Artwork guide for popcorn packaging
What your designer needs to know before placing a design on a popcorn pack. If you have no designer, read the last section.
The file checklist
- File type
- A PDF saved from the design program, with the template layer left in. Adobe Illustrator and EPS files are also fine.
- Logos and text
- Vector, not a picture of a logo. Vector artwork stays sharp at any size. Convert fonts to outlines so nothing substitutes.
- Photographs
- 300 pixels per inch at the size they will print. An image copied from a website is almost always too small.
- Colour mode
- CMYK for full colour work. For a matched brand colour, name the Pantone reference in the file.
- Bleed
- Run backgrounds and images 3mm past the cut line. Cutting moves slightly, and bleed stops a white sliver showing at the edge.
- Safe zone
- Keep text and logos at least 3mm inside cut lines and clear of folds and the glue flap.
Tapered packs bend your artwork
Scoop boxes, tubs and cones are wider at the top than at the base. Laid flat, a box panel is a trapezium and a tub wrap is an arc.
Two things follow. A pattern of vertical stripes has to fan out towards the top to look parallel on the finished pack. And a line of text on a tub has to follow the curve of the template, or it will droop at the ends once the tub is formed.
Always design on the template we send for your exact size, never on a rectangle.
Colour on board, kraft and film
White board and white paper show colour most truly. Kraft is brown, so every ink printed on it looks darker and warmer, and pale colours can disappear. White ink under or beside a design brings the contrast back.
Clear film has no background at all. Decide which parts of the design are solid, which are see-through, and where white ink is needed behind colour so it does not look washed out against the popcorn.
No designer? Send what you have
Email your logo in the best quality you own, your brand colours and a sentence on the look you want to sales@popcornpackaging.co.uk, or attach the details to a quote request. We tell you what is usable and what else is needed before the proof stage.
Artwork: quick answers
Can I send a JPG or PNG of my logo?
You can send it so we can see the design, but printing needs a vector file. If you only have a JPG, tell us and we advise on redrawing it.
What is a template or dieline?
The flat outline of the pack before it is folded or formed. It shows where the pack is cut, folded and glued, so artwork lands in the right place.
Why does my straight line look curved on a tub?
A tub is a tapered cone, so its flat wrap is an arc. Artwork has to follow that arc to look level on the finished tub. The template shows the curve to follow.
Tell us what you need. We send a quote.
Pack style, size, quantity and print. If you are not sure about any of them, say so and we will help you decide.