Frankly Speaking: 9 Ideas for 
Making Print Pop

Finishing adds cost, but it also adds value. As print fights for its place in a digital world, we must find ways to make print more interesting and attractive. Print has a tactile advantage over books on screens: Print moves you without moving.

Some finishing techniques include:

Coating

Spot and flood UV (ultraviolet) and other coatings are now commonplace. Coatings provide a feeling of richness. Most offset presses have a coating unit inline. An optional fifth print station on the Xerox 800/1000 for clear dry ink expands the creative capabilities and impact of prints with the addition of clear effects (spot and addressable). Digital printers/presses from Kodak have coating built-in, and others have near-line coating. MGI has a stand-alone digital coating system. Matte or gloss coatings instantly add value to a printed sheet. Lamination is also a form of coating. The application of UV coatings to both enhance and protect a press sheet has become very popular in recent years. The dazzling sheen of a coated printed piece justifies the relative low cost of this operation. UV gloss coating is the most used additional feature of today's book covers.