Artwork Setup Guide for Custom Vial Boxes

A packaging file is not a flat graphic. It is a plan for something that will be cut, creased, folded and glued, and the constraints that come with that are not obvious if you have only ever designed for screen or for print on a flat sheet.

Start with the die line

The die line is a flat template showing every panel, every fold, every glue area and the bleed edge, drawn for your specific box.

Three rules:

1. Use ours. Not a redrawn version, not a similar one from a previous job.
2. Work at 100%. Never scale it, even proportionally.
3. Keep it on its own layer. Named clearly, and set to not print.

Redrawing or scaling the die line is the single most common reason a file has to go back. Panels will not align with the cutting tool, and the error usually only becomes visible on a physical sample.

If your designer wants to start before the structure is finalised, that is fine — but expect the layout to change, because carton proportions are set by the vial, not by the design.

Bleed and safety

Bleed is artwork extending beyond the trim edge so that a small cutting variation does not leave a white sliver. Extend background colour and images at least 3 mm past every trim edge, including into the flaps.

Safety margin is the inverse: keep anything critical at least 4 mm inside the trim. On a small carton this feels generous, and it is exactly where content ends up looking cramped if you ignore it.

Fold clearance matters as much as trim clearance. Ink crazes at a crease, so keep text and barcodes 3–4 mm clear of every fold line. A logo straddling a crease will crack along it.

Colour

Build everything in CMYK, not RGB. Files supplied in RGB are converted automatically, and the conversion rarely matches what was on screen.

Name spot colours explicitly using their PMS reference, and do not convert them to process. If a colour is meant to be a spot, it must be a spot in the file, or it will print as a four-colour build with all the run-to-run variation that implies.

Rich black — black with additional cyan, magenta and yellow — is right for large solid areas and wrong for small text, where it causes registration fringing. Small type should be 100% K only.

Separations for finishing

Foil, emboss, deboss and spot UV are not visual effects. They are separate operations that need their own tooling, and each needs its own artwork layer:

• Supplied as vector, not raster
• Drawn in 100% black
• On a clearly named layer, set to overprint
• Not applied as a Photoshop effect or a layer style

If you send a mock-up showing gold text, we cannot make a foil die from it. We need the shape of the foil area as a vector path.

Windows

Windows have their own set of traps.

• Mark the window as a die layer, not as a white shape in the artwork.
• Leave a printed border of at least 3 mm around the opening, so the film glue line is hidden and normal registration variation is absorbed.
• Do not place small type immediately beside the cut. Registration tolerance will make the spacing look uneven even when it is within specification.
• Check what is directly behind the window on the opposite inner panel — it will be visible.

Traps specific to small cartons

A 2ml or 3ml carton gives you very little surface, and most of the usual advice about hierarchy stops working.

• 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 at small sizes.
• Check barcode magnification. Every symbology has a minimum size; below it, scan failures appear at point of use rather than at proofing. Keep the quiet zone either side clear.
• Remember the glue seam. It overlaps the rear panel by a few millimetres and sits slightly proud, so artwork there is partly obscured and labels applied over it will lift.
• Plan the applied-label zone. If a pharmacy or distributor labels the carton downstream, reserve a flat, matte area for it. Gloss laminate rejects some label adhesives.

Supplying the file

• Print-ready PDF, one file per component
• Fonts outlined, or embedded with full licensing
• Linked images at 300 dpi at final size — not scaled up from 150
• Die line layer present but non-printing
• Separation layers named for what they are, not “Layer 4”
• One PDF page per die line, not several boxes on one artboard

Lid and base are separate components with separate die lines, and so are cartons and their inserts. Send them as separate files.

What we check, and what we do not

Our preflight covers production risk: bleed, resolution, colour space, fold clearance, print-to-die registration risk, barcode sizing, minimum stroke widths on foil, and whether separations are usable.

It does not cover content. We do not verify that copy is accurate, that claims are supportable, or that mandatory statements for your product and market are present. That review is yours and should be done by someone qualified for it.

The sequence that works

1. Confirm the vial and the count.
2. Agree the structure.
3. Receive the die line.
4. Design onto it.
5. Digital proof for colour and layout.
6. Physical sample for fit and finish.
7. Production.

Designing before step three is the most common way to lose a week.