What is Lenticular Printing Used For?
As someone who has worked exclusively in the lenticular printing industry for decades, I often meet new acquaintances and get asked what I do for work. When I let them know our company produces lenticular print, I’m then met with an inquisitive look, and this leads to me answering the question: What is that? I explain that we produce a specialized type of print that changes when your angle of view changes, and that leads to the question: What is it used for?
So, let’s explore the answer to that, because lenticular printing has been used for everything from cute toys for kids to giant retail displays for Nike, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, and many of the world’s largest marketers. Industries from entertainment to medical marketing and even smaller businesses have harnessed the power of this unique medium.
Marketing Campaigns
These marketers have found that if a marketing campaign can be done with standard traditional paper print, it can be enhanced with lenticular printing. Eye-catching direct mail pieces, both self-mailers and as part of a package, have been a popular use. Product packaging that not only grabs the attention of passing shoppers but also helps explain the product’s use or value proposition is another common use. Trade show displays, point-of-purchase displays, and out-of-home advertising are also great uses. Promo items from bookmarks to buttons, luggage tags, and trading cards are used to delight consumers and carry the marketing message.
While advertising and promotions are what we most often produce, we also create plenty of products intended for resale. We produce millions of trading cards each year, featuring everything from religious messages to sports images, car images, video game properties, and more. These items not only get sold by our clients, they often find their way onto the secondary market though platforms like eBay. A recent trading card we produced for a video game company wound up selling on eBay for hundreds of dollars!
The Education Industry
Interestingly, the education industry is one of the larger users of lenticular printing. We have produced many postcards for universities that have been used for student recruitment. And we have produced dozens of high school yearbook covers! Students love these images, and they enhance the yearbook’s perceived value, with the yearbook often selling for $100 or more. Lenticular is not only a fun add-on, it’s a signal that the book is something special and worth the price.
The Entertainment Industry 
The entertainment industry may be the number one user of lenticular print. For years now, Hollywood has used lenticular print for movie posters, DVD covers, theatre displays, promotional items, and more. They’re in the business of entertainment, and they know how to entertain and delight their audience! Back in the year 2000, 20th Century Fox released the DVD for the movie Independence Day with a lenticular cover. They sold more than 20 million copies! Since then, they have used lenticular to promote everything from Jurassic Park to Harry Potter to Ghostbusters and dozens of other properties.
Lenticular Art Pieces
Most recently, artists have discovered this unique medium. Lenticular art pieces have sold for tens of thousands of dollars. A small 12x 19” piece we produced for a local artist recently sold for $7,000! Artists are recognizing that animated print creates an opportunity to produce art like nothing else has ever been done before. It’s literally a new art medium, and the last year has seen an explosion in popularity among artists. As a result, we’ll soon be opening a new marketplace that is exclusively dedicated to the sales of lenticular fine art pieces. Here, we hope to feature world-famous artists and their cutting-edge artwork, exclusively using lenticular printing.
Grab Attention and Make an Impression
As you can see, the answer to how lenticular printing can be used is a long one! It’s truly not for any one application or industry. The fact that it can bring animation and movement to a still piece of print makes it incredibly versatile and powerful. That motion is used to grab attention and make an impression, but it’s also used to tell the story of the product of brand message. Whether it’s a fun promotional piece, or a medical marketing promotion showing how a medical device operates, lenticular is a tool.
So, how would you use this unique tool? If you have a story to tell, how would you use animation in print to tell that story? For more than 30 years, we have helped thousands of clients tell their stories, and once this is clear, the uses just get more and more creative and the lenticular tool has just become more and more useful.
We invite you to get creative, harness the power of this medium, and create a buzz of your own.
