Arguably one of the most versatile aspects of our HP Indigo Digital Offset press is the ability to use white ink. On a reflective or holographic stock, white ink opens up a world of possibilities for your label. While colored inks tint the reflective stock, retaining its “shiny” look, white ink is opaque—covering the stock like a coat of paint.

What does this mean? Well, one of the drawbacks to the digital press is that you can’t work with metallic inks. However, if you have your sights set on a reflective detail for your labels, a bit of reversal can deliver this dramatic look.

Instead of using metallic ink on matte stock, you can begin with a shiny or iridescent stock. Colored inks will tint the stock for a bright gleam in any hue you could desire. Meanwhile, mixing white ink with color—or using white ink alone—will block out portions of the reflective nature of your stock. To the observer, the shiny bits will pop against a matte background.

The effect is that of reflective ink on matte stock, although in reality the reverse is true. But we won’t tell if you won’t!

White Ink Adds Versatility

The versatility afforded by using opaque white on the digital press is vast. Shiny, reflective stocks are nice, but in many cases, they make smaller fonts difficult to read. Often, a label that is 100 percent reflective lacks visual interest. This rather defeats the purpose of using “shiny” to draw attention to your brand.

Therefore, the ability to use both opaque and translucent colors over a reflective stock adds greatly to the appeal of choosing the digital press. Your project may be a short run, perhaps for a new, experimental or promotional product. Or maybe you need sequential or otherwise variable data. Projects such as these are ideally suited to digital printing.

Cohesive Look Between Print Methods

In the past, you’d have had to give up all hope of metallic, shiny or reflective details when choosing digital. If your existing brand logo makes use of reflective ink, you would be limited to the traditional press for each project. This could make a limited edition or other short run project somewhat cost prohibitive, as the plates and other setup expenses are the same whether you need 100 labels or 10,000.

By making use of white ink, you can add an occasional short, digital run of special labels to your existing product line without sacrificing the look your customers have grown accustomed to. As you know, maintaining a cohesive look is important for brand recognition. White ink enables us to give you the metallic look you desire in spite of the limitations to available ink colors on the digital press.

At Rose City Label, we enjoy using innovative solutions such as white ink to tackle the challenges our clients face in a competitive marketplace. Whatever your labeling challenges may be, we welcome the opportunity to find the perfect—and most cost-effective—solution for your product line. Get in touch today and let’s talk about how to make your vision a reality.

It's only fair to share...Share on Facebook
Facebook
0Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
This blog post was written by Sarita Stevens

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *