A surface finish therefore falls under a category of decision an engineer or a designer makes when choosing a material to work with on an application. The layouts of surface finish structures are to enhance the function or the appearance of the component or the product or both. Surface finish is perhaps the aspect that attracts a lot of attention in design, and the choice of an appropriate surface is decisive.

Each of these is at sometime or in some way useful but each has drawbacks and so is not a perfect solution. Among the most familiar surface finishes, there are anodizing, powder coating, plating, and painting. The selection of the right surface finish for a given application will therefore depend on characteristics such as the intended use of the component in the system, the operating conditions, and perceived appearance.