DESIGN FILE CHECKLIST

Transcription

1 DESIGN FILE CHECKLIST Want to get your packaging into production as quickly as possible? We ve put together a list of requirements to help speed your artwork through the pre-press process. If you can tick all these boxes, it should be plain sailing from the minute you send us those files. Check out the contents page for where to find information on specific packaging items or below for the TL;DR version. TL;DR 1. Use the wufoo form we sent you to submit your files. 2. Send two files for each design: editable PDF and CS6.ai file. 3. Print art, foil art and dielines live on their own layers. 4. Everything s gotta bleed 1 inch. 5. Pantones must be in the Swatches panel. 6. No vector, no bueno. 7. Recycling info or the polar bears are coming for ya. Calling for back up already? Read on this guide has everything else you need to know. QUESTIONS? If you re not working with a designer, aren t able to set your files up for production or just have more questions, let us know! We d be happy to work with you on any additional design needs you may have. Send us an at aloha@georgettepackaging.com 1

2 CONTENTS PAGE We ve put together lots of product specific information as well as more detailed instructions about file set up and the different finishes we offer. Have a read! 1. Intro & TL;DR notes 2. Contents 3. Uploading your files 4. How to build your files 5. Colour: Pantones & CMYK 6. Colour: Using screens 7. Coating types for paperboard 8. Foil hot stamped boxes 9. Hot & cold cups 10. Wax & tissue paper 11. Recycling information 12. Corrugate boxes & handle bags 13. Recycling information 14. Process & next steps 2

3 UPLOADING YOUR FILES DIELINES Please send files with artwork properly arranged and to scale on the dielines we ve sent to you. You ll need a separate file for each packaging item in your order. FILE TYPE It s best to send us an editable PDF as well as a CS6 Adobe Illustrator file, to ensure everything is compatible. UPLOADING FILES Please upload your files through our online Wufoo form. You can upload multiple files as a packaged zip file. You ll also need to fill in the other details so we know what to print! It s quicker than it sounds. ARTWORK UPLOAD FORM The URL is at the bottom of this page but it s also been ed to you so you can just CLICK IT. Because who even types out URLs anymore? 3

4 HOW TO BUILD YOUR FILES LAYERS Artwork needs to be build in layers in Adobe Illustrator. The dieline, printed artwork, and foil artwork should be on separate layers. It s a good idea to lock the dieline, so it doesn t change. BLEED All artwork needs to extend past the dieline to ensure you don t get any unprinted edges! Also keep text and critical info away from the dieline. VECTORS & TYPE All logos, text and other artwork needs to be in vector form (made from points and angles, rather than pixels). Select Type > Create Outlines in Illustrator to convert text. You can also send the.ttf type files. IMAGES If you re using raster images (like a jpeg), they need to be embedded into the file with a minimum resolution of 300dpi at the size they are being used. 4

5 COLOUR: PANTONES & CMYK SWATCHES All Pantone colours in your artwork should be built into the swatches panel and correctly labeled, so we know which colours to use! Indicate foil with a Pantone colour renamed as the foil colour. If you re using white ink, you can represent it with a light beige colour labeled in the Swatch panel as White Ink. SEPARATIONS PREVIEW Use this to toggle on and off different colours to make sure every part of your design is assigned to a Pantone swatch and not a rogue colour. Check the note below about Document Colour Mode too. FINISH & PANTONES Make sure you pick the right pantones for your packaging finish! Check page 7 for specific details but you will need Uncoated Pantones for uncoated board and Coated Pantones for coated board and soft touch finish. DOCUMENT COLOUR MODE Go to File > Document Colour Mode > CMYK. This mode is for all print work, whereas RGB mode is for digital work that will live on screen. Tip: Separations preview won t work in RGB mode. Printing CMYK? You don t need to worry about swatches but do check your Document Colour Mode and check Separations Preview for anything that shouldn t be there. 5

