DEMO — fictional range. Local brief only, NOT SENT. No personal data is collected or transmitted.
Printing film is a process decision before it is a design.
The same artwork behaves differently on kraft and on white film, and a proof made on one substrate does not describe the other.
- Flexo
- Direct onto film · inexpensive at volume, coarse detail, colour shifts on kraft
- Digital
- Short runs · no plates, higher unit cost, limited substrates
- Thermal transfer
- Variable data · labels and batch marks, sharp and durable
- Water-based ink
- Paper void fill · recycled and repulpable, and it bleeds on film
- Solvent ink
- Film · adheres and resists scuffing, and it needs extraction
- Untreated film
- No print · the cheapest option, and honest about what it is
Illustrative print reference
| Process | Best for | What it cannot do |
|---|---|---|
| Flexo on film | Mailers at volume | Fine detail or accurate colour on kraft |
| Digital | Short runs and trials | Match flexo colour exactly |
| Thermal transfer | Batch marks and labels | Cover a large area economically |
| Water-based | Paper void fill | Adhere to untreated film |
Why kraft changes the colour.
Because it is not white. Ink on kraft reads darker and duller than the same ink on white film, and a proof supplied on white describes a result that will not occur.
The one worth avoiding.
Approving a colour from a screen. Every process here reproduces colour differently, and the only proof that means anything is one made by the process that will run the job.