Artwork checklist for private label packaging

Packaging artwork is where a good product picks up expensive mistakes: a barcode that will not scan, a missing country of origin, a colour that prints muddy, a fold through the logo. Most of them are cheap to fix on screen and costly to fix after a print run.

Tick through this list for each pack before you approve it. Print it, or save it as a PDF to share with your designer. Printer specs vary, so where a number is given it is either from a cited source or named as one printer's spec. For print settings such as bleed and file format, follow your printer's own spec. For legal markings, the law sets the minimum, and a printer that can hold small text does not make it compliant.

1. Start from the right dieline

• Get the dieline (the flat outline of the pack with cut lines, fold lines and glue areas) from the factory or packaging maker, for this exact pack, not a similar one.
• Check the dieline's dimensions against the product and the pack in your written spec.
• Keep the dieline on its own layer, set to not print, and named clearly.
• Mark which panel is the front (the main display panel), back, sides, top and bottom.
• Keep text and logos clear of fold lines, glue flaps and the hang hole.

2. Bleed, safe zone and resolution

• Extend background colour and images past the cut line as bleed, by the amount your printer asks for. Printers differ: one Australian printer recommends 3 mm, another asks for 2 mm each side.
• Keep text and key graphics inside a safe zone well in from the cut and folds.
• Place photos at 300 dpi or more at the printed size, as printers commonly ask.
• Keep small text legible. One printer's guideline is 8 pt or larger. That is a print guideline, not a legal minimum; legal text must meet the sizes in section 5 as well.
• Outline or embed fonts, and send a print-ready PDF in the format your printer specifies.

3. Colour

• Decide which colours are process colours (built from CMYK dots) and which are spot colours (a Pantone ink mixed to a shade and printed in one pass).
• Use a spot colour where your brand colour must match every time, and confirm the packaging maker can print it.
• Set up the file in the colour mode the printer asks for, not the screen's RGB.
• Do not approve colour from a screen. Ask for a printed proof or colour drawdown on the real board.
• Give the Pantone reference and a physical swatch, not just a description.

4. Barcode

• Use your own GS1 number, one per product variant. See GS1 barcodes in Australia.
• Size: for an EAN-13 at retail, the GS1 General Specifications put the narrowest bar at 0.330 mm at target size, within 0.264 mm to 0.660 mm. Do not shrink it to fit.
• Quiet zones: at least 11 times the narrowest bar width clear on the left and 7 times on the right, more if you can.
• Do not shorten the bar height.
• Dark bars on a solid light background; no red bars.
• Back panel, lower right, clear of folds, seams and edges.
• Only one GTIN visible per item. Hide inner barcodes on multipacks.
• Send the artwork to GS1 Australia's Barcode Check for an interim report, then scan the printed proof.

5. Legal and required text

• Country of origin, stated truthfully, for example "Made in China". See selling BBQ accessories in Australia.
• The count or measurement on the main display panel, for example "6 skewers".
• The measurement marking printed at least as tall as the National Measurement Institute's minimum for the pack's largest dimension: 2 mm for packs 120 mm or less, 2.5 mm over 120 mm up to 230 mm, 3.3 mm over 230 mm up to 360 mm, and 4.8 mm over 360 mm. Measure the printed characters on the proof, not the point size in the file. Stamped or embossed markings must be at least three times these heights.
• Your business name, and how to contact you.
• Material and grade where you make a claim about it, only if it is in the spec and you can back it up.
• Care instructions for the material, and heat or sharp point warnings where they apply.
• No "food safe", "food grade" or certification claim you cannot back up with paperwork on file.
• Any retailer-specific text or marks your buyer has asked for.

6. Outer carton marks

• Carton marks agreed with the factory: your brand or product code, quantity per carton, gross weight, carton number and "Made in China".
• A carton barcode if your retailer or warehouse asks for one.
• Handling marks (this way up, fragile) where they help.

7. Approvals, in writing

• Spelling, numbers and every claim checked by someone other than the designer.
• Every panel checked against the dieline by the packaging maker.
• A digital proof approved in writing, with the file name and date.
• A printed proof or pre-production sample approved, with colour checked under daylight.
• The approved artwork, proof and sample kept as the reference for inspection.
• Packaging checked against the approved proof at pre-shipment inspection. The pre-shipment QC checklist includes it.

Decision rules

• If the dieline did not come from the people making the pack, do not finish the artwork on it.
• If the colour matters to your brand, pay for a printed proof.
• If anything changes after approval, even one word, approve it again in writing.
• If the barcode has not been tested, the artwork is not finished.

Common mistakes

• Designing on a dieline from a different pack size.
• No bleed, so a white line shows at the cut.
• RGB files, so the colours shift in print.
• A barcode shrunk, shortened, printed in red or placed across a fold.
• No country of origin, or a "Designed in Australia" line with no true origin.
• Approving on screen, then arguing about colour after the run.

Next step

Choose the pack format in the packaging customiser, compare formats in packaging options compared, then allow time for artwork and proofs in the order timeline planner.

Common questions