How to create a spot UV design

What is spot UV?

Spot UV is used to enhance printed products by applying a clear and shiny coating to particular areas to create an interesting contrast. The UV coating can be added to the whole product, but the ‘spot’ element is when one area of the design is selected to create an eye-catching effect.

Using Spot UV on your products can turn an average business card or brochure into something with a luxurious touch and unique aesthetic. Creating a slightly raised texture, it can feature a selection of finishes including matte and gloss.

How do I create a spot UV design?

As there are different dimensions to a design with spot UV, you do need to do things a little differently. You will need to create two files, one with the completed design with everything on, and another with just the spot UV elements. The easiest way to do this is by creating your design or artwork as you normally would and saving the completed version as a PDF. Then you can save another PDF file with the elements you want to have spot UV finishing on.

When you save the spot UV elements, you need to ensure all of the elements are created in 100% of the black colour. They also need to be in the exact place they are on the original design to ensure your results are as accurate as possible. Due to limitations of the process, you should avoid using spot UV on small parts. The thickness of the lines must not be less than 2 point and the text no smaller than 12 points.

Rules for creating a UV coating in the artwork.

1. The graphic file must include an additional channel / layer / color called "UV" and it must contain the elements that are to be coated.

2. These elements must be created in 100% of the color (K or Pantone) and be aligned with other printed elements.

3. A project developed with vector graphics provides for the best quality of coating. If it is essential to use a bitmap, it must be created in 1-bit black and white format 2400dpi.

4. Due to the limitations of screen printing technology, please avoid painting small parts. The thickness of the lines must not be less than 1 point, while the text size – not smaller than 12 points. The colour alignment permissible deviation is 0.5 mm.

5. The project must be saved as a PDF file, in PDF-X: 2004 standard where the UV coating must be placed either directly on the project page as an extra color / layer or on the next page, following the project, e.g. in the double-sided project UV coating should be placed on pages 2 and 4.

How do I send my spot UV design?

You will need to send both of the PDF files - the original design and the spot UV file. It’s worth double-checking the alignment of your artwork to ensure the spot UV later will be placed correctly when printed.

When the process takes place, the spot UV points dry immediately due to the UV light treatment. This means exact precision is possible every time and it is also environmentally friendly because there is extremely little gas escaping into the air. Marketing materials have greater impact and a much larger appeal due to spot UV and we encourage our clients to use this process to add a unique twist to their product.

Products we offer spot UV:

If you’re interested in our spot UV process and would like to know more information about creating your file of the different coatings you can achieve with us, please get in touch!

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How to create a spot UV design

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