# Spot UV varnish

URL: https://tnb-tech.com/en/glossary/spot-uv-varnish/

## What is spot UV varnish?

Spot UV varnish is a clear coating applied only to chosen areas of a sheet — a logo, a headline, one outline — and cured under an ultraviolet lamp. On a matt surface it stays glossy and slightly raised, which is why it is used for contrast on covers, boxes and business cards. In prepress the varnished areas are supplied as a separate layer, not painted onto the design.

**Example**

A catalogue with a matt laminated cover. The logo, the headline and the outline of the product are varnished: against the matt they turn glossy and slightly raised, and the difference shows the moment somebody tilts the cover. In the file the varnish is not painted over the design — it is supplied as a separate page or channel, with the shapes at 100% of a spot colour named, say, “UV”, set to overprint. Registration moves by roughly 0.3 mm, so nothing under 0.5 pt goes under varnish and very fine lines are left uncoated. Along a crease the coating can crack, so it is interrupted there.

**Why it matters for a business**

Spot varnish is the cheapest way to make a printed piece feel deliberate. The same cover, matt laminated with varnish on the logo, stays in the hand longer than the version without it. It works where the material is touched — covers, boxes, folders, cards — and does nothing at all on something read from three metres away. The cost is a separate screen or pass, extra drying time and a longer lead time. On short runs a digital coater does it without a screen and can build the varnish into visible relief, which often works out more sensible.

**What to ask**

- Does the piece need matt lamination underneath for the contrast to register?
- Who prepares the varnish layer, and in what form is it handed over — channel, page or separate file?
- What is the smallest detail that can be coated, and how far can registration drift?
- Will there be a proof that shows the varnish, rather than only a colour print?
- How does the coating behave over folds and in transit packaging?Covers, boxes and folders with spot varnish are prepared as part of the print materials we design.

- Services: [Print materials](https://tnb-tech.com/en/services/print-materials/)
- Glossary: https://tnb-tech.com/en/glossary/