Matte or gloss lamination: how to choose

What each one does to your design

Gloss increases perceived contrast and saturation. Dark colours look darker, photographs look sharper. It is the right choice when images are doing the selling.

Matte scatters light rather than reflecting it. Colours read slightly softer and text is easier to read under harsh lighting. It also takes pen, which gloss does not — worth knowing if anyone will write on the card.

The practical differences

Beyond appearance, three things separate them in daily use.

• Fingerprints — gloss shows them clearly, matte hides them.
• Writability — you can write on matte with a ballpoint, not reliably on gloss.
• Scuffing — matte can burnish to a shine where it rubs, particularly on dark solid colours.

The specifications this applies to

For reference, here is how it works out on the products this comes up on most often.

• Standard Visiting Cards — 89 × 51 mm finished, 3 mm bleed, 300 DPI minimum, from ₹2 per unit with a minimum of 100.
• Product Labels — 50 × 50 mm finished, 2 mm bleed, 300 DPI minimum, from ₹3 per unit with a minimum of 100.

Ordering

Every file is checked automatically before printing, so a mistake in any of this is caught while it can still be corrected rather than after a run is on paper.

Standard delivery is free to every PIN code in India — two working days to a metro, up to twelve to the islands — and prices include GST, so the figure on the product page is the figure charged. Add a GSTIN at checkout and the invoice carries it for input credit.

Choosing without seeing it

Paper and finish are difficult to judge from a screen, which is why the descriptions on each product say what a stock is best for, what it is poor for, and what it feels like in the hand rather than only listing a GSM figure.

If a decision genuinely hinges on the feel, order the smallest quantity first. On most products the minimum is 100 units, which costs very little against the risk of committing a full run to a stock that turns out wrong.