Artwork Requirements
The following artwork requirements are given to everyone who wishes to provide their own digital artwork for reproduction. If you read and follow these requirements, we will be able to get your labels to you in a timely fashion. If the following requirements are not followed, this could result in a delay of your order.
• SOFTWARE and FORMATS ACCEPTED; Adobe Indesign CS5, Adobe Illustrator CS5 and Photoshop CS5. We can work with EPS, TIFF and PDF (if saved with 'Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities' selected and fonts outlined or included)
• We DO NOT ACCEPT and are UNABLE TO WORK with the following; Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Publisher, Pagemaker and CorelDRAW. If these programs were used to create your label artwork, it will need to be saved to a high resolution universal format (eps, tiff etc...) Vector artwork/text needs to be supported where applicable
• Raster images should be no less than 300 dpi. One color bitmap images should be 1200 dpi
• Raster images and color settings should be CMYK. (4 Color Process) Other settings such as RGB (For use with monitors) will change in color
• Make all spot color traps 1 pt to accommodate press movement
• REGISTRATION TOLERANCES: Standard registration tolerances in the flexographic industry for die-cutting and printing are 1/32". Please take this into account when designing your label. Although sometimes we can have perfect registration, it is not automatic due to the nature of flexography.
• Lines must be at least 0.5 pt wide if a solid color to avoid a wavy effect on the printed label, and at least 1 pt. if process colors to avoid misregistration
• Please include 1/8" bleed outside the artwork print area
• YOU MUST include the fonts used in your artwork, or convert the type to outlines.
• Include the support files and images used in your artwork
• When possible, small text should be vector artwork, and not raster or bitmap images
• 6pt serif type is the smallest we can guarantee for clarity, 5 pt for san serif fonts
• Type that is knocking out of a CMYK background should be at least 10 pt
• Process printed type should be at least 12 pt for serif fonts, 10 pt for san serif, or black for legibility
• Always indicate Pantone color when printing in spot colors
• Provide a color proof of your artwork when printing in CMYK
• Artwork that contains screens/gradients must have at least 2% of the color. The smallest dot we can hold on our printing plates is 2% If the screen goes to one or zero, a chopping effect occurs, and the gradation will not appear smooth
