When printing on our specialty materials, such as Holographic, Glitter, Clear, or Kraft Paper, a white ink layer is an important layer printed beneath the CMYK inks in a design. It acts as a base coat, making colors more opaque and preventing the material’s texture, color, and finish from affecting the transparency, color vibrancy, and overall impact of the design.

Without a white ink layer, CMYK inks alone are semi-transparent, meaning the background material can show through, altering the intended look of the design but also providing some striking effects to make your product stand out. Each specialty material interacts with different colors and designs differently.

Holographic & Glitter Materials

• A white ink layer will block the shimmer and rainbow effect beneath the printed area.
• Areas without a white ink layer will allow the holographic or glitter effect to show through.
• Darker areas will show less glitter naturally, but lighter colors will disappear into the material. Make sure to add a white layer strategically for contrast.

Clear Materials (Transparent Stickers & Labels)

A white ink layer prevents colors from appearing translucent on clear material, like a stained glass window.

• Without a white ink layer, light can pass through the colored ink and clear material, which may cause the artwork to appear faded or washed out unless darker colors or strong contrast are used.
• Use a transparent background in your design file if you want some parts of the sticker to remain see-through.

Kraft Paper Labels

A white ink layer hides the brown tone of kraft paper, making colors appear more vibrant but preserving the kraft paper texture.

• Without a white ink layer, CMYK colors will take on a muted, vintage look because of the brown background.
• Consider the placement of the white ink layer when designing to integrate with the natural kraft texture and color.

How to Set Up a White Layer in Your Artwork (in Adobe Illustrator)

• Duplicate your artwork layer
• Change the color of the duplicated layer to white
• Place the white layer behind your original artwork layer

How to Request A Specific White Ink Layer When Placing Your Order

If you’re unsure of how to set up your file on your own, our Art Team would be happy to take a look and help set up the file for you.

Best Practices for Requesting Specific White Layers

• Add detailed notes in the Special Instructions field on which areas should include a white ink layer and which should not
• Example: Make all blue areas holographic
• Make sure to submit a vectorized file to ensure maximum flexibility during proofing 

 We will do our best to accommodate your artwork request, but we may need a different file type or some adjustments from you to make it possible.

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