Creative & Design

Neenah Imagemax Signage

Neenah (Alpharetta, GA) has introduced Neenah Imagemax Signage – a new “breakthrough” 100% paper-based wide-format product. This latest addition to Neenah’s wide range of environmental products is FSC, Green-e, and SmartWay certified to meet the growing demand for a sustainable alternative to traditional styrene. It’s a smooth-coated substrate designed to produce “remarkable printing results” via UV, UV-gel, latex and screenprinting techniques. Available in all standard wide-format calipers, it’s ideal for applications such as hanging signage, POP and POS signs, shelf-talkers and directional signage.

Neenah Imagemax is also static-free for smoother, faster printing and minimized nozzle drop-out, up to 20% lighter than styrene, has 94% brightness for clearer, longer-lasting image reproduction that won’t yellow, facilitates printing without banding, has faster cut times and eliminates possible fingerprints. Neenah’s Imagemax Signage Toolkit promotion includes printed samples of each caliper alongside a styrene sheet. Special treatments include white ink, contour cutting, creasing, and challenging printing scenarios such as solid gray and gradients.

Arctic Blue Gin package wins Product of the Year Award

The Association of International Metallizers, Coaters and Laminators (AIMCAL – Greenville, SC and Amsterdam, The Netherlands) presented its 2020 Product of the Year Award to Hazen Paper Company (Holyoke, MA) for its custom hologr a p h y o n a transfer-metallized carton designed for Arctic Blue Gin. The holograph creates the illusion of northern lights and was printed on MetsäBoard Pro FBB Bright paperboard. Metsä Board also designed the Arctic Blue Gin package.

Arctic Blue Gin: As the package’s viewing angle changes, the holography flashes and moves like a true animation.

It created the concept, structure, graphics and embossing for Arctic Brands Group Limited, a Finland-based spirits company. Specialty paper converter Hazen designed the holographic effect, the opaque white plates for rendering the effect, and incorporated a PMS spot-colour green plate to highlight some details in the package.

As the viewing angle changes, the holography flashes and moves like an actual animation. The stunning optical effect is created with a sub-micron embossing grid in the transfer-metallized layer. This ultra-thin coating layer provides visual impact typical of much thicker structures. The result is as close to an actual northern lights’ flare as printed materials can accomplish, said the companies.

Crown Brand Building Packaging wins INX Can Design Contest

Crown Brand Building Packaging of Mexico won the inaugural Colored by INX Can Design Contest – in a landslide! Its entry, INDIO Beer’s Pueblos de México Unido Edición Muertos, received 795 of the 1,076 votes conducted on the INX International Ink Company’s Facebook page from April 6-13 of this year. INDIO is a dark beer that’s been brewed and sold in Mexico since 1893. Representing 74% of the votes that were cast, INDIO’s promotional label required bright, saturated colours to create a contrast that emulated the importance of this celebration to all Mexicans.

Contest eligibility required use of the INX Metal Color Catalogue and at least two colours from the INX Color Perfection Library. The winning entry took advantage of the vast spectrum of colours in the catalogue, and made the can stand out with transparent, opaque and bright colours. A new update later this year will increase the INX Metal Color Catalogue to over 600 removable metal colour swatches.

SwissQprint sample utilizing orange ink

SwissQprint sample utilizing orange ink

SwissQprint adds orange and varnish applications SwissQprint (Kriessern, Switzerland) has released new orange ink and varnish options for its large-format and Karibu roll-to-roll printers. The new channels can be retrofitted or re-equipped on existing LED printers at any time. The orange can be used in combination with process colours, or directly as a spot colour. Its colour values are essentially the same as Pantone 021.

The varnish for the OEM’s Karibu wide-format printer can be applied as partial coats or optional multiple layers to create appealing visual and tactile effects that accentuate patterns (on wallpaper, for example) or produce elegant lacquer lettering on dark roll media. A varnish coating overprinted on process inks also makes the ink layer more resistant to water and solvents. Of course, the varnish can also fully cover the process layer to provide surface gloss and an easy means of sealing.