spot uv | Poor Richard’s Press - Printing Services in San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria, Paso Robles

How Adding Embellishments Will Increase Your Campaign’s Success

PRP Admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 21:14:42 +0000

our client’s success is our success!

We love setting our clients up for success. When we hear that a piece we created contributed to a particularly successful campaign, event, or promotion we are ecstatic. We also take note of what made that piece different and could have contributed to the success. Because of this system , we have compiled a list of our top suggestions for a successful campaign.

1. spot uv embellishments

Spot UV is a new, sleek embellishment to ensure your product will stand out. But, what is spot UV? To put it simply, Spot UV is a layer of clear gloss that gets printed over the top of your finished piece. This layer of gloss can be printed onto certain areas of the printed piece so that it gives a unique raised look and an added tactile feel.

Spot UV is an embellishment that naturally grabs the eye and encourages people to touch the piece. This urge to touch the piece is where the benefits of Spot UV really kick in. Studies have shown that when multiple senses are engaged, retention rates are much higher. In fact, retention rates have been shown to be 70% higher on an embellished piece versus an identical non-embellished counterpart. These higher retention rates can be crucial when applied to an important campaign.

2. custom DIE cutting

Die cutting is another key way to make your campaign stand out. Die cutting is an embellishment process in which materials such as paper and cardstock can be cut into custom shapes.

Die cut pieces are unique because the creative possibilities are almost endless. With the use of die cutting you can create one-of-a-kind cutouts and shapes in almost any print item. In addition, die cutting opens the possibility of light weight packaging, cartons and unique folds.

The unique touch element that die cutting adds is a special element. For example, when a potential customer opens their mailbox and sorts through their mail, a piece with a unique shape, folds, or cut outs grabs their attention much quicker and for longer than the standard piece of mail. This relates to the neuroscience of touch.

3. Foiling

Nothing makes a print piece shine quite like foiling does! Foiling embellishments are a standard go-to for an added impression. Foiling can be done in a variety of colors in a wide array of applications. Whether it be a chocolate box with gold foil or a postcard with iridescent rainbow foil, it is sure to impress.

Foil embellishments were tested in a study conducted by the Foil and Specialty Effects Association, and they found that products with foil were identified 45% quicker by shoppers than products without foil. In addition, these enhanced products held customers attention 18% longer than print-only products.

In conclusion

Embellishments are a surefire way to increase campaign success. In a study performed by the FSEA, they tested the response rates of various campaign types. They found that the average response rate for email was only 0.12%, where direct mail campaigns had a response rate of 4.4%. In contrast direct mail campaigns with embellishments had a whopping 10% response rate! The numbers speak for themselves, so give embellishments a try on your next campaign!

The post How Adding Embellishments Will Increase Your Campaign’s Success first appeared on Poor Richard’s Press - Printing Services in San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria, Paso Robles.

What is Raised Spot Gloss?

PRP Admin — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 16:00:42 +0000

There are so many types of finishings and coatings that can make a print piece unique, so how are raised spot gloss pieces different from the rest and how does it work? Keep reading to find out!

what is raised spot gloss ?

Raised spot gloss is a print finishing option that can make your piece stand out. Essentially, it is a layer of clear gloss that gets printed over the top of your finished piece. This layer of gloss can be printed onto certain areas of the printed piece so that it gives a unique raised look to those spots.

How does raised spot gloss work?

Our new Duplo Spot UV Coater/DCC 810 is a premium machine that makes spot uv finishing easy for designers and operators. The process begins by printing a full CMYK version of the file on an offset or digital printer. Once the job has finished printing, the pages get moved over to our Duplo for spot coating to be applied on top of the CMYK printed pages. In order for the Duplo to know where the raised gloss will be places a grayscale version of the file must be created. See how to create this file here.

The Duplo uses registration marks, QR codes, and barcodes to read a grayscale spot gloss file (as seen in the below image). These marks tell the machine where to put the gloss coating, to ensure precise placement every time.

Our Duplo machine knows how much gloss to put on a specific area of a printed item by the grayscale percentage of the object. For instance, if a circle has a grayscale percentage of 100% then the Duplo would read that as an area which would receive the maximum height of spot gloss. In contrast, an object that has a grayscale percentage of 30% would have less height.

What is spot uv used for

Raised spot gloss can be applied to almost any print project! Stand out from the crowd with spot uv business cards, brochures, pamphlets, booklets, folders, and more! Spot gloss is often used to highlight the parts of your design you really want to stand out, a business name, a promotion code, an impactful image, headers, or whatever you may want to emphasize on your project.

all wrapped up

Our new Duplo machine has incredible capabilities that can (literally) make your print piece shine! We can now add texture and shine to any piece all in-house. Want to use raises spot gloss on your next project but aren’t sure how to set up your files? Check out our full guide here.

The post What is Raised Spot Gloss? first appeared on Poor Richard’s Press - Printing Services in San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria, Paso Robles.

Setting Up Your Print Files for Raised Spot Gloss

PRP Admin — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 15:30:19 +0000

Our new Spot gloss machine has amazing capabilities and applications to ay print project. Your business card, brochure, or booklet can now have texture and highlighted glossy features, all making your piece stand out from the crowd (learn more about what spog gloss is here). However, understanding how to properly set up your print piece is critical in having a stunning project. Take a look at our step-by-step guide below!

Adding spot Gloss to a vector image

Adding spot gloss to a vector image is relatively straightforward. We recommend that your designer or whoever created the file also creates the spot gloss files. Please note, you must be using Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, or Photoshop to create these files, programs like Canva will not work.

1. Add a new layer

In your layers panel in Indesign, Illustrator, or Photoshop add another layer and name it “SPOT GLOSS.”
Make sure the new layer is under your original layer(s).

2. Select the object(s) you wish to have spot gloss

On the original layer, select the objects you wish to have spot gloss.
Copy the objects (Command+C or Ctrl+C).

Select the spot gloss layer (may be best to hide the original layer) and paste in place (Command+F or Ctrl+F) on the spot gloss layer.

3. Change color of object(s) to 100% black

Select all objects on the spot gloss layer and change the color to black.
Be sure to change the color mode to “Grayscale.”
If you want to adjust the spot gloss intensity you can drag the grayscale percentage to any value between 1%-100%. See more about this in our blog post here.

4. Export separate layers

When you are exporting your project as a PDF, export one PDF with just the top layer, this will be the PDF used for our printers. Then, export another PDF with only the Spot gloss layer, this PDF will be read by our Duplo machine to add Spot gloss. To see how to properly export your PDF with bleeds check out our blog post here.

The final product will look something like this!

adding spot uv to a photograph

There are a few methods to add Spot gloss to a file with a photograph, however we are going to show you the easiest method we have found. Please note that if you are looking to add Spot gloss to a file with a photo, you must be using Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. Adobe Indesign or programs like Canva will NOT work.

1. Create a Spot Gloss layer

Create a layer and name it “SPOT GLOSS”.
Move this new layer to be under your original layer(s).
Copy your image (Command+C or Ctrl+C) then select the spot gloss layer and paste in place (Command+F or Ctrl+F) then hide all layers except the spot gloss layer until directed to.

2. Convert your image to grayscale

While selecting your image, go to Edit → Edit Colors → Convert to Grayscale.

3. Add a filter to your image

Go to Effect → Effect Gallery.

Choose a filter that adds the texture you desire. We frequently use the “Photocopy” filter under the “sketch” folder.
You can adjust the sliders on the right of the screen for different effects.
Click “OK” when done.

4. Convert your image to vector

If you don’t have Image Trace on your side panel you can find it under Window → Image Trace.
Click the Image Trace button.

Adjust the sliders on the Image Trace panel as you see fit.
Once you have your image looking how you want it, press the Expand button.

5. Make any edits and export

Once you have your vector file you can make additional edits as needed.
If you are well experienced in Illustrator or Photoshop you can also create shapes and objects on this spot gloss layer, you just need to ensure that any areas you want the spot gloss on is in grayscale.
When you are exporting your project as a PDF, export one PDF with just the top layer, this will be the PDF used for our printers. Then, export another PDF with only the spot gloss layer, this PDF will be read by our Duplo machine to add spot gloss. To see how to properly export your PDF with bleeds check out our blog post here.

Need more guidance with setting up your files? check out our tutorial below

The post Setting Up Your Print Files for Raised Spot Gloss first appeared on Poor Richard’s Press - Printing Services in San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria, Paso Robles.