Many commercially available ink jet media have excellent print qualities, but are difficult to laminate. Generally, unprinted areas have better adhesion to laminating films than printed areas. The lamination of secondary colors is often more difficult than primary colors. Images printed with pigmented inks are often much harder to laminate well than images printed with dye based inks. It is shown that, depending on the composition of the coating, unprinted areas can have lower adhesion than printed ones. The type of polyvinyl alcohol in the ink jet receiving layer could have significant influence on the adhesion of the laminating film. Partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl alcohol has better adhesion to unprinted areas than fully hydrolyzed. On the other hand, fully hydrolyzed polyvinyl alcohol provides better adhesion with primary and secondary colors. A mechanism to describe the migration of high boiling ink solvents and their influence on laminate adhesion is provided.