The Art of Packaging: How Craftsmanship Reinvents the Visual Experience

Custom paper tubes allow for a variety of finishes to be customized. These finishes make the tube packaging stand out in the store and look attractive, thus attracting customers. Choosing which finishes and how to apply them to custom paper tubes is not easy for beginners. Here we present our top 5 finishes for custom paper tube packaging.

Matte lamination is the most popular choice for custom paper tubes. Its less reflective surface reduces color intensity, making it look paler and slightly darker but softer than gloss lamination. It also tends to leave scratches and fingerprints. While these softer characteristics give matte lamination on custom paper tubes an upscale look, it conveys luxury to consumers and is the most popular way to create tube packaging and products as high-end.

Gloss lamination is the complete opposite, with light reflecting off the lid to produce a shiny appearance. It is visually appealing, colorful and durable, and dirt wipes away easily and provides excellent protection. However, wrinkles, scratches and fingerprints are more visible in bright environments. It's hard to say which option is best because they achieve different results and look different on customized paper tubes. Matte lamination is more often applied when customizing our paper tubes, and we believe this is true because it gives us a luxurious look.

Foil stamping is a printing process in which a foil film is applied to art paper using a metal stamp, heat and pressure. Foil is a very thin film coated with a color that is used as a carrier and then the color is transferred to the printed paper through an embossing process. Foil stamping, gold foil, rose gold foil, silver foil and metallic foil in a wide range of colors are common in the custom tube packaging process and are becoming more and more available. It is used to highlight the brand/product name, logo or any desired content to give the tube packaging a luxurious, high-end look and eye-catching feel.

UV stands for Ultra Violet and is a special type of varnish known as UV varnish. The UV process in custom paper tubes involves the use of UV light to cure the UV varnish on the artwork. Localized UV is used to apply the process to specific areas of the artwork, creating a striking contrast in the area and bringing the entire tube package to life. In our custom tube packaging process, localized UV is often used to create contrast on brand/product names, logos, images or image outlines, and any desired areas.

Embossing creates a raised image by applying a metal stamp behind the substrate. This leaves a mirror image indentation on the other side of the paper. Embossing does create an indentation on the front side of the paper by pressing the embossing die against the front side of the paper, but if the substrate is thick enough, it will not leave an indentation on the back side of the substrate. These two surfaces provide a unique dimension to our tube packaging. The subtle but nuanced difference in surface texture gives us something interesting to touch and feel. It also gives us a feeling of elegance and luxury. They are also used for special areas, such as logo images and brand/product names, similar to a localized UV treatment. These are common operations in our custom tube packaging process. We are now familiar with these surfaces and their differences. They can all be applied to tube packaging, but we strongly advise against it as it will make our packaging look strange rather than stand out. If we want to achieve these surfaces, we recommend combining both of them on the tube packaging. For example, we can do both foil stamping and embossing, or both, on a paper tube package, which makes the package very attractive.

If you are a beginner just entering the field of custom paper tube packaging and you are not sure about the selection and customization of these finishes, you can check out our paper tube portfolio and the customization services we offer. There you will find more detailed information about paper tube packaging. Or you can contact our experts directly, who will provide you with professional tube packaging solutions.