Spotlight on StarMarque
It’s not just magpies that love shiny things – we’re all attracted to them.
Diamond necklaces, new cars, crystal glasses. They never fail to get our attention. Increase your chances of getting noticed by adding glossy ‘StarMarque’ highlights to your marketing materials.
What is ‘StarMarque’?
Well that is just our fancy-pants name for ‘Spot-UV’. Which does beg the question – What is Spot-UV??
Spot-UV involves applying a clear, glossy polymer coating to particular areas of a printed piece to make them stand out. So where a full ‘Gloss Laminate’ coats the entire surface, StarMarque lets us pluck out key areas, like shapes, images, logos or big text, to stand out amongst the matte background underneath it.
Make sense?
Still need convincing? See what it looks like below.
Who’s using StarMarque?
Lots of businesses are finding that adding StarMarque to their marketing material is giving it a lot more weight and presence.
The gloss highlights provide an additional visual stimulus because of the varied textures on the single printed surface. This adds depth and impact and sets the perception of high quality in the eyes of your recipient.
If you’re selling a premium product or are trying to position your business at the upper end of your market, create a striking first impression with StarMarque Business Cards, Folders, Invites, Greeting Cards, Book Covers, Brochures and more!
What works best?
StarMarque looks great added over the top of dark colours – black, dark blue, purple, that kind of thing – that’s where the contrast is greatest. On a light background, the highlights will be less visible and they’ll be practically invisible on white – although that’s sometimes useful if you want to use it as a difficult-to-copy security feature.
Avoid using it over small text or small objects as there is little chance of it exactly lining up and that will be pretty noticeable. Best to think of it entirely as its own design element and use it to enhance a piece, rather than simply putting it over existing elements.
What does it cost?
StarMarque is a high-end finishing option which is usually out of reach for most small businesses. It’s usually reserved for expensive marketing material and adding it would normally cost a small fortune.
Not any more. With Nettl’s revolutionary techniques, you’ll share these high set-up costs with lots of other businesses and pay only a fraction of the normal cost.
Ask your local studio for free samples of StarMarque items, or for ideas on how they could help make your marketing even more effective and eye catching.
What can I do with StarMarque?
The options are endless and each design can be specially tailored to your business. We recommend treating StarMarque like a separate design element. It can be any pattern or shape you can think of. Stars, diamonds, flock and circles will add interest and texture to your design. Add impact to photos by adding a StarMarque shape over them. You can even cover the whole card with StarMarque and reverse out shapes or text.
Use the search above or check out our product ranges below that feature StarMarque as an option. Put a spotlight on your next print job!
Setting up your StarMarque file for print
All of our InDesign based templates include a specific colour swatch for ‘Spot-UV’. You can download these directly from our products when placing your orders or ask one of our Nettl team for the correct one.
If you are setting up the file yourself from scratch though, here are a few quick tips to help.
Need help with your design?
Our talented Nettl graphic designers all over New Zealand, are brand specialists and understand how to create engaging, eye-catching artwork for you and your customers. They will bring out the special qualities of your business that you are so passionate about. Get in touch today and let’s get started on your StarMarque project.