Screen Printing vs UV Printing on Promotional Pens
PrintOnline's Custom Plastic Pen is offered with both screen print and UV print. Choosing between them comes down to two things: how complicated your artwork is, and how many pens you need.
What is screen printing?
Screen printing pushes ink through a stencil (a screen) onto the pen, one colour at a time. Each colour needs its own screen, which is why it suits simple artwork and larger runs.
What is UV printing?
UV printing applies ink directly from a digital file and cures it instantly under UV light. There are no screens to prepare, which is why it handles small runs and more detailed artwork well.
One-colour artwork
A single-colour logo or a company name is the natural fit for screen printing: solid, sharp and economical at volume.
Multi-colour artwork
Each extra colour adds another screen in screen printing. UV printing can reproduce several colours in one pass, so multi-colour logos usually point to UV.
Detailed logos
Fine lines, small text and gradients reproduce better with UV. Even then, a pen barrel is narrow, so simplify where you can. See what to print on a promotional pen.
Quantity ranges: UV 25 to 1,000, screen 100 to 3,000
PrintOnline publishes a quantity range for each method rather than a single minimum:
- UV printing: 25 to 1,000 pieces. The method for a team, a pitch, a small event or any run under a hundred.
- Screen printing: 100 to 3,000 pieces. The method once you are into the hundreds and the design is simple.
Between 100 and 1,000 both methods are open to you, which is where the artwork decides rather than the quantity. The online quantity list runs up to 500, so for a larger screen-printed run speak to the team directly.
When to choose each
| Situation | Choose |
|---|---|
| Under 100 pens | UV (below the screen range) |
| Multi-colour or detailed logo | UV |
| 100 to 1,000 pens, one-colour logo | Screen printing |
| Over 1,000 pens | Screen printing (above the UV range) |
| Large giveaway run, simple design | Screen printing |
Cost considerations
On the plastic pen, the printed price falls steeply with volume whichever method you use:
| Quantity | Total (AED) | Per pen |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | 107 | AED 4.28 |
| 50 | 174 | AED 3.48 |
| 100 | 219 | AED 2.19 |
| 250 | 469 | AED 1.88 |
| 500 | 868 | AED 1.74 |
Notice where the curve bends. Going from 25 to 100 pens cuts the unit cost by half, from AED 4.28 to AED 2.19. Going from 250 to 500 saves only 14 fils a pen. If you are hesitating between 50 and 100, order 100; between 250 and 500, order what you will actually hand out.
On the metal pens the method gap is visible directly, because both are priced on the same page. At 100 pens, a one-colour screen print is AED 16.98 each against AED 18.90 each for UV multicolour; each additional screen colour adds roughly AED 1 per pen. The underlying pattern is the usual one: screen printing carries set-up per colour that volume absorbs, UV carries none but costs more per piece.
For planning a large run, see how many pens to order for an exhibition.
Order custom plastic pens with screen or UV print.
Related: custom promotional pens in Dubai: the complete guide and plastic vs metal promotional pens.
