Influence of UV Varnish Pattern Effect on Print Quality

This article aims to define attributes of image quality that affect the quality of textured UV varnish applied as a pattern effect over offset prints. The most common UV varnishing problems that might influence attributes of print quality are reticulation of the varnish, poor adhesion, spreading of the varnish and shade changes. These problems mostly arise from inability to control the coating, especially if applied on differently generated print surfaces. Benefits of UV coatings in terms of image quality improvements might be greater opacity, color stability, deeper and more vibrant colors, sharper graphics, higher gloss and uniform surface to give labels a more vibrant look. Image quality variation assessment often needs to be carried out since an improvement made to one attribute can result in a deficiency to another attribute or attributes. In order to determine correlations between these attributes, a combination of objective and subjective image quality assessments has been applied.