Should I choose matt, gloss or soft-touch lamination?
All three protect your print equally. The difference is how they look and feel. Choose gloss if your design is led by photos, matt if it is led by text or you want an understated look, and soft-touch if you want people to notice how it feels in the hand.
Side by side
| Gloss | Matt | Soft-touch | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Look | Shiny, reflective | Flat, non-reflective | Flat, non-reflective |
| Feel | Smooth and slick | Smooth | Velvety |
| Colour | Vivid, high contrast | Slightly softer | Slightly softer |
| Best for | Photos, food menus, bright designs | Text, professional and high-end branding | Premium business cards, covers |
Gloss lamination
Gloss is shiny and makes colours and photography stand out. It suits food menus and bright, image-led leaflets. It wipes clean easily. It can reflect light, which makes long passages of text harder to read under bright lighting, and it shows fingerprints on dark colours.
Matt lamination
Matt does not reflect. It has a soft, understated finish that reads as more premium and is easier on the eye for text. Colours look a little less saturated than under gloss. Large areas of dark solid colour can show scuffs and marks more readily than gloss.
Soft-touch lamination
Soft-touch is a matt laminate with a velvety feel. It looks like matt and is chosen for how it feels. It suits business cards and covers where the first impression is made in the hand.
Spot UV
On some products, matt or soft-touch lamination can be combined with spot UV: a clear, glossy coating applied only to chosen areas, such as a logo, so they catch the light against the matt background. One example is the outer cover of our saddle stitched booklets.
A simple rule
Photo-heavy: gloss. Text-heavy or upmarket: matt. Want it to feel special: soft-touch.
Not every lamination is offered on every product. The product page is the authority on which options are offered, because ranges change.