A New Perspective: How Lenticular Printing Adds Value to Packaging
Do you know the difference between lenticular printing and holograms? Lenticular printing is a special print process giving images an illusion of depth or motion when viewed from different angles. Holograms, on the contrary, demand for special light incidence, show only one single image and are monochromatic. Although the technology behind lenticular printing dates back to the 1950’s, it is only now about to enter the packaging industry.
Lenticular Printing Takes Packaging to the Next Level
Brand owners and marketers have just discovered lenticular printing as a communication mean. After all, animation and 3D effects help a product standing out on the shelf, for instance, by changing its design when customers pass by. This is not only eye-catching but also allows telling a story, transporting a brand message or even explaining the functionality of a product. The capabilities for lenticular packaging include:
- Dissolve
- Flip
- Motion
- 3D/Depth
- Zoom
- Morph
Furthermore, such features add value and let shoppers anticipate that its content is at least as special as its packaging. To put it in a nutshell: Lenticular packaging makes it more compelling for consumers to interact with and eventually buy.
The Method Behind Lenticular Printing
For producing a lenticular print, a prepared digital image is printed on a special lens material consisting of plastic pieces with ridges running horizontally (motion) or vertically (depth). For the animation or 3D effect, another image is printed on the flat back side. Finally, the lens blocks out all but one image at a time when looking at it from different points of view. But there are still some limits to the use of lenticular printing for packaging:
- The surface needs to be rather flat, otherwise, t affects the visual appearance.
- It is not possible to apply more than 2-3 frames on packaging material since it is usually viewed from left to right when it should have the desired effect (viz. when a potential client walks by the shelf).
