What is Spot UV? Explained in layman terms, Spot UV is a layer of transparent UV coating printed on a certain spot of your prints. Spot UV printing will create a visual effect which a certain spot will be gloss and shining compared to the spots that were not being printed with Spot UV. Therefore, to show creativity, some professional designers will make use of multiple finishing options in their single printing job. In this article, we will look into how and what should you be aware of when you are combining Spot UV with Hot Stamping in your business cards.

Related: Business Card Size: Ultimate Guide To Choosing The Perfect Size

Here is an illustration of your desired business card printing outcome, which the logo is being silver stamped, and the green illustrations is being Spot UV printed.

**Take note: Spot UV and Hot Stamping are not to be overlapped and stack on each other. It is highly advised that both finishing should not be placed near to each other in order to prevent artwork registration issues.

In this print job, you are required to submit FOUR (4) PDF files in total. Namely, an Actual Print file, Hot Stamping File, Spot UV File, and CMYK printing file. For individual Hot Stamping Artwork guidelines, you may click onto this link for deeper understanding. Where as for individual Spot UV Artwork guide, you may refer to this link here for further reading.

File 1: Actual Printing File 

This file will be the actual exact printing file which you wish your printing will be like. It will fully show the location of your Hot Stamping, foil color to be stamped on, and Spot UV location. This will be the master plan of the print job.

The color of the foils are only available in the following six options: Pantone 871C (Gold), Pantone 877C (Silver), Pantone 185C (Red), Pantone 355C (Green), Pantone 072C (Blue), Pantone Black C (Black). Please refer to the link here for foil colors.

File 2: Hot Stamping File 

This file shall be the file that printers will use for your Hot Stamping process. Therefore, you are only required to place the hot stamping images in the exact location of the actual outcome to prevent any image mis-registration. Illustration below shows how File 2 should look like.

File 3: Spot UV File 

This file shall be the one which printers will use for your Spot UV process. Similarly to the Hot Stamping Files, you are required to place the Spot UV image in the exact location of the actual outcome. Spot UV will be represented as K=100 or Black in this file. Hence, save your background as transparent, apply your Spot UV image as K=100, and your file is ready to go! Illustration below shows how this Spot UV file should look like.

File 4: CMYK Printing File 

The last file that you should prepare is the CMYK Printing file. This file will be used by your offset printers and pre-press team for color separation and offset printing. Illustration below shows how this CMYK Printing file should look like.

With all these four files being ready, you are requested to either ZIP them into one folder, or group them into one single PDF file for online printing submission.

And, Thats It! You are now ready to unleash your creativity using Online Printing for Spot UV and Hot Stamping jobs! We look forward to printing your creativity and get them shipped to you as soon as possible! If you find this article useful, feel free to subscribe and sign up on Printoka.com as a member. We have more member benefits than you can expect. Discounts, free shipping promotions, and huge variety of products is available online!