and was the traditional paper size used in the British Commonwealth before ISO 216 standard A sizes.
It is not used now so you would only normally come across it in archives of historical documents.
Letter size
Letter, , is an American paper size also adopted by Canada and Mexico.
You will see it as an option in software when setting document paper sizes.
Maths in practice 2 Calculating area and diameter
Example: length 1000 mm × width 2000 mm = 2,000,000 mm2
Diameter is the measurement through the centre of a circle from edge to edge.
To calculate the diameter of a circle from the radius, multiply its radius (distance to its centre) by 2.
The area of a circle is calculated using the formula
To calculate the circumference of a circle (distance around its outside) use either or .
3.6 Alternative manufacturing processes for different scales of production
Learning objectives:
That there are seven different techniques for printing onto materials
That there are different scales of production from one-off to continuous
That there are methods of ensuring quality products are produced.
Deciding on the best manufacturing process for paper and card will depend on the quality required, as well as the scale of production.
Printing
The type of printing method you choose influences the final quality of your project.
Digital printing:
Printing from a PC to a laser or inkjet printer is often the easiest option for small-scale document production at home, at school or in the office.
Digital printing is quick, straightforward and immediate, but not economical as long print runs and the inks, or toner, are expensive.
Photocopying:
Photocopiers are commonly used to produce multiple copies.
A photocopier uses a six-stage process:
1 A cylinder inside the machine is electrostatically charged, then a beam of light travels across the document. The white areas reflect the light back.
2 The areas on the drum that correspond to the white areas become conductive. allowing electricity to run through them), whereas the black areas of the image remain negatively charged.
3 The photocopier has a positively charged fine powder called toner, which is attracted to the negatively charged areas.
4 An image made of powder is formed on the drum.
5 The image is transferred onto paper and fused by heat.
6 The drum is cleaned off and the process repeats for more copies.
Photocopiers can produce multiple copies quickly, and can automatically staple and collate documents. They are also commonly available.
However, the electrostatic image fades over time and photocopiers are not cost effective for long print runs.
Letterpress:
Raised metal letters locked into rigid frames are covered in printing ink then pressed onto paper in printing presses.
Letterpress used to be the standard printing process but is now only used on low-volume production of books and stationery.
Letterpresses give high-quality, crisp prints, but are less flexible, slower and more expensive than other methods and the plates need maintenance.
Offset printing (offset lithography):
Offset lithography works on the principle that oil and water do not mix. A four-stage process is used.
1 The print design is transferred using an oil-based emulsion to a printing plate made of flexible aluminium, or a polymer, fixed to a plate cylinder in the press.
2 Rollers apply water to the cylinder. It is repelled by the emulsion but attracted to the blank areas of the cylinder.
3 Ink is applied that only sticks to areas covered in emulsion.
4 A rubber blanket cylinder transfers the ink from the printing plate to the paper. The paper does not come into contact with the metal plates.
The design can be built up using individual print units or a different plate for each of the four process colours: cyan, magenta, yellow and the key colour, black (often abbreviated to CMYK).
Offset machines can feed cut sheets or rolls of paper known as web fed. Web offset is where a continuous roll of paper is fed through the printing press.
Pages are separated and cut to size after they have been printed.
It is used for high-volume publications such as books, magazines, newspapers, catalogues and brochures. Offset printing is fast, flexible and provides good-quality material, but it has high set-up costs and can only be used for printing on flat surfaces.
Flexography:
Flexography is similar to letterpress printing but uses cylindrical plates.
The cylinders rotate and the raised design picks up quick-drying, semi-liquid ink from a roller that prints onto the fed paper.
It can be used on corrugated cardboard, cellophane, plastic, label stock, fabric and metallic film.
It is suitable for printing continuous patterns, such as for gift wrap and wallpaper, onto webs or rolls of paper.
However, flexographic printers cannot print fine detail and there are high set-up costs.
Gravure:
The image is engraved onto a copper plate, which is mounted on a cylinder.
The metal plate rotates into a bath of ink, which collects in the sunken sections and is transferred to the paper.
It is used for large runs for such items as directories and magazines.
However, the cost of producing the plates makes the overall costs significantly higher than other printing methods.
Screen printing:
Screen printing can be used to print small quantities of items such as posters, display boards, fabrics, wallpaper, and control panels of electronic products.
To produce the screen, fine mesh is stretched over a wooden frame and stapled into place.
A stencil is made from either paper or, more commonly, chemicals using a photographic method.
It is possible to make multiple prints with the same screen, but you need a separate screen for each colour, so multi-coloured patterns are costly.
Screen printing cannot produce fine high-quality images.
Table 3.6.1 Types of product manufacturing processes using paper and/or board
Cutting by hand: Easy to use, readily available equipment, Can be inaccurate and slow
Cutting with machinery: Accurate cutting, repeatable, Laser cutting gives a burnt edge
Intermediate modelling: Fast and cheap, Can be flimsy• Needs to be to scale to get the correct effect
Frame modelling: Cheap and easy, Cardboard tubes can be tough to cut Test• Needs to be to scale to get the correct effect
Test modelling: Quickly give an idea of the finished product’s proportions: can be flimsy • Needs to be to scale to get the correct effect
Scales of production
Definition/Application
Advantages
Disadvantages
3.7 Specialist techniques used for high-quality paper and board prototypes
Learning objectives:
That a range of hand and machine processes can be used to create high quality products
The difference between serif and sans serif letter forms.
Tools and equipment
It is important to choose the right techniques, tools, equipment and processes to shape, fabricate, construct and assemble your high-quality prototypes.
