Store Shelves are Sparkling
June 2004
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Color, glitz, and sparkle will be all around you in your stroll down the store aisle.
By Tom Polischuk
Editor-in-chief
LOOK AROUND THE store shelves next time you drop by your local supermarket. Chances are, what catches your eye will be any number of products whose packaging literally sparkles on the shelves, or gives you a 3D view of the product's image, or changes its image as you look from different angles.
Much of what you'll see comes from the use of holographic substrates. These materials can provide colorful, sparkling images with 3D and motion effects. Not quite as prevalent at this time, but having the potential for even greater eye-catching graphic appeal are lenticular substrates. These materials offer additional effects such as morphing, zoom, and flip—but as you might guess, at an additional cost.
Holographic and lenticular substrates are not only viable materials for eye-catching graphic images, but they are also useful for security applications, including brand protection. This is because images that can be placed into the holographic or lenticular graphics are not easily replicated by your average printer. This is especially true in the use of lenticular substrates, where a high degree of craftsmanship and technology are required for success.
For now, we'll focus primarily on the shelf appeal that these substrates offer. And in this realm, holographic images are much more prevalent and what will most likely catch your eye on your trek around just about any store. Here's a small representative sampling of what's out there.
Products on display
PROMA Technologies has done some recent work for customers in the produce, games, and beverage markets. Its #60 HoloPRISM® holographic paper was used to produce "dancing tomatoes" for Ag-Mart in its Santa Sweets label. The paper was flexo printed in 5 colors, plus a UV varnish.
According to PROMA, Robert Meade, executive vice president of Ag-Mart, first looked into the use of lenticular technology, but got the eye-catching movement and shimmer they were looking for with the holographic substrate, in a more cost-effective manner.
Evidently, the project was a success. "As a produce company, we would never have dreamed that we would receive emails from people about the product, but by creating a holographic label and kid-friendly characters, we are accomplishing just that," says Meade.
PROMA Technologies also worked closely with Hasbro to develop graphics for its Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture Board Game. To show that DVD technology was incorporated into the product, a custom hologram using HoloPRISM holographic paper was used on the package graphics. Once all parties involved were satisfied with the realism of the DVD image, a master hologram was made and the image was micro-embossed onto coated base paper. The paper was metallized and sent to Seneca Printing and Label where the holographic sheets were printed on a Heidelberg Speedmaster press using opaque white inks, followed by 4-color process printing.
By Tom Polischuk
Editor-in-chief
LOOK AROUND THE store shelves next time you drop by your local supermarket. Chances are, what catches your eye will be any number of products whose packaging literally sparkles on the shelves, or gives you a 3D view of the product's image, or changes its image as you look from different angles.
Much of what you'll see comes from the use of holographic substrates. These materials can provide colorful, sparkling images with 3D and motion effects. Not quite as prevalent at this time, but having the potential for even greater eye-catching graphic appeal are lenticular substrates. These materials offer additional effects such as morphing, zoom, and flip—but as you might guess, at an additional cost.
Holographic and lenticular substrates are not only viable materials for eye-catching graphic images, but they are also useful for security applications, including brand protection. This is because images that can be placed into the holographic or lenticular graphics are not easily replicated by your average printer. This is especially true in the use of lenticular substrates, where a high degree of craftsmanship and technology are required for success.
For now, we'll focus primarily on the shelf appeal that these substrates offer. And in this realm, holographic images are much more prevalent and what will most likely catch your eye on your trek around just about any store. Here's a small representative sampling of what's out there.
Products on display
PROMA Technologies has done some recent work for customers in the produce, games, and beverage markets. Its #60 HoloPRISM® holographic paper was used to produce "dancing tomatoes" for Ag-Mart in its Santa Sweets label. The paper was flexo printed in 5 colors, plus a UV varnish.
According to PROMA, Robert Meade, executive vice president of Ag-Mart, first looked into the use of lenticular technology, but got the eye-catching movement and shimmer they were looking for with the holographic substrate, in a more cost-effective manner.
Evidently, the project was a success. "As a produce company, we would never have dreamed that we would receive emails from people about the product, but by creating a holographic label and kid-friendly characters, we are accomplishing just that," says Meade.
PROMA Technologies also worked closely with Hasbro to develop graphics for its Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture Board Game. To show that DVD technology was incorporated into the product, a custom hologram using HoloPRISM holographic paper was used on the package graphics. Once all parties involved were satisfied with the realism of the DVD image, a master hologram was made and the image was micro-embossed onto coated base paper. The paper was metallized and sent to Seneca Printing and Label where the holographic sheets were printed on a Heidelberg Speedmaster press using opaque white inks, followed by 4-color process printing.
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