What Is White Underprinting?

White underprinting is a technique in which white ink is applied underneath some or all areas of your label design and text, creating opacity in key areas. This opacity makes your design vibrant, clear, and easy to read. White underprinting is most often used for the following materials: clear, metallic, and brown kraft. Since metallic and brown kraft aren’t white, inks can appear different than expected – white underprinting can help ensure an accurate color match. Inks on clear labels, however, will appear transparent which can minimize the label’s visual impact. In this article, we will focus on clear labels because they require extra considerations when it comes to design.

What color is your bottle and/or product?

This is important because the color of your bottle and product can combine with the printing to create an undesirable effect. If the inks are translucent, they can lose their vibrant look and may even appear to be a different color. The same principle applies if your product has a unique color and is packaged in a clear container.

This is where white underprinting comes into play. We can print white ink behind the areas of your design where you don’t want the color of your bottle or product to show through. White ink adds a sort of barrier preventing the color of your bottle/product from showing through and “mixing” with your design. The original colors of your design are preserved and are vibrant and opaque.

If your bottle is clear, but your product is white, you may still want to consider white underprinting. As your product gets used up, the ink on your clear label will once again be transparent which may make the design and text difficult to see.

Do you want your artwork to have a transparent look?

There may be instances where you’d want to use the transparency of the ink in your design. Interesting effects can be accomplished using transparent text or images on a clear label. In this case, just let your customer service representative know and we won’t use white underprinting.

Does your label design feature very small text?

If your label design features very small text, in some cases, we may recommend mixing white ink with the text ink in order to make the text more opaque and easier to read.

At Consolidated Label, we want each of our customers to be thrilled with their custom labels. When you place an order, your customer service representative will work with you to determine the best printing options for your project.