Gold Ink Awards Entry: Luxury Cruise Catalog Uses Unique Embossing Effects

The front cover of the "Seabourn 2016-17 Cruise Collection" catalog features unique embossing. The piece was entered into the Consumer Catalogs, Web, category.

A view of the back of the "Seabourn 2016-17 Cruise Collection" catalog.

31-lb. UV/Ultra II Pearlized from Neenah Paper was used for the flysheet.

A Mitsubishi Diamond 16 Max commercial web offset press was used for the full-color text pages.

Multiple colors were also used to produce the catalog, making the images really stand out.

Four-color process, UV inks, PMS 534, and Soft Touch aqueous coating was used.

The press run for this project was 230,500 catalogs.

PHILADELPHIA — May 12, 2016 — This 2016 Gold Ink Awards entry was submitted and entered into the Consumer Catalogs, Web, category by ColorGraphics Seattle, a Cenveo company. Cenveo has printing facilities in Seattle, Los Angeles, and at Graphic Arts Center in Portland, Ore., where this piece was produced. The "Seabourn 2016-17 Cruise Collection" catalog was produced for luxury cruise ship company Seabourn Cruise Lines to promote the various vacation packages it is offering for the 2016-17 season. What makes this catalog stand out is the unique embossing on the front cover, the beautiful imagery and the use of various papers.

A press run of 230,500 catalogs was produced using a 10-color Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 102 press equipped with UV interdeck drying and a UV coater for the covers, and a Mitsubishi Diamond 16 Max commercial web offset press for the 168 full-color text pages. Several papers were selected for this project: a European manufactured special sheet for the cover; 115-lb. Hazen Cadillac Eldorado embossed paper for the outside cover; Sappi Fine Paper's McCoy Silk for the inside cover; 70-lb. Capistrano Matte from West Linn Paper for the text; and 31-lb. UV/Ultra II Pearlized from Neenah Paper for the flysheet. A cool effect that was printed on the pearlized sheet was the waves, which fits in perfectly with the nautical theme of the catalog.

Multiple colors were also used to produce the catalog, including four-color process, UV inks, PMS 534, and Soft Touch aqueous coating. For the cover, sizing was applied twice to the sheets to help the ink holdout on the uncoated cover stock, and to help with the heavy coverage on the PMS blue. Some text pages featured tabs, which were screen builds that had to match tab to tab. Soft Touch aqueous coating was chosen to create the look of the frame on the outside front cover, along with the embossing, and strike-through coatings were also applied (gloss and dull varnishes).

The catalogs were perfect bound with PUR glue, and the frame around the outside front cover featured multilevel embossing. A single-level emboss of the Seabourn logo was also applied to the front cover. "To provide peace of mind to the client and design agency, press and emboss tests were done before we actually produced the job to be sure all possible issues were addressed," Lynda Falcone, Cenveo account manager, points out.

According to Falcone, one unique aspect about this particular catalog project was that it entailed five versions, with full plate changes required for every version. "There was a lot of preplanning that went into this job in consideration of its complexity, which involved us as the printer, the design agency and the customer."

Do you think you can beat this Gold Ink Awards entry? If so, let’s see your best work! Click here to choose from a complete list of categories and to learn more about why you should enter the printing industry’s most prestigious competition. Return your entries by the June 17, 2016!

All of the top winners will be recognized on the Gold Ink Website, through our social media platforms, and in Printing Impressions. Additionally, we will be regularly selecting a "Best Entry" that will be promoted across our multi-channel platforms.