A great piece of print isn’t only about what comes off the press. The finishing touches can completely transform how your print looks, feels and functions – whether that’s a beautifully bound brochure, a premium business card with a tactile finish or a perfectly folded leaflet ready for your next marketing campaign.

Choosing the right print finish can add impact, improve durability and make your printed materials more practical for their intended purpose. But with everything from Spot UV and foiling to laminating, folding and stitching available, knowing which option is right for your project isn’t always straightforward.

Here’s our guide to some of the most popular print finishes and why the final stages of production matter just as much as the printing itself.

What Do We Mean by Print Finishing?

Print finishing refers to the processes applied once your main design has been printed. Some are designed to enhance its appearance, others add texture or protection, while practical finishing processes turn individual printed sheets into the finished product you actually need.

A brochure, for example, might be cut, folded, collated and stitched. A premium business card could combine lamination with Spot UV or foiling, while a promotional leaflet may simply require precision cutting and folding.

The right combination depends on your design, paper stock, budget and, importantly, how the finished piece will be used.

Print Finishes That Add Something Extra

Specialist finishes can completely change the look and feel of a design, helping particular details stand out and adding a more tactile dimension to print.

Spot UV applies a high-gloss coating to selected areas of a design, making logos, typography or patterns catch the light. It’s particularly effective when contrasted against a matt or soft-touch background and can give business cards, brochure covers and promotional print a beautifully polished finish.

Foiling introduces metallic or coloured accents to selected elements. Gold and silver remain classics, but foil can be used in a much wider variety of colours and styles to complement different brand identities. Used selectively, it can add a premium quality without dominating the design.

Embossing and debossing take things in a more tactile direction by creating raised or recessed areas within the paper or card. They’re ideal for logos, lettering and subtle graphic elements where you want the recipient to experience the design through touch as well as sight.

Lamination can have a significant effect on appearance too. Gloss lamination can make colour and imagery feel more vibrant, matt creates a smoother and more understated finish, while soft-touch lamination adds a distinctive velvety feel that’s particularly effective on premium brochures and business cards.

Going Beyond Standard CMYK

Modern digital printing has opened up even more creative possibilities beyond traditional four-colour print.

CM Print’s Xerox Iridesse Production Press allows us to combine CMYK with speciality dry inks, including metallic gold and silver, fluorescent pink, white and clear. These can be used as overlays or underlays to create metallic effects, highlights and colours that aren’t achievable through conventional CMYK printing alone.

The key with any specialist finish is restraint. Adding every available effect rarely creates the best design. A carefully considered metallic detail, gloss highlight or tactile element can often make far more impact.

The Finishing That Makes Print Work

Not every finish is there to grab attention. Some of the most important processes are the ones that turn printed sheets into practical, professional finished products.

Folding can transform a single sheet into a compact leaflet, menu or price list, while collating and stitching bring individual pages together to create brochures and publications.

Precision paper cutting ensures clean edges and consistent sizing, while hole drilling can prepare documents for folders, manuals or information packs. Sequential numbering is particularly useful for tickets and vouchers and shrink wrapping can protect batches of printed materials during storage, fulfilment or distribution.

These details may be less noticeable than a metallic foil or Spot UV finish, but they’re every bit as important to the quality and usability of the finished product.

Choosing a Finish That Suits the Project

The most expensive or elaborate option isn’t necessarily the right one. A beautifully designed uncoated leaflet may need nothing more than accurate folding and cutting, while a premium brochure could benefit from soft-touch lamination or a carefully positioned specialist finish.

Think about where the finished product will be used, who will handle it and how long it needs to last. A menu that’s used every day has very different requirements from a one-off event invitation. Likewise, a business card needs to feel good in someone’s hand, while a direct-mail leaflet may need to remain cost-effective when produced in larger quantities.

Your choice of paper stock matters too. Certain finishes work particularly well with particular materials, so it’s worth considering stock and finishing together rather than treating them as separate decisions.

Why Hand Finishing Still Matters

As the print industry has become increasingly automated, there’s something particularly valuable about knowing a finished product has actually been looked at before it leaves the building.

At CM Print, every print service we provide is quality controlled by our friendly Brighton-based team, with work hand checked and finished in-house. This gives us the opportunity to spot the small details that can make a significant difference to the finished result.

It’s an approach that’s increasingly rare in today’s print industry, but one we believe remains important. Great print should look right not only when it comes off the press, but when it’s folded, cut, assembled, packed and ultimately arrives with the customer.

Professional Print and Finishing Services in Brighton

CM Print offers an extensive range of printing and finishing services in Brighton and Hove, with design, print, quality control and many finishing processes managed by our experienced in-house team.

Whether you’re looking for business card printing, brochure printing, leaflets, business stationery printing or something completely bespoke, we’ll help you find a finish that complements your design and works for your budget. And with free national delivery, you don’t need to be based locally to benefit from CM Print’s professional printing services.

Get in touch with the CM Print team to discuss your next print project.