How to Prepare Packaging Artwork for Printing

A packaging design can look perfect on screen and still fail on press. Most printing problems — cut-off text, dull colours, unreadable barcodes, white gaps at the edges — come from artwork that was not prepared for the way packaging is actually printed and converted. This checklist covers what to get right before files go to the printer.

1. Start from the printer's dieline

The dieline is the technical drawing of your pack: cut lines, folds, seals, gussets, glue areas and windows. Always design on the exact dieline supplied by your printer or converter, not a generic template. A pouch from one converter can differ from another by a few millimetres, and that is enough to push a logo into a seal.

• Keep the dieline on its own layer, set as a separate non-printing spot colour.
• Mark no-print areas such as seals, zipper tracks and glue flaps.
• Check where folds and gussets fall so important text is never split across them.

2. Add bleed and respect the safe zone

Cutting is never perfectly exact. Background colours and images that run to the edge need to extend beyond the cut line — commonly 3 mm, though some flexible packaging and label printers ask for more. Equally, keep text and logos inside a safe zone well away from cut and fold lines. Ask your printer for their exact bleed and safe-zone values.

3. Get colour right: CMYK, spot colours and white ink

• Convert artwork to CMYK (or your printer's specified colour profile) — RGB colours will shift when converted at the press.
• Use spot colours (such as Pantone references) for brand colours that must be consistent across batches, and confirm with your printer how many colours the job allows.
• Small text should usually be a single ink (for example 100% black) rather than a four-colour mix, which can blur if plates are slightly out of register.
• On transparent or metallic films, plan a white ink layer under areas that should look opaque. Without it, colours print translucent.

4. Fonts, images and effects

• Convert text to outlines (or package fonts) so nothing is substituted on the printer's system — but keep an editable master file.
• Place images at around 300 ppi at their final printed size.
• Set up special finishes — foil, spot UV, embossing, matte/gloss varnish — as separate spot-colour layers exactly where the effect should appear.
• Check overprint settings, especially for black text on colour backgrounds.

5. Barcodes

Barcodes fail more often than any other element. Use a barcode generated for your registered number, print it in a single dark ink on a light background, keep its quiet zone (the clear margins either side) free of graphics, and do not squash or shrink it below the size your barcode provider recommends. Avoid placing it over a fold, seam or curve.

6. Proof before you print

1. Proofread every panel — especially mandatory information, weights, prices and dates.
2. Print a scaled-to-size paper mockup and fold or wrap it to check readability.
3. Approve a colour proof from the printer, and for large runs, attend or request a press proof.
4. Check the first production samples before the full run is packed.

Every printer and converter has slightly different requirements. Treat this as a checklist and always confirm bleed, colour count, white ink and file format with your printer before sending final files.