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The Mirror Band
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| The main printable area of the disc is not a very good mirror; look at your reflection in a disc and you'll notice that the image is dull, muted, and contains no dark colors. However, there is a slender ring of highly reflective silver, known as the "mirror band," which extends from the outer edge of the clear inner hub at 38mm to the inner edge of the main printable area of the disc at 46mm. The main part of the disc and the mirror band both vary in color depending on what they are reflecting, but they do not reflect in the same way; most of the time, the mirror band will appear darker. When type or images straddle the two areas, this discontinuity can be distracting to the eye, whether the design element in question is positive on a silver background, or negative, knocking out to silver. |
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Positive type over mirror band
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Knockout type over mirror band
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| The simple solution to the difficulties that the mirror band creates is to avoid it altogether. Many CDs of classical music contain little more than the record label's logo and type; you'll notice that they tend to steer clear of the mirror band. Perhaps it's possible to incorporate this highly reflective ring into a design, but it's difficult to imagine a layout where it helps rather than hinders the overall visual presentation.
The mirror band also causes mild color variation of translucent inks - noticeable, but not as severe as the color variation caused by the clear inner hub. A white undercoat is often an effective way to counteract this effect. |
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The same orange ink, over three different backgrounds.
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