Hand tools
Hand tools are generally cheap and easy to buy and have immediate results, if used with skill.
As with all tools, they should be used with care as they can be dangerous and are only as accurate as the user.
Machinery
Using machinery achieves professional results more quickly and accurately.
However, machinery may be expensive, and users need training to operate it effectively and safely.
Machinery that can be used for prototypes includes drills, small-scale die cutting machines and scroll saws.
Digital design and manufacture
Specialized software can design patterns or whole products, which are downloaded to a digital machine.
That can be as simple as an inkjet printer or as complex as a laser cutter or a large-format printer and knife cutter.
All require training on appropriate software and how to set up the machinery.
The outcome is accurate and high quality but the machinery can be expensive, and cutter plotters and lasers need to be risk assessed.
Shaping
Paper and board need to be shaped to fit their purpose.
The methods depend on the end use.
Shaping, folding and manipulation
Paper and board can be formed by creasing and scoring using low-cost, easily available tools.
Scoring uses a knife, or straight edge, lightly along a fold line to make a cut that does not go all the way through.
The paper or board will fold away from the score with a crisp edge.
Creasing is using a blunt tool to compress the paper or card along a fold line to aid folding.
Packaging dies use a combination of cutting bars with a sharp ‘v’ edge and creasing bars with a rounded top to make fold lines.
Formers, bending jigs and scoring aids can also be bought.
You can fold paper against a straight edge, such as a ruler, to achieve a crisp finish or use a bone folder, which is a creasing tool.
Paper and card can also be manipulated into shape by scoring, curling and pressing.
Notching
This is cutting out a slot in sheet material or a piece in tubing.
It can be used to reduce bulk at corners and aid folding or to make slot-together components.
Modelling
When designing your product, you will progress through a range of modelling techniques from initial sketch models to working high-quality prototypes.
Table 3.7.1 Types of assembling components
Temporary or removable components Application Advantages Disadvantages
Split pins Creating a fixed or moving pivot on pop-up mechanisms or moving shop displays Easy to apply, cheap, reusable Requires some pre-planning to ensure the mechanism works
Mapping pins Modelling card mechanisms in conjunction with a cork board Can temporarily hold card in place to check for fit Easy to apply, cheap, reusable Can be fiddly and fall out
Stapling A U-shaped, sharp-ended thin wire that is driven into paper or card with a stapler, which bends the legs Attaches papers or joins corners of cardboard boxes Easy to source and use Needs some force to get through thick materials
Taping Used to join paper and card Many different types of tape available: masking, parcel, clear sticky tape, brown paper tape and double-sided tape They are a film of paper or plastic film with adhesive on one side or both Easy to source and use Difficult to remove except from masking tape which is designed to be low tack
Adhesives Liquid to stick components Options include PVA (polyvinyl acetate), glue sticks (acrylic polymer), hot glue Easy to source and use Need
3.8 Surface finishes
Learning objectives:
That there are different ways of applying colour to paper and board.
The range of effects and finishes that can be created for a product.
Applying colour
Printing presses are commonly used to apply colour to paper and board.
Other methods include dyeing the paper pulp.
Surface coatings include lacquers, varnishes, sealants and waxes, offering protection and enhancing visual appeal.
Effects and finishes
A wide range of specialist finishes exist which can provide a product with a unique appeal.
Inclusion of glitter, pearlescent or metallic coatings can significantly affect the way a product looks and feels.
Varnish or lamination can be used to add a professional surface finish that protects the print from abrasion and moisture.
Embossing
Embossing creates a raised or recessed design on paper or board.
It involves pressing the paper between two metal dies, one with a raised image and the other with a recessed image.
Embossing can add texture and depth to packaging, business cards, and other printed materials.
Debossing is similar to embossing but creates a depressed image instead of a raised one.
Foil blocking
Foil blocking (also known as foil stamping) is the application of metallic or pigmented foil to paper or board using heat and pressure.
A heated die is pressed onto the foil, causing it to adhere to the substrate in the shape of the die.
Foil blocking is often used to add a luxurious or eye-catching element to packaging, labels, and stationery.
Spot UV varnish
Spot UV varnish is a glossy coating applied to specific areas of a printed piece to highlight them.
It creates a contrast between the coated and uncoated areas, adding visual interest and tactile appeal.
Spot UV varnish is commonly used on book covers, brochures, and packaging.
Lamination
Lamination involves applying a thin layer of plastic film to paper or board to protect it from damage and enhance its appearance.
There are several types of lamination, including gloss, matte, and soft-touch.
Gloss lamination provides a shiny, reflective finish, while matte lamination offers a smooth, non-glare surface.
Soft-touch lamination has a velvety feel and provides a luxurious tactile experience.
Special Inks
Thermochromic inks change colour with temperature.
Photochromic inks change colour with light.
Electrochromic inks change colour with electricity.
Magnetic inks contain magnetisable particles.
Key terms
Embossing: A technique that creates a raised or recessed design on paper or board.
Foil blocking: The application of metallic or pigmented foil to paper or board using heat and pressure.
Spot UV varnish: A glossy coating applied to specific areas of a printed piece to highlight them.
Lamination: Applying a thin layer of plastic film to paper or board to protect it from damage and enhance its appearance.
Summary
Key points to remember:
Applying colour to paper and board can be achieved through printing presses, dyeing the paper pulp, or surface coatings.
Specialist finishes such as embossing, foil blocking, spot UV varnish, and lamination can provide a product with a unique appeal.