Ch30. Unwrapping CMF Design on Rising from the Water — Water Transfer

Water transfer printing is nothing new, and so, its production has been stabilized across industries and used on various products: helmets, toy guns, rackets, automobile interior, home appliances and accessories. It’s everywhere! (中文版)

CMF is a specific discipline within industrial design that focuses on the development of a product’s color, material, and finish. Unwrap CMF shares bite-sized stories of CMF Design to inform and inspire those interested in this niche yet fascinating field, with digestible contents for anyone and everyone.

The principal of water transfer isn’t difficult to interpret. It is somewhat similar to tattoo stickers (but not 100%): printing patterns on a water-dissolvable layer, and transfer the patterns onto product surfaces while the layer dissolves in the water.

Process flow of water transfer
Video of water transfer (0:19 to 0:40)
(Provided by Sage1988.com)

For manufacturers, the investment of water transfer is relatively low. Whoever cannot afford automatic machines can start with manual equipment. But that means the industry is filled with manufacturers of different capability. One must pay extra caution for vendor selection. Employee training, quality control, equipment, dust-free production line — all these details can contribute to the quality of the final product.

Sage (Cheng Feng-Chih Hui Co., Ltd.), interviewed for this blog post, has further expanded its capability after mastering in water transfer. The company now also owns production lines for IMD and OMD (in-mold decoration). Both of which are processes using mold and films to apply patterns on product surface.

In comparison, water transfer has the flexibility of wrapping over complex surfaces. If we were to wrap a film around a sphere or complex curves, it will inevitably create wrinkles around the edges. This technical limitation for IMD and OMD has become a unique advantage of the traditional water transfer.

Old but gold. In another word, each process has its pros and cons. Therefore, when converting design intent into mass-production, sometimes it takes to challenge ourselves with the newest manufacturing technologies, and sometimes, opportunities are risen by bringing new applications to the existing processes!

Note: Please keep in mind that the terminologies mentioned in this blog post may be called differently across industries and companies.

Samples provided by Sage1988.com

Water transfer printing uses water-dissolvable layers to transfer printed patterns onto product surfaces.

Traces of water transfer printing can be found in everyday life, such as patterns on the decorative parts in an automobile interior.

One of the advantages of water transfer printing is the flexibility of wrapping over complex curved surfaces.

Pattern can be stretched around the edges, thus organic patterns are suggested for water transfer printing on curved surface.

Enjoy learning? Use the CMF terminologies mentioned above and continue on with your own research journey on the web. Comments and inspirations are welcome!
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