When you order a print, the finish seems like a small detail next to the artwork and the size. It isn't. The finish decides how the print behaves in real light, in a real room, at the angle you will see it from. Get it wrong and you spend years looking at a reflection of your window with some art behind it.
Kiyo Arts posters and canvases are matte. That is a deliberate choice, and this post explains the reasoning, along with the cases where gloss is the better option.
What the two finishes are
- Glossy prints have a smooth, shiny coating. Light bounces off the surface in one direction, like a mirror.
- Matte prints have a flat, non-reflective surface. Light hitting it scatters in all directions.
Between them are satin, lustre and semi-gloss finishes, which have a soft sheen. The principle is a sliding scale: the shinier the surface, the more it reflects.
How glossy looks
Strengths:
- Colours look saturated and blacks look very deep, when the light is right.
- Fine detail appears crisp.
- It has an immediate, eye-catching pop.
Weaknesses:
- Glare. Any window, lamp or screen opposite the print shows up on its surface as a bright patch.
- The view changes with your position. From one angle it looks great. From another, half of it is white reflection.
- Fingerprints, dust and small scratches show clearly.
- Behind glass or acrylic, it can stick to the glazing over time.
How matte looks
Strengths:
- No glare. The image looks the same from every angle and under every light.
- Fingerprints and dust barely show.
- It has a soft, considered look that people associate with gallery prints.
- It sits well behind a frame's cover without adding a second layer of shine.
Weaknesses:
- Blacks are slightly less deep than on gloss in perfect lighting, and colours a touch less punchy.
- Held in the hand next to a glossy print, it looks quieter.
That last point is why gloss often wins in a shop and loses at home. In your hands, you tilt a print to avoid the glare without thinking. On a wall, you can't.
Why dark art needs matte
This is the heart of it. A reflection is most visible against a dark background. On a pale, bright image, a bit of glare blends in. On a black one, it stands out like a torch.
Think about the artwork in question: a night street, a galaxy, a neon skull on black. Most of the surface is dark. On a glossy finish, those dark areas become a mirror, and what you see is your room, your window and yourself, with some neon in the middle. The darker the art, the worse it gets.
On matte, the black areas stay black from wherever you stand. The neon doesn't have to compete with a reflection, so it looks brighter by comparison. A matte print of a dark piece often appears to have more contrast on the wall than a glossy one, even though the glossy print has deeper blacks on paper. What matters is what reaches your eye in the room.
Rooms with screens
A desk or gaming setup is the hardest environment for a glossy print. There is a bright monitor a few feet away, often LED strips, and a lamp. Every one of them will appear on a shiny surface. Matte is the only finish that works reliably behind or beside a screen. The same goes for a living room with a television opposite the art.
When glossy is the better choice
Gloss has its place.
- Photographs with bright, light tones, viewed in controlled lighting.
- Prints kept in an album or portfolio, where you hold and angle them.
- A deliberately sleek, high-shine look, on a wall with no light source opposite.
- Small prints on a shelf, where glare is easy to avoid by shifting the frame slightly.
Metal prints are a related case. They are glossy by nature and reflect light strongly, which gives vivid, luminous colour and also real glare. They suit some rooms very well and others badly, for the same reasons.
What about the cover on a framed print?
A framed poster has a protective cover in front of it, usually acrylic or glass. That cover has its own slight reflection, whatever the print underneath. A matte print behind a cover gives you one reflective layer. A glossy print behind a cover gives you two. If glare worries you and you want no reflection at all, choose canvas, which has no cover. Our comparison of canvas, poster and framed poster goes through this.
Canvas is matte too
Our canvases use a matte fabric with a light woven texture. The texture scatters light even more than flat matte paper does, which is why canvas is the most forgiving format in a bright or awkwardly lit room. It is a strong choice for a wall that faces a window.
Looking after a matte print
- Handle it by the edges. Matte hides fingerprints well, but oils from skin can still mark it over time.
- Dust with a soft, dry cloth. Don't use water or cleaners on paper.
- Keep it out of long hours of direct sun, as with any print.
- If you frame it yourself, let the print lie flat for a day first.
The quick guide
- Dark, neon, cosmic or cyberpunk art: matte.
- A room with screens or a window opposite: matte, or canvas.
- Art going behind a frame's cover: matte.
- Bright photos you will hold in your hands: glossy is fine.
- Not sure: matte. It is the finish that is hardest to get wrong.
Every poster in the poster prints collection is printed matte on archival paper, and every piece in the canvas collection is matte too. For help choosing a size, see the poster size guide.