1Design on the dieline, not a rectangle
A box or bag is printed flat and then cut, creased and glued. Thedieline is that flat template: every panel, fold and glue flap at your exact size.
Keep logos and text off the fold lines and glue areas, and check which way up each panel faces once assembled. If you only have a logo, send that. It will be placed on the dieline for you at no charge.
2Add bleed, then keep clear of the edge
Paper shifts a fraction of a millimeter as it is cut. So we print slightly larger than the finished size and trim through it.
That means two things for you. Any background color or photo that should reach the edge must extend past it — usually by 3 mm, thebleed. And anything you cannot afford to lose, like text or a logo, should sit at least 3 mm inside the edge, in what we call the safe area.
The configurator draws both of these over your file the moment you upload it, so you can see whether you have it right.
3Resolution is about size, not pixel count
A 2000 pixel wide image is generous on a sticker and far too small on a pizza box lid. What matters is pixels spread across the finished size, measured in dots per inch.
Aim for 300 dpi at final size; 250 is usable. Below 150 it will look visibly soft, and the configurator warns you before you pay. Screenshots, images pulled from a website, and logos copied out of a Word document are the usual culprits.
Vector files — PDF, AI, EPS — have no resolution at all. They stay sharp at any size. Use them for logos and text whenever you can.
4Send a PDF if you can
PDF keeps text as text and vectors as vectors, so it prints sharper than any image format. Export with fonts embedded, or convert text to outlines if your software offers it.
We also take PNG, JPEG, TIFF and EPS. We cannot take Word, PowerPoint, Canva share links, or anything that needs an account to open.
5Color will shift a little, and more on kraft
Screens emit light, paper reflects it, so a color can never match exactly between the two. Deep blues and bright oranges move the most. If an exact color matters — a brand color, say — include its Pantone number and it will be matched on press.
Kraft board is brown, so ink sits darker on it and white cannot be printed at all without an extra white layer. One or two strong spot colors look best on kraft. Every ink we use is certified for food packaging.
Black text should be pure black, not a mix of all four inks. Mixed blacks look muddy at small sizes and can register slightly off.