Artwork Guidelines

Work on our die line

The die line shows every panel, fold, glue area and bleed edge for your specific structure. Three rules cover most of it.

• Use the file we supply — Not a redrawn version, and not one from a previous job with similar dimensions.
• Work at 100% — Never scale it, even proportionally. A scaled die line will not align with the cutting tool.
• Keep it on its own layer — Clearly named and set to not print.
• One component per file — A lid and a base are separate die lines. So are a carton and its insert.

Bleed, trim and safety

• Bleed — Extend background colour and images at least 3 mm past every trim edge, including into flaps.
• Safety margin — Keep critical content at least 4 mm inside the trim.
• Fold clearance — Keep text and barcodes 3–4 mm clear of every crease. Ink crazes at a fold, and a logo straddling one will crack.
• Glue seam — It overlaps the rear panel by a few millimetres and sits slightly proud. Artwork there is partly obscured.

Colour

• Build in CMYK — Files supplied in RGB are converted automatically, and the conversion rarely matches what was on screen.
• Name spot colours — Use the PMS reference and do not convert to process. A colour intended as a spot must be a spot in the file.
• Rich black for large solids — Black with supporting cyan, magenta and yellow, for areas larger than a few square centimetres.
• 100% K for small text — Rich black on small type causes registration fringing.
• Matched components — If a lid and base, or a carton and label, must match, specify the colour as a spot — they are printed separately.

Separations for finishing

Foil, emboss, deboss and spot UV are separate operations that need their own tooling. A mock-up showing gold text is not something a foil die can be made from.

• Supply as vector — Not raster, and not as a layer effect.
• Draw in 100% black — The shape of the area to be treated, nothing else.
• Name the layer for what it is — "Foil", "Deboss", "SpotUV" — not "Layer 4".
• Set to overprint — So the separation does not knock out the artwork beneath it.
• Mind minimum stroke widths — Very fine foil lines fill in or break up. We will advise against your specific artwork.

What each of these separations is actually used to produce, and which pair well together, is covered on the printing and finishing reference.

Windows

• Mark as a die layer — Not as a white shape in the artwork.
• Leave a printed border — At least 3 mm around the opening, so the film glue line is hidden and registration variation is absorbed.
• Keep small type away from the cut — Registration tolerance makes tight spacing look uneven even when it is within specification.
• Check what is behind it — The opposite inner panel will be visible through the opening.

Window placement also has structural consequences — the window peptide boxes page explains why openings should stay clear of corners.

Labels

• Work at 100% on the label die line — Label sizing is derived from the straight body section of the vial, not its total height.
• Keep content 2 mm inside the edge — More on a wrap-around, where the overlap covers part of the design.
• Bleed 2 mm on every edge — Die-cutting tolerance on a small label is immediately visible if you do not.
• Supply barcodes as vector — Not as a placed image, and never below the minimum magnification for the symbology.
• Mark any thermal transfer zone — As a separate layer, so it is left free of laminate for inline printing.

Small-format traps

A 2ml or 3ml carton gives you very little surface, and most general design advice stops working at that scale.

• Avoid reversing small text out of dark panels — solid dark text on a light ground survives reduction far better.
• Avoid hairline rules and very light typeface weights; both break up.
• Check barcode magnification and keep the quiet zone either side clear.
• Plan the applied-label zone if a pharmacy or distributor labels the pack downstream, and keep it matte or uncoated.
• Remember that a long, narrow front panel needs a vertical lock-up rather than a horizontal one.

Supplying the file

• Format — Print-ready PDF, one file per component, one die line per page.
• Fonts — Outlined, or embedded with full licensing.
• Images — Linked at 300 dpi at final size. Not scaled up from a lower resolution.
• Layers — Die line present and non-printing; separations named for what they are.
• Delivery — By email for anything under 10 MB, or through a file transfer link for larger sets.

Artwork is stage three of five; if you are not sure what has to happen before or after it, the ordering sequence sets it out.

What we check — and what we do not

This distinction matters, so it is stated plainly rather than buried.

• We check — Bleed, resolution, colour space, fold clearance, print-to-die registration risk, barcode sizing, minimum stroke widths and whether separations are usable.
• We do not check — Whether copy is accurate, whether claims are supportable, or whether mandatory statements, warnings, symbols or identifiers required for your product and market are present.
• Where that leaves you — Content review is your responsibility and should be carried out by someone qualified for your market. Approving a proof confirms the artwork, not its compliance.
• What we will decline — Work we consider misleading — for example packaging implying a regulatory approval that has not been granted.