A label is the very first interaction a consumer has with a product. So, it is no surprise that consumers often ignore or gloss over products with dull and ordinary labels. Studies show that color can affect up to 90% of audience judgments about products. While most consumer-facing labels now incorporate color, how do brand owners and businesses create labels to stand out from others while keeping a close eye on costs?

The next generation of dynamic, eye-catching and differentiated labels highlight the most important parts of the label by incorporating textures and sophisticated effects, and digital varnish labels can help to do this. The same as spot varnish but done digitally as opposed to analog with plates, digital varnish can create a variety of creative effects – from tactile finishes with raised surfaces, such as braille, to embossing for stamps or molds and simulated metallic foil.

Historically, there has been some hesitation with implementing spot coating techniques, as some analog presses come with run length requirements and plate fees that can equate to a hefty price tag for labels. Plus, if not done correctly, clear ink can be tough to apply smoothly and presentably on surfaces. Some might look to bring on a standalone digital machine for digital varnish printing, but this adds an extra step and extra costs.

In recent years, industry leaders have mastered digital UV press technology to address these concerns – engineering a press that does not require plates or analog stations to set up, uses one ink and one printhead, supports run length as small as one label, and makes maintaining the digital varnish as simple as maintaining the ink.

While standalone machines work well, there is more room for error and more time spent unloading the labels from the press, loading labels on the digital varnish machine, then to the finisher.

While brand owners know about spot varnish, embossing and foiling, they see this as a solution only for larger run quantities. Digital varnish can do spot varnish, some embossing and simulated foiling all in the same process as printing the colors on the label, making it a solution that is now available for shorter label runs.

All-in-one digital printing solutions that can deliver digital varnish labels cost-effectively are suitable for brand owners considering cost, quality and flexible run lengths. The technology available today allows converters and commercial printers to bring an added value solution to their customers – perhaps even being the first to offer digital varnish to their market and bringing new opportunities for growth and profit.

Digital varnish labels are created with a single clear ink that can generate matte and gloss spot varnish effects, in turn fabricating distinct visual finishes such as embossing or simulated metallic foiling when combined with white ink on a metallic substrate. Digital varnish labels are gaining traction, especially in the nutraceuticals, cosmetics, cannabis, and craft brewing segments.

While incorporating matte and gloss finishes on the same label produce contrasting finish, a top-of-the-line digital UV label press can eliminate the need to use both matte and gloss inks to create contrasting finishes and instead allow for the precise control of ink droplets to create glossy and matte finishes on same label. A top-of-the-line label press will create multiple finishes from one ink, one printhead, in a single print operation controlled by digital artwork, like any spot color.

A press that can print white, CMYK and digital varnish during one operation in a single pass can be beneficial to shops looking for a solution designed to streamline operations, run print production effectively and most importantly, deliver quality, differentiated labels for both large and small runs without the need for an expensive analog plate or long lead time.

This story originally appeared in Ink World Magazine.