Matte Or Glossy Buttons: Choosing The Finish for Your Custom Buttons

When ordering buttons there are a few different choices you can make - size, shape, finish. 

The finish of a button - glossy or matte are the standard two options - can be the trickiest of the choices if you aren't sure what they mean so read on to find out a bit more about making the right choice for your button's final look.

Pictured: When placed under fluorescent lights, the matte button (left) has less shine and duller finish than glossy button (right).

Glossy Buttons - This is the standard and most popular finish for custom buttons. The look of these buttons are made by adding a plastic covering to your artwork during production. The plastic both protects your paper image while also giving it that shiny look. The plastic is clear so it does not affect the colour of your image. 

Matte Buttons - This is a type of finish that is considered a printing upgrade as it does not use the standard plastic mylar, but instead images are laminated before being cut and pressed. The effect is less shine on the button so under lights there will be no glare, but instead the finish is more dull. 

Matte buttons can be selected for a variety of reasons:

• Filming - Buttons will be used during filming to appear on screen so production teams do not to risk the glare of studio lighting to show on the buttons and distort what appears on the buttons; 
• Photography - Similar to reason for filming, photo shoots especially with lighting used, may produce unwanted glare or shine on the buttons; 
• QR Codes - If you need something on your button to be scanned, the matte finish makes this possible; 
• Art Buttons - Some artists like the look of their work with a matte finish instead of the glossy look - it may appear most similar to the image that has been reproduced;
• Preference - Some people just really prefer the look of the matte finish so it is worth the upgrade!

If you are considering a matte finish or want to learn more about this style, please get in touch with us or, if you are nearby, come into the store to see both styles in your hands. 

Speaking of special finishes, we also do holographic, foil and tin finishes for the really experimental folks. These are premium custom finishes so please contact us if you would like to know more about these and what they would cost for your project. 

And vintage folks out there you will notice in the custom 2.25" buttons used in this post we have made the buttons with a nostalgic lock pin or spring pin instead of the more modern and typical pinned back. It is definitely a niche button type, but perfect if you want to recreate old buttons from history or are making a film or photos set back in time when buttons were made with these pins. We will happily make buttons for your period piece with these copper pins and you will get extra points for authenticity!