6 COLOUR: USING SCREENS Want to get a variety of tones from just one Pantone? We can do that using screens! Screens use tiny dots on the printing plate to control the amount of ink being used. OPEN THE SWATCHES PANEL Go to Window > Swatches then use the Library Icon to find your colour book. Color Books > Pantone+ Solid Coated or Solid Uncoated. SELECT COLOUR FROM BOOK Search for and select the colour in the Color Book, then head back to the Swatches panel. CLICK ON YOUR COLOUR Make sure the colour you want to make screens of is selected. OPEN THE COLOUR PANEL Go to Window > Color and use the slider to get the tone you re looking for. MAKE IT INTO A SWATCH In the menu, select Create New Swatch. You can do this multiple times if you want multiple screens of the colour. USE THE SCREENS Pick the screens you want to use from your swatch panel, as you would any normal swatch. 6

7 SPECIAL PANTONE INKS We can also print a variety of special inks on our paperboard boxes on both coated and uncoated board. All other packaging must Use Solid Coated/Uncoated Pantones. NEON INKS We can do neon inks in blue, green, yellow, orange, pink and purple. METALLIC INKS Metallic inks aren t a high shine like our hot stamped foils but they have a luxe sheen to them. PASTEL INKS Pastel colours let you get a much wider range of soft, creamy colours than the regular Solid Pantone options. TYPES OF INK Our different packaging items use different types of ink. Here is a list of what type of ink we use to print each type of packaging. Paperboard Boxes Wax & Tissue Paper Corrugate Shipper Boxes Hot & Cold Cups Pastry & Handle Bags Hot Cup Sleeves Soy based ink Compostable ink Water-based ink Water-based ink Water-based ink Water-based ink 7

8 COATING TYPES FOR PAPERBOARD These are the different coating options for our printed paperboard boxes. Make sure you pick the correct type of Pantone, based on your finish choice. We may also make a recommendation for a specific finish, based on your design. COATED FINISH This option uses the coated side of the board and has a semi-gloss look to it. Coated finish seals in ink nicely and is a great choice for dark/intense colours. You ll need Coated Solid Pantones for this finish. SOFT TOUCH FINISH This option is also printed on the coated side of the board but has a finish which looks matte and has a velvety, waxy feel to touch. It has a very luxe quality to it. You ll need Coated Solid Pantones for this finish. OTHER PACKAGING ITEMS These coating options are for our printed paperboard boxes. Shipper boxes, hot cups, cup sleeves, and bags all print on uncoated board, so must use Uncoated Solid Pantones. Foil-only boxes also use uncoated board. Cold cups and ice cream boxes print on coated surfaces so must use Coated Solid Pantones. UNCOATED FINISH This option uses the uncoated side of the board and has a natural, matte look to it like regular paper. You ll need Uncoated Solid Pantones for this finish. 8

9 FOIL HOT STAMPED BOXES Whether you re adding foil to a print design, or doing a standalone foil design, we have a variety of options to choose from (and some tips for how to set up your files). GOLD FOIL SILVER FOIL ROSE GOLD FOIL GOLD FOIL COPPER FOIL CUSTOM FOIL HOLOGRAPHIC LINE WEIGHT The minimum line weight we can hot stamp is 1pt. Reverse line weight needs to be thicker (around 2pt) but is reviewed on a case by case basis. FOIL AREA CONSTRAINTS Our dielines show foiling areas and pricing depends on area coverage. All foil must be ¹ 4 away from any cut or fold lines, in order to position properly. 9 FORMATTING Foil artwork must be on its own separate layer. It should be coloured with a Pantone swatch in the Swatches panel and renamed as a foil colour.

10 HOT & COLD CUPS CURVED HOT CUP DIELINES These dielines are curved but don t worry! Just position your artwork where you d like it and we ll handle warping it so everything looks good on the 3D curved surface. You ll see a PDF proof to approve before production starts. COLD CUPS: LINE WEIGHT The smallest line weight we can print on cold cups is 0.5 point and smallest reverse weight (gap between art) is 1 point. FRONT BACK COLD CUPS: SOLID BACKGROUNDS Solid background colour coverage can be a maximum of 1.5 high. There will also be a gap of approximately 5/16 where either end of the design meets. We ll curve the corners to help with visual alignment. PANTONE SET UP Hot cups need Solid Uncoated Pantones. Cold cups need Solid Coated Pantones. If you want to print white ink, use a beige colour then label it as white in the swatches panel. Anything actually whte in the docusment won t print, so will show the clear plastic cup. There are different dielines for recyclable and compostable cups, so make sure you let us know which you re ordering to get the correct dielines! 10

11 WAX & TISSUE PAPER Depending on the order, you ll either need to set up your artwork as a repeating pattern (prints across a large area then cut into sheets) or as a fixed design for the sheet size. MINIMUM LINE WEIGHTS The smallest line weight we can print on wax or tissue paper is 0.4pt and the smallest reverse weight (gap between art) is 0.75pt. FILE SET UP We recommend arranging your design on an Illustrator artboard the same size as your final sheet size. Make sure the design will work as a repeating pattern. SCATTER VS FIXED DESIGN SCATTER PRINT Scatter print designs have a repeating pattern that repeats across a wider area than the sheet size. A large area is printed then cut down to final sheet size, so the positioning of the design varies from sheet to sheet. FIXED PRINT Fixed print designs have the exact same repeat as the sheet size, meaning the design is fixed the same on every sheet. This process is usually more exensive than scatter prints. 11

12 CORRUGATE BOXES & HANDLE BAGS Corrugate boxes and handle bags are printed using offset flexography so have some different print restrictions than the process we use to print our paper board boxes, which are printed using offset lithography. PLATE REGISTRATION The printing method used for bags can have some variance in plate registration, so colours may not perfectly align (Design 1A compared to 1B above). We recommend factoring this into your design by not relying on exact colour alignment (Design 2, above). LINE WEIGHT The smallest line weight we recommend for handle bags is 1 point and smallest reverse weight (gap between art) is 2 point. REGULAR SLOTTED CARTON DIELINE PRINT AREA CORRUGATE REGULAR SLOTTED CARTONS This specific type of corrugate box (that looks like the drawing above) has extra print requirements. We can print on all panels up to 1 4 from the cut and fold lines. This is because the boxes are folded before they re printed and ink can t properly get into the creases. 12

13 RECYCLING INFORMATION Making sure people know how to responsibly dispose of our packaging items is really important to us. Below is the information you ll need to include in your designs in order for us to manufacture it. Where it says in some municipalities we recommend checking on your own local information! White Paperboard Boxes Kraft Paperboard Boxes Ice Cream Boxes Ice Cream Scoop Cups Made in Canada. Please recycle. Made from 100% new material. Made in Canada. Please recycle. Made from 100% recycled material. Made in Canada. Recyclable in some municipalities. Made from 100% new material. Made in China. Recyclable in some municipalities. Made from 100% new material. Corrugate Shipper Boxes Made in Canada. Please recycle. Made from 100% recycled material. or we can add a standard recycling symbol and Please Recycle to the boxes. Handle Bags Pastry/bread bags Made in the USA. Please recycle. Made from 100% recycled material. Made in Canada. Please recycle. Made from 100% new material. Recyclable Hot Cups Compostable Hot Cups Coffee Sleeves Recyclable Cold Cups Compostable Cold Cups Made in China. Recyclable in some municipalities. Made from 100% new material. Made in China. Compostable in some municipalities. Made from 100% new material. Made in China. Please recycle. Made from 100% material. Made in the USA. Recyclable in some municipalities. Made from 100% new material. Made in the USA. Please recycle. Made from 100% new material. Wax & Tissue Paper Made in the USA. Compostable. Made from 100% new material. 13

14 PROCESS & NEXT STEPS Once your designs are complete and approved and you ve been through this checklist, we ll take a look at everything and let you know if it s ready to go for proofing. UPLOAD YOUR FILES Send everything in through the Wufoo form check out page 3 for details. PREPRESS CHECK We ll check your files to make sure everything is good to go to print. READY? If everything looks good, it will go for proofing. If not, we ll send it back to you for changes. We can also make changes for you at an hourly rate of $150, billed in 15 minute increments. PDF PROOF We ll send you a PDF proof to review, with all the details of the design, colours, coating, board type etc. This is the very last chance to change artwork without incurring additional costs. PROOF APPROVAL If you re happy for the packaging to go into production, sign and return the proof to us. Changes to artwork after this point will require new printing plates to be made at a cost of $375 per plate. MANUFACTURING Once we have your signed proof, printing plates will be made and your packaging will go into production! We ll be in touch with an ETA for your finished packaging. 14