Design Tips

Design Considerations

Realize there is some movement on press and that elements meant to hit directly on score lines seldom will. It is better to bleed 1/4” past the scores or stay shy by 1/8”.

Try and stay away from designs where an art element is meant to wrap around and line up from different angles of the box. i.e. sides, top, back, etc. Due to the way folds, allowances and possible junp at the press, as well as the die cutter, factor into the equation. It rarely lines up perfectly.

Always request the electronic file with the actual structural design from our design department. Do not measure the box and do the layout on your own! It will not work.

Make sure the structure we provide you with is labeled as an OUTSIDE VIEW. Copy the drawing we give you into a vector art program such as Adobe Illustrator. Group the layout as one and designate it onto a layer. Lock the layer, so nothing but the structure is on this layer. Designate a new layer for your art work.

Direct Print Specifications

• Large solid backgrounds are not recommended on slotted, non die cut containers, of large printed area.
• R-bug sizes need to be exaggerated, so they won’t fill in. As a rule of thumb, make them double as large as you normally would.
• Stay away from printing to the edge of a sheet at least 1/2”.
• Stay away from printing near the scores a 1/4”.
• Use a screen value of 42.5 dpi for half tone images. Use a 10%, 20% and 30% line value.
• Mezzo tints are more corrugated friendly than dot screens.
• Minimum type size is 10 point. If positive print, use a light typeface. If negative print, use a bold typeface. Non-serif typefaces are preferable. If the font is condensed or a specialty font, the openness of the letter must be reviewed.
• Minimum line thickness with a long line across corrugation should be at least 5 point. If the line is too thin, it won’t expose correctly to the printing plate. Even if it exposes correctly, it may wobble when printing across corrugation. Trap between 2 colors should be 1/8”. Where the colors overlap a third color will be created by the trap. (It is best to leave the trapping up to us).

Label Specifications

• Labels must be trimmed to corrugated specifications on the structural die line. Make the document set up size to the same size as the trimmed label size. (See the red line on the structural drawing/die line. This is the trim line). Part of the design may extend beyond this area. It is ok, if there is no label there.
• Background images must bleed 1/4” over the outer circumference of the die cut (structural die line).
• Non background images must shy away from the die cut edges by at least 1/8”
• When ever possible, limit your label size to a 28 x 40 sheet. While a larger size is available, it is much more expensive.
• Label stock options for 28 x 40 labels: 70# C1S or 80# C1S. Printable area: 27 x 39 1/2.
• Label stock option for 54 x 77 80# C1S or 100# C1S. Printable area: 53 x 76.
• If the labeled box has glue tabs (glue joint or auto bottom) the labels must be off set from the tabs. If that doesn’t work, the labels must be spot varnished.
• Keep files in CYMK adding spot colots increases the label cost.
• Large solid black areas should have “undercolor” built in C40, M30, Y30 , K100. This enhances the black. If the undercolors are missing, the black may appear weak and have a green-ish cast.
• Please provide your linked files. It is best not to embed your links.
• All linked Photoshop files should be true to size of the image and scaled 100% and at 300 pixels per inch.
• Provide your file in layered format. Do not flatten your layers.
• All fonts need to be provided with the file or converted to outline.
• All PMS colors need to be converted to process, if printing in process.
• Please also include a hard copy of the file.

Triple A Containers, Inc. is an ISO 9001 Certified manufacturer who produces ROHS compliant packaging. We
maintain these stringent standards to ensure that your needs are met.