Deep Space of Color: Design and Application of Pearlescent Pigments

The application of pearlescent design Compared with the predecessors, modern design obviously has more room for creativity, but for a "new" material, how to apply and exert its maximum potential is very important. Although the maturation of the pearlescent pigment production technology has not yet reached a period of several decades, its widespread application has greatly exceeded people's original imagination. Pearlescent printing is a commonly used packaging technology, especially in Western countries with a developed market economy. From the legend we can see some of the following areas that have been put into practical use:

Cosmetics: Perfumes, skin care kits, shampoo, shampoo labels for bath bottles, and reusable composite upright bags;

Food category: Soft and hard box packaging of cigarettes, filter tip paper (tip paper), chocolate, soft candy and other wrapping paper, kink film, composite film plastic bag;

Beverages: Paper labels for alcoholic drinks (wine, wine, beer) and soft drinks, shrink film labels, branded white wine packaging boxes, ice cream, ice cream box packaging and bag packaging;

Household hygiene products: removable tissue paper boxes, plastic bag packaging; sanitary napkins packaging;

Toys: outer box;

Electrical products: mobile phone packaging boxes, washing machines, refrigerators and microwaves, such as the switch panel, decorative panels, etc.; CD, CD-ROM jacket and even the disc itself;

Pharmaceuticals: Medicines, health foods, etc., cartons, plastic composite film packaging............ At home, supermarket-style shopping more and more into our daily lives, goods and packaging more direct and close Compared with consumers, the visual impact of packaging and the influence of personalization are increasing. Although this is only the beginning, the beautification and improvement of packaging have become an irresistible trend.
However, at present, the application of pearlescent effect is still rare in China, because most professionals do not have enough knowledge of this material.

Common soap packaging (such as "lux/lux") is a pearl ink printing technology. The printing color sequence is to use silver-white pearlescent ink (with Ir.120/Ir.123) to lay the floor first, and then the patterns, brands, and captions of the four primary inks are overprinted. Due to the interference of the ink layer, the female model's face glowed with three-dimensionality, and its skin was more lubricious and shiny. In addition, the background of the bead band changed the original texture of the paper and improved the overall quality. The grade. It is easy for consumers to understand this hint: Using such a soap, will get such a fresh, good appearance.

In addition to the "Lishi" brand, other brands of soap are also happy to use similar design ideas. It can be seen that the pearlescent effect is indeed beneficial to the market of such products.

But from another perspective, this success is very easy to introduce people into a trap of understanding, that is: pearlescent effect = white pearl bottom = soap packaging. Many designers believe that the pearl effect is nothing more than this, and this phenomenon has greatly limited the idea of ​​innovation.

Take Iriodin@ as an example. Pearlescent pigments have four series that are divided according to different brilliances. Each one has its own light and color characteristics, and Baizhuguang only represents one quarter of them. And the bottoming out is only a pattern of effects. With flexible printing methods, we can also have more choices.

The well-known tissue brand Kleenex@'s removable tissue box. The usual tissue boxes are used to use light colored net-free flowers as background to express clean and elegant features. However, color printing requires at least four primary colors to complete, and such high-profile styles impose strict requirements on plate making, overprinting, and ink supply.

However, Kleenex@'s package design is very simple, just three spot color printing, and all are line drawing patterns, so the printing is convenient and the cost is not high. Intervention blue ink used to replace the colored flower background, its "switching effect" makes it show two opposing colors: yellow and blue.

The conversion of these two complementary colors brings a dynamic and change to the flower shape; in addition, because the pearlescent light is not the bottom, the printed and non-printed parts (the white of the paper base) also form an interesting contrast of gloss and color; the three-dimensional integral paper The visual experience of the box is even more abundant. As for the overall package, the application of pearlescent still maintains its elegant style. From another perspective, this design also meets the technical requirements for industrial mass production.

The relationship between modern design and printing process is very close. To understand the printing requirements as fully as possible, the design concept can be expressed accurately and effectively. This is also true for the expression of pearlescent pigments. Fortunately, because the relevant suppliers (such as Merck) have done a lot of research work, designers can learn directly.