Via a highly unscientific method involving wandering about looking at stuff, it seems to me there's a lot more lenticular work around this festive season.
Notable finds include a Cadbury's selection box featuring a lenticular element on the packaging, with instruction on how to turn it into a bookmark - a nice example of something that's both attention-grabbing and repurposable. Judging by the size of the stack of these sweetmeats on display in my local supermarket, and envisioning the nation-wide market for selection boxes, this will have been a sizeable print run, too.
Elsewhere I've seen lenticular being used in shop window displays, for Christmas cards (of course), and some particularly eye-catching packaging for Asbach brandy spotted while mooching around in a duty free shop. And next year we'll be able to get our hands on the Royal Mail's 50th anniversary Thunderbird stamps, featuring a special micro-thin lenticular.
I thought I'd check these perceptions of lenticular a-plenty with an expert, so I phoned Rod Fisher at lenticular specialist Print-Leeds.
Happy to report that he confirmed that demand for lenticular items has "really escalated". The firm is typically quoting on five or ten new projects a day. The even better news is that this isn't just a seasonal splurge. It seems the growing number of 3D moves and games is driving demand for promotions that have another dimension too, so the New Year is set to be just as busy.
What's more, the production technology for lenticular has hit a sweet spot of its own, making it much more accessible. The lenses are better and more accurate, and production is far less onerous than it once was. As Rod puts it, he could be producing jobs spanning everything from one unit to a million.
The growth in this niche, high added-value and
high-expertise area is another welcome example of how trends in the digital
world are driving additional demand for tactile printed products. And that's one dimension I'm very pleased about.
