High Security 3D Holographic Stickers Every year manufacturers spend a lot of money to produce goods and services with a hope that consumers would buy and appreciate them. On the other hand, consumers expect to get a total value for money. However, sometimes counterfeiters destroy this harmonious producer consumer relationship, thereby causing a loss to both consumers as he does not receive the promised quality of product, and the manufacturer as his brand image and revenue are crushed to pieces by the counterfeiter. Counterfeiting is not a new phenomenon; it has been prevalent since the olden days. Easy access to technology and lack of measures on the part of manufacturers are some of the major causes of counterfeiting. However, with some smart moves the manufacturers can stay a step ahead of the counterfeiters and can facilitate the consumers with the high quality products. Hologram stickers are a great way to put a stop to counterfeiting practises. Hologram stickers can be easily integrated into printing as well as packaging practises and have a vast field of application. E.g. manufacturers of passports, currency, toys, cars, credit card companies etc. can easily employ Hologram stickers to fight counterfeiting. Holography is a process by means of which visual information can be recorded, stored and replayed in 3D (three dimension) form. While some holographic techniques are well evident to the human eye, there are also some machine read 3D holographic labels. While the former is most commonly used on products like books, cartons of milk etc.; the latter is used for high security purposes. Machine read holograms leave very little room for error and can be checked easily at the point of redemption or any random verification place in the market. They ensure a high degree of accuracy and are very effective in creating a safe and secure environment. Whenever a 3D holographic sticker is held against light, a series of images become visible. Due to the property of “parallax�, twisting or turning the sticker in the presence of light, enables the observer to see a scene from a different depth and angle. This is primarily due to the presence of micro structures fused within the holographic sticker, which diffract the light falling on it. Often, there are complex optical patterns on a hologram, which encode data about the appearance and depth of the photograph. These types of holograms require high precision optical instruments, lasers and other photo sensitive materials to create a master copy of the security hologram. Also, some holographic pictures can only be observed under certain special types of lights, which provide an additional level of security and verification. 3D holograms are extremely difficult to forge or reproduce as they are precisely duplicated from a master copy (highly difficult to create), by using complex as well as expensive machinery and tools. Even the slightest tampering or scratching of holographic sticker destroys the infused image. The level of
security of 3D holograms is well evident from the fact that passport makers, credit card makers, IDs, book publishers or even currency printers still employ them to avoid counterfeiting.