White underpainting is a technique in which white ink is applied underneath some or all areas of your label design and creates opacity in key areas which, in its turn, helps to create a vibrant and easy-to-read design. This white background can be necessary when printing on transparent, metal material or brown craft. Without white underpainting your painting or text is more likely to look washed out. Besides, as metallic and kraft aren’t white, some paints may appear different on them so white underpainting will be a good help to fix that. If you use this method, the product is considered to be finished with printing when it comes out of the printer. So, by using white ink, you can obviously make a huge difference in how your design and typography look.
White ink underpainting can be used on:
- Synthetics such as polyester (white, transparent or translucent),
- Coated and uncoated papers,
- Textured papers,
- Metallic papers,
- Colored papers,
- Adhesive papers,
- Recycled papers,
- Kraft papers,
- Cardboard papers.
Do I need it?
If your product is color-rich and you don’t want the color to be shown through, white underpainting will prevent your colors from being muted. Note that even if you are dealing with a clear container with a white product inside, it might seem to work just like the white ink but the result surely will differ after a while of usage making the label hard-to-read.
How white printing will do good to your product?
- In case of combining it with CMYK inks, it will result in a better and clearer printings over dark, metallic or colored surfaces.
- You will get more vivid and brighter shades thanks to the opacity of white ink especially when used on a colored or dark paper.
- White ink creates a higher contrast which gives it a better visibility.
- White ink underpainting is great when working on a transparent layer, as some paintings have a less covering ability.
- It is an amazing method to create watermarks and use it for identification and security.
White ink underpainting is always a great idea and something all the companies shall consider to have no matter whether they are small or big. Remember that white ink looks especially elegant on a back background and creates a original, elegant and impressive products.
