Finishing With Pizzazz

There’s a common refrain that printing and finishing specialists use when they describe a postpress process that takes a pedestrian piece of output and transforms it into a masterpiece befitting your local art museum: It just jumps out at you. Regardless of how one classifies the reaction that’s produced — the wow factor, pizzazz, bling — the results achieved from using foiling, spot coating or digital enhancement presses all say the same thing.

Money in the bank. And last we checked, that’s not a terrible thing.

But perhaps it’s necessary to set the record straight in terms of who is interested in these finishing enhancements and why. When one thinks of a foil or spot UV enhancement, high-end product packaging almost immediately comes to mind, such as cosmetics, fashion and automotive. In that case, it may be necessary to re-educate the masses.

Just ask Jay Mandarino, president and CEO of Toronto-based C.J. Graphics Printers & Lithographers, which is part of the C.J. Group of Companies. Mandarino doubled his pleasure with the twin installations of a Highcon Euclid II digital cutter and a Scodix Ultra digital enhancement press. In a buying atmosphere dictated by lowest-cost provider, these machines have enabled Mandarino to push his way to the front of the line. Mandarino is a man who follows his own beat, which is another point of differentiation.

“When I saw the [Euclid] at Graph Expo, it had our name written all over it,” he says. “We’re always trying to do new things.”

The Euclid II series bills itself as a digital cutting and creasing device, but Mandarino sees it as a Suessian-esque machine of wonderment, a tool that lets designers run amok. As it is the only machine of its kind in Canada, Mandarino has been given a great running start on the competition.

“Not only does it do the typical creasing and scoring for the folding carton industry, it also scores and laser diecuts, and then it automatically strips,” he says. “We used it to create an invitation for our annual open house, and the invitation was a big hit. Everyone is still talking about it.”

The invitation to the open house — which doubled as a fundraiser for a local food bank and their not-for-profit C.J. Skateboard Park & School — was printed black with metallic gold on Neenah Stardream Crystal 105-lb. cover. It was then finished with the Euclid and inserted into a matching envelope. The results speak for themselves.

The invitation, of course, serves as a de facto marketing piece to the 3,500 recipients to showcase C.J. Graphics’ capabilities. In a world where it’s getting increasingly difficult to sit down in front of new clients, the Highcon serves as a point of differentiation that helps printers get their foot in the door.

“The technology is really at the forefront, and there is no technology that is even close to this,” he enthuses.

The return on such an investment is hard to pinpoint but, in hard dollars, Mandarino sees it as a three- to five-year ROI proposition. When factoring in the printing jobs C.J. Graphics has garnered from clients seeking one-stop shopping, though, the road to profit becomes much shorter.

A New Dimension

On the other side of the country in Regina, Saskatchewan, one can find the University of Regina and its Printing Services department. The shop provides all university printing services and manages the work that requires outsourcing. Printing Services also enjoys a robust insourcing business, with roughly 12% of its revenues derived from off-campus jobs.

Manager Judy Peace and her staff have enjoyed the use of a Kodak NexPress and its Dimensional and gloss printing capabilities since installing it in September of 2011. While the Dimensional feature sees a good deal of activity with off-campus business card printing (the campus itself has branded stationery) various departments love the touch of class the varnish can add to an ordinary piece.

“On campus, we use it mostly on invitations and postcards being sent out from external relations or the president’s office,” Peace notes. “We do have some annual reports where we’ll do Dimensional varnish on the outside cover to give it a linen or textured look. What’s really nice about it is you can use plain stock, add Dimensional varnish to it and it will look like an expensive linen paper.”

While Printing Services doesn’t promote the capabilities on campus as much — Peace points out that the external relations department is already a frequent user — she does attend trade shows where she touts the shop’s unique Dimensional varnish and UV gloss offerings. And perhaps the best promotional material is the trusty holiday card mailing.

Each year, the shop designs a set of templates that university customers can order. One of the designs had a spattering of snowflakes in Dimensional varnish over the background. It proved so popular that customers were soon requesting the snowflakes for use on other printed materials.

Sweet Finishes

Sipe Inc. produced the Foil and Specialty Effects Association’s (FSEA) annual sourcebook, “Sweet Finishes.” The cherries and chocolate sauce are enhanced with 100-level micron UV, with the sprinkles set at 200 micron to provide a higher, layered impression. The cupcake wrapper was treated via a textured feel.

One company that benefitted from a jaw-dropping sample is Sipe Inc. of Fort Wayne, Ind., a finishing house that caters to printers and marketing firms. The company has a service mark for its Touch Me 3D-UV application, courtesy of the JETvarnish 3D from MGI USA, which has enabled the firm to garner distinction among its client base.

The capability garnered Sipe recognition in the form of a Gold Leaf award at last year’s IADD/FSEA Odyssey conference. The award was for the cover treatment of the Foil and Specialty Effects Association’s (FSEA) annual sourcebook. The sourcebook carried a “Sweet Finishes” theme that incorporated a cupcake smothered in chocolate sauce, rainbow sprinkles and topped off with cherries.

The cover was offset printed in four-color process on 15-pt. Carolina Cover. The cherries and chocolate sauce are enhanced with 100-level micron UV, with the sprinkles set at 200 micron to provide a higher, layered impression. The cupcake wrapper was treated via a textured feel, according to Lisa Hill, Sipe’s vice president of sales and marketing. Rounding out the finishing touches: a clear polymer was used to create a design that spells out “yum,” plus red foil stamping on the FSEA logo and both foil stamping and embossing on the Sweet Finishes title.

“We’re adding value to what printers create for their clients,” Hill remarks. “This is a newer technology that helps them differentiate themselves in the marketplace. We can help them close print business deals by pairing this new technology with our in-house design team to create live samples on their clients’ piece.

“Whether we’re raising their logo off the page or giving texture to an image, when the client sees this embellishment on their piece, they want to have it,” she adds. “They respond in all caps — ‘Wow,’ ‘Amazing,’ ‘Awesome.’ It’s really about capturing and holding attention and conveying the impression of higher quality.”

The award-winning piece did provide some challenges, according to Steve Hatlem, Sipe’s owner. It was difficult getting the foil on the digitally printed piece to release, a problem generally not encountered with four-color offset. But after a little trial and error, the operation was a success.

“This opens doors because it captures people’s attention so much,” he says of the Touch Me 3D-UV. “When we bought it, we were able to expand our market. Northern Indiana was pretty much our territory, but now we’re starting to reach out considerably further, working with customers in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.”

“We’re really creating the market for this and it’s evolving to the point where it’s not viewed as embellishment for only
high-end pieces or clients,” Hill adds. “We’re seeing very ordinary applications that can add value to any piece.”

One of the more esoteric examples came from a small, local business that specializes in soil sample analysis. The company wanted its business cards to have the look and feel of … dirt. One of Sipe’s designers created a 3D-UV layer mask that enabled it to get the dirt texture on the printed card. It was a simple application, Hill remarks, with “very explosive results.”