Fluorescence is playing an increasingly important role in the printing industry, especially when it comes to special effects and security applications. By using fluorescent colours and materials, printed products can not only stand out visually, but also offer additional functions such as counterfeit protection. But what exactly is fluorescence and how is it used in the printing industry?
What is fluorescence?
Fluorescence is the property of certain substances to glow when exposed to UV light or other high-energy light sources. These substances absorb the light and emit it again in a different, usually visible wavelength. In the printing industry, special fluorescent pigments or colours are used to achieve this effect.
Areas of application in the printing industry
- Advertising technology and design: Fluorescent colours are often used in advertising technology to make posters, flyers and other printed matter particularly eye-catching. These colours glow under UV light and therefore attract more attention.
- Posters and banners: Fluorescent colours ensure better visibility, especially at night or in dark surroundings.
- Packaging: Brand manufacturers use fluorescent elements to emphasise their products on the shelf.
- Security printing: One of the most important applications of fluorescence is security printing. Here, fluorescent colours are used to make documents, banknotes or ID cards forgery-proof.
- Banknotes and ID documents: Under UV light, special fluorescent markings become visible that are difficult to reproduce.
- Tickets and certificates: Fluorescence is used to check the authenticity of tickets and certificates.
- Industry and technology: Fluorescent colours are also used in industrial applications, for example for marking or identifying products.
- Product labelling: In manufacturing, fluorescent markings can help to identify products at various stages of production.
Technical aspects
- Printing process: Fluorescent inks can be used in a variety of printing methods, including offset printing, screen printing and digital printing. Each method has its own advantages and challenges when it comes to handling the special inks.
- Offset printing: Fluorescent inks are used here in a similar way to conventional printing inks, but special care must be taken when cleaning and maintaining the printing machines.
- Screen printing: This method is particularly suitable for thicker layers of paint and brighter colours.
- Colour management: Colour management for fluorescent colours is challenging, as these colours can appear differently under normal lighting conditions than under UV light. An accurate colour profile and a good understanding of the lighting conditions are crucial here.
Fluorescence offers a wide range of possibilities in the printing industry, from eye-catching advertising materials to security-related applications. Through the targeted use of fluorescent colours, printed products can not only stand out visually, but also offer additional security features. Those who master the technical challenges and use fluorescence skilfully can take their print products to a new level – and that is exactly what the modern printing industry is all about.
More articles related to this topic:
New iPhone colour measuring devices: xade nano+ in test
A new generation of colour measuring devices is entering the market: in contrast to the classic measuring devices, which are available as a fully encapsulated system either as a colourimeter or as a spectrophotometer, and then supply the data to a computer via an interface or app or display it directly, the new generation of colour measuring devices consist only of lighting and software, with the optics of a modern iPhone from Apple being used as the sensor. Until now, there have been two categories of measuring devices on the … read more
Proof GmbH 2025 once again Fogra and Fogra “Spot Cert” certified
This year we once again created proofs for Fogra certification and sent them to Munich-Aschheim for testing. With these proof prints, which we print according to three different proof standards and on three different papers, we point out that we not only deliver excellent proof quality through internal quality controls and checks, but that the quality of our proofs is also measured and confirmed by external experts. We have now had test prints certified by Fogra for the 12th time. We have also been “Spot-cert” certified for the display of … read more
PANTONE surveys users online about product and service direction
Today I received an email in which PANTONE asked how it should orientate its products and services in the future. The users were asked which countries, industries and company sizes they come from, but also what PANTONE products should look like in the future and what customers would be prepared to pay for PANTONE services in the future. Question: How much can PANTONE services cost? PANTONE appears to be orientating itself on the PANTONE Connect prices: All price queries have the lowest price category < $ 7,- / month, i.e. … read more
Cross-media colour management really works
Peter Jäger is an expert in colour management that reliably works across the boundaries of printers and monitors, web and print – essentially: cross-media.
“Digital First” often means “Colour Problems Second!”
Whether it’s a large global corporation or a small company, the following often applies to designs or redesigns today: we develop everything for digital first.
Proof.de is featured twice in the “Fogra Aktuell” magazine
In the current issue of Fogra News “Fogra Aktuell” Proof GmbH is involved in two places. Firstly, a summary of the Fogra report on our first FOGRA55 certification for seven-colour printing with extended colour space in CMYKOGV appeared. You can also find more information on our FOGRA55 certification on the Fogra website: https://fogra.org/en/press-releases/fogracert-erste-cpc-zertifizierung-fuer-fogra55-cmykogv-330 and on proofing.de: And secondly, there was a report on the completion of the research project for textile digital printing, FOGRA58, in which we were allowed to investigate and test the proof capability of the new textile … read more
New PANTONE Formula Guides with incorrect ink formulations
Several errors have crept into the new PANTONE 2023 fan decks. In both the PANTONE Solid Coated and the Solid Uncoated color fans, there are colours for which the new ink formulations are incorrect. In the PANTONE Formula Guide Solid Coated fan 2023, PANTONE 107 C and PANTONE 108 C have absolutely identical ink recipes, as well as PANTONE 113 C and PANTONE 114 C. As the colors differ, this cannot be the correct. Several errors in the PANTONE Solid Uncoated fan 2023 In the PANTONE Solid Uncoated fan 2023 … read more
RGB colour spaces explained
RGB colour spaces are colour systems that represent different hues with the three primary colours red, green and blue. RGB colour spaces are used in digital image processing, photography and computer technology to precisely define colours. The most important RGB colour spaces and their special features are: sRGB sRGB is the most widely used RGB colour space and is used by most monitors, printers and digital cameras. It was developed by HP and Microsoft in the 1990s to create a standard for colour representation on the internet and on various … read more
We passed the first proof certification for the 7C proof under FOGRA55
A few days ago Proof GmbH was the first company to be certified for proofing for the new 7C exchange colour space FOGRA55. Fogra has developed characterisation data for extended multicolour printing with the printing colours CMYKOGV – i.e. cyan, magenta, yellow, black (contrast), orange, green and violet – FOGRA55 as part of a research project over the past few years. The characterisation data and the ICC profile Ref-ECG-CMYKOGV_FOGRA55_TAC300.icc have been published on the Fogra website in recent weeks. We have now carried out the certification via GMG ColorProof, as … read more
Precise proofing of tonal values of spot colours
In recent weeks, there have been lengthy discussions on the Fogra digital printing mailing list as to whether a research project should be launched to define standardised tonal value gradations for spot colours. What is this all about? In the field of CMYK and seven-colour printing, the definition of clear, printable and proofable standards is well established and has been tried and tested in practice. If the paper or paper class is known and defined, a measuring standard such as M0/M1/M2 has been established and the content of optical brighteners … read more