I recently designed a logo and business card for London based Personal Trainer Rachel Russell. The business card used a Spot UV finish which is can be quite eye catching and create a lot of impact.
What is Spot UV?
Spot UV (Ultra Violet) refers to the placement of a glossy coating on specific areas of the card. Whereas glossy business cards are shiny all over, spot UV business cards are typically printed on non-shiny cardstock like silk (and in this case with a Matt Laminate coating too). The spot UV gloss is then coated over the silk business card stock on specific parts of the card.
The steps I took
The graphical elements of the card were created in Photoshop and then vectorized in Illustrator. It’s important to created vector shapes for your Spot UV print to maintain precision and quality. The graphical parts that I’m referring too are the logo and then the solid shape of the logo which will act as our Spot UV template. The colour that you use for the Spot UV template isn’t too important but check with your printer. A solid colour is probably best.
The next step is to set the type and create the print ready files using a desktop publishing programme like InDesign (as I’ve used) or Quark. I set the document up as 3 pages:
Page 1 = Ink printed front of the card
Page 2 = Ink printed back of the card
Page 3 = Spot UV template guide (which gets printed on the back of the card)
The page size was 85mm wide and 55mm high with 5mm of bleed around the edge. It’s important to set bleed if your design uses a colour or graphic that extend off the page.
It’s important to make sure the Spot UV template guide you’ve created is the exact size and position on page 3 that you would like in printed on page 2 (or whichever page you are using it on).
Once the artwork is ready you should output a hi res (CMYK) PDF with bleed and trim marks for each page. You should ask your printer for specific requirements but in this case I created a page per PDF:
You may also want to supply your printer with a low res mockup for reference with everything in place. The printer will usually supply you with a proof before going to print too.
The printer will print in stages first printing the colour/ink, then in my case sealing the card with a matt laminate, then on goes the Spot UV and then they trim the cards.
Using Spot UV in print can be fun and add punch to your design. The effect works best on silk and matt laminate finishes and placed on top of a solid colour.
Really awesome breakdown and detail of your workflow on creating some really snazzy business cards. Not only did they turn out great, but it answered my internal question as to how one goes about this process.
Thanks again!
Glad you found it useful Brett. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Mark
Thanks for the post; will use this as a framework to create
a business card!
Awesome information. Thanks!
great information here. i am wanting to do a spot uv design for my own business cards…however, our logo is so clean and simple that i don’t think it will be very effective. check out my website to see the logo and let me know what you think?
Nico – I think you could use the flat shape of the ‘Apple’ part of your logo to good effect. Knockout the eyes and nose and you’re good to go I reckon.
Mark, do you have any idea how would the UV finish look on a plain white back-side of a business card? I would like to use it for a subtle effect, basically a thin line drawing on the back of the card that shouldn’t be noticeable, unless you’d know to look for it.
Any idea how this would work/look good? Both sides will be matt laminated if it makes a difference.
Thanks!
Hi Deb,
I think that could look pretty cool on white – it would be very subtle. For the spot UV to work it really has to be on the matt laminate finish (as you mentioned). Email me a photo of the cards when they are done – would love to see them.
Mark
I would like to know if you have have spot uv finish on a surface which is not matt/gloss please.
Gillian, most of the business cards or flyers are printed on a non glossy finish so the spot UV stand out better. We print on coated paper and apply spot uv after, but for better results non glossy or silk lamination its recommended.
HI Mark,
Can I ask you who you used to print the cards please and were they good (value for money, quality etc)? I’d love to know as a good printer is worth their weight in gold.
I was thinking of printing 4 colour + a metallic silver (for text) doubled sided + a spot uv on one side. Now I’m not sure the silver will be rendered pointless if I also need to matt laminate to accommodate the Spot UV?! Maybe I can just use grey instead of the silver and use spot uv over the text to help it stand out. Any suggestions or advice you have on my idea is appreciated
Thanks
Greg
Hi Greg,
I used solopress.com for the cards and they were good.
I don’t think I’ve seen a foil block on a matt laminate finish. It’s worth checking with the printer to see if it’s possible. It’s worth noting too that foil blocking can be expensive.
Hi Mark, great little article. Solopress are great. Can be a little expensive though – especially on the Spot UV front.
@Greg – You can have a foil block onto a Matt Laminate, done well it can look great. There are various options – remember if you want the same effect of the Spot UV on an uncoated stock you can use a clear foil and you’ll get the similar results.
Hope that helps?
Rich
Blue Star Print Solutions