BRIDGER PACKAGING ARTWORK SPECIFICATION – TO VIEW AS pdf FILE CLICK HERE

 

The objective of this specification is to avoid any delays to the processing of your artwork and to prevent additional costs through incorrect file preparation.

 

 

ARTWORK PREPARATION

 

PROFILE

Artwork should always be prepared to and contain a cutter profile set in non-printing ink.  We can supply your approved profile digitally on request via email.  If you use your own profile, please ensure that it is fully dimensioned.

 

IMAGES

All continuous tone or greyscale images must be high resolution at a minimum of 300 dpi.  Images above this resolution will be downsampled.  Please make sure all images are supplied as CMYK or special colours.  RGB images are not suitable for litho print and will be converted to CMYK.  A colour shift may occur during conversion; therefore please avoid supplying RGB files.

 

Line-art or bitmap images should be at least 3600 dpi.

 

All images should be binary encoded and use Flate (zip) compression if any is applied.

 

FONTS

If all text is fully approved please convert all the text to outlines.  This will prevent almost all font problems.  If however you may require any alterations to text in the future then please embed any fonts used in the preparation of artwork into the PDF file.

 

Minimum point sizes are: 6 pt (one colour text); 8 pt (multiple colour text).

Point sizes should be increased by 2 when reversing out text and serif fonts should be avoided.

Black text less than 12pt should be set to overprint.

Text smaller than these point sizes may start to fill in making it difficult to read.

 

Minimum line weights are 0.1mm (one colour solid); 0.15mm (one screened colour or multiple colours).

Line weights should be increased by 0.02mm when reversed out of any colours.

 

Ideally, text and other graphic details should be kept 2mm clear of any profile line.

 

SCREENS & VIGNETTES

Screens should be kept between 5% and 95%.  Any screen above 95% is likely to become a solid and a screen of less than 5% is likely to be too small to print.  Vignettes should be between a minimum of 1% and a maximum of 99% (not white to solid).

 

MAXIMUM INK DENSITY

To give the best print results for litho, it is recommended to keep the maximum ink density to no more than 300%.  If you have any areas within your design which exceed 300% ink density, UCR (Under Colour Removal) should be applied to reduce the ink density to an acceptable level.

 

BLEED & INK/COATING FREE AREAS

Any part of the artwork touching a profile edge should be extended by 2mm outside the edge.  This is referred to as "bleed".  Bleed should also be extended by 3mm on to the glue seam.  All ink and varnish free areas required by us will be shown on our cutter profile.  If you are using your own profile please ensure that the rest of the glue seam and any other areas that are to be glued (either by us or in the final filling process) are ink and varnish free.  If also required, please make sure that any best before or other areas used for coding purposes are also kept ink and varnish free.

 

SPOT COLOURS

All spot colours should be referenced with an appropriate Pantone (PMS) colour and should have a ‘C’ suffix.  We will use the appropriate ink reference during printing, but please be aware that the final result will only represent a good commercial match due to variation caused by the substrate used for the production of your order and any varnish or coating applied.  Special or “house” colours should be accompanied by an appropriate sample from which a drawdown from our ink manufacture will be produced for your approval.  Please remove all unused colours.

 

TRAPPING & DOT GAIN COMPENSATION

Please do not apply any trapping or dot gain compensation (DGC) