How to create print ready artwork for your labels
Quick Guide to Artwork Creation:
Know the size of your label before you start
Create your artwork to that size but allowing bleed
Create a cut line on a separate layer if it’s a complicated shape
Save your artwork as either a jpeg or PDF with at least 300 dpi resolution
Quick Guide explained further:
More often that not we find that one of the most time consuming parts of a label job can be the artwork creation. We get artwork in all formats, shapes and sizes so what we’d like to do is help you (and ourselves – wink, wink) save time and money buy explaining the best way to create and submit your artwork.
What should you think about before you even start designing your label artwork?
This is going to sound obvious but it’s often not thought about. How big is the label going to be on your product. This needs to be exact and not “roughly the size of a jar label”. Jars vary in size and only you know what you want your label to look like. We get so many requests saying I have a 300ml bottle so I want a label for that. There are many shapes a 300ml bottle could be so we can’t accept this.
Tip – Cut out a piece of paper and hold it to your product. Keep folding or cutting it until you’re happy with the size and then measure it. You now have your label dimensions!!
Take your label dimensions and create your artwork just a little larger to allow for bleed.
At the top of this page is a diagram showing a simple label design and how it would look with bleed added. We’ve added a 4mm bleed.
How should you save your artwork?
You could have the most amazing label design but if it’s not saved correctly it can ruin the quality. When saving choose to save to either a PDF for a JPEG if possible. The resolution also needs to be at least 300 dpi. A picture that looks good on the web or on your screen most likely won’t print well if it’s not 300 dpi.
For advice on creating your artwork talk to one of our designers and we should be able to guide you in the right direction. If you follow the advice above it could save you lots of money in artwork time when you come to have your labels produced.
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