April 20, 2011
Scodix FinalTouch adds new levels of impact in the trend towards short run books, where the first point of engagement for a purchaser is a book’s cover…
One of the main roots of modern book design and its impact on volume sales dates back to the early 1890s when the first sheets were pulled at William Morris’s Kelmscott Press in the UK. As a self-appointed apostle of contemporary design, William Morris was determined to take book design and production into a new era of elegance and diversity. And for books why was that elegance and diversity so important?
William Morris demonstrated the importance of contemporary design across a wide range of applications from books to fabrics.
Unlike many forms of print, other than packaging, a book is its own point-of-purchase promotional toolkit. For this reason alone both the design and the way that the design is applied can have a dramatic impact on sales.
For the many millions of people who browse the bookshops and Web pages every day looking for their next read, the first point of engagement, if the author is not known, is a book’s cover. Even in this digital age of e-Books, there are still tens of thousands of book shops around the world where millions of books are chosen every day because the cover creates an emotion within the buyer or the design is so eye-catching that it stands out on the crowded book shelves.
But that need to stand out is becoming harder. Due to the viability of short-run digital printing, competition on the book shelves is growing dramatically. To understand this growth in competition, you only need to look at the statistics from one of the most active book producers in the western world, the USA. In just 50 years the number of publishers has grown from 375 to 85,000 and continues to grow at around 11,000 per year. The output from this growth means that around 20 new books are published every hour in the USA. Although the average print run for books produced by the major publishers is 5000 copies, 30 per cent of titles are printed ‘on demand’ in quantities of 100 units or less.
So, how can authors and publishers create the impact when the production costs of creating a cover with a difference can be prohibitive?
Again the statistics are interesting. The design and tooling for a book cover can vary from around $500 for a simple cover to $5,000 for a complex, eye-catching design and print job. Until now, it was out of the question to spend the latter sum on any book unless the potential sales volume was in the tens of thousands. And that definitely eliminates the 85 per cent of digitally produced books that in the USA sell less than 200 copies per title!
The latest inkjet technology, pioneered by Scodix in Israel, has recently changed the paradigm on book cover printing and many other applications where added value effects help to increase impact and hence drive sales. One of the most popular techniques currently used is UV clear ink combined with blind embossing. For books it can highlight the title, the author, a graphic or perhaps the sumptuous dribble of chocolate on the cover of a cookery book.
Before the Scodix FinalTouch solution there were two methods to produce the raised glossy effect of UV and embossing. Firstly, and expensively, the use of two post processes after printing, one to apply and cure the varnish and the second to create the raised effect. Due to the cost of equipment required and the time taken to make the flexo varnish plate and the 3-D die, many printers outsource this activity to specialist finishing houses, making the fast and economic turnaround required by the growing majority of ‘short-run’ publishers a wish rather than a reality.
The second method is rarely used for books these days but has found fortune in other applications, such as greeting cards. Thermography uses ink with an ‘effervescent’ additive which gives the print a 3-D effect when baked. The reason for the limited use in books is the lack of control of the process. The level of ‘effervescence’ is affected by both the temperature of baking and the humidity of the substrate. Hence a job that is baked directly after printing might react differently to a job that has been stacked for 24 hours. The inconsistencies cannot be tolerated in the world of books where the ‘brand’ is so intrinsic to the appeal on the shelves and the selling potential.
The Scodix FinalTouch solution was launched at the IPEX (International Printing Exhibition) in the UK in 2010 and was tipped as the star of the show by industry pundits. Rather than the expensive or unpredictable two-stage processes of UV/embossing and thermography respectively, it uses a single stage inkjet process to apply UV-cured ‘Scodink’.
Scodink is a unique material, and the key to the success of the Scodix solution, because its properties allow deposition of up to 70 microns, to create a raised effect without the material ‘running’ or losing definition. For this reason, fine details can be reproduced with ease.
According to Ziki Zuly, VP of marketing at Scodix, ‘Scodink FinalTouch is a unique solution. It facilitates high relief, fast drying and different print effects all with the overriding requirement of product reliability. This was our biggest challenge, to ensure we designed a press that could pass relatively viscous material through very small nozzles without clogging or misfiring. Once solved, of course, the system had the potential to extend the capabilities of the traditional alternatives to 3-D print enhancement. The inkjet droplet size meant that halftone clear ink could be produced with detail not previously possible.’
The extended capabilities of Scodix FinalTouch are also derived from its digital infrastructure. Variable Data Printing (VDP) of the 3-D clear ink allows users to create personalised products or short-run versions. An example of the former could be the application of the recipient’s name to the review copy of an author’s latest work.
Certainly, this level of personalisation has been used in the past using conventional means for exclusive publications such as the catalogue for a high profile art auction or the sales brochure for a cruise liner. Digital print has made VDP much more accessible but what was missing, up until last year, was a low cost and efficient way to add another level of impact to digital print which matched the effects available through traditional means.
With Scodix FinalTouch it is possible to add dramatic impact to a short-run book cover, to provide subtle personalisation to a mailer or give a gift card an extra lift, either personalised or overall. Created with books in mind, the Scodix team has developed a versatile digital embossing solution for a wide range of applications from commercial jobbing to cosmetics packaging.
The eco-friendly press performs digital embossing effects on demand with variable density, gradations and a high gloss level. Capable of applying either glossy or matte effects on selective areas, the Scodix1200 adds tangible depth, texture and a whole new dimension to images and text to litho- and digitally-printed sheets.
Just as William Morris demonstrated the importance of contemporary design across a wide range of applications from books to fabrics, Ziki Zuly from Scodix believes that the technology to support new design trends is key in today’s digital world.
‘We are constantly influenced by print. It drives our emotions, our shopping habits, and even our wives’ choice of fragrances. As a company, our mission is to help the influencers – the designers, brand managers, publishers – to enhance the engagement with print. Scodix FinalTouch increases print’s impact with increased relevance, shorter turnaround times and greater financial viability – a digital solution for an increasingly digital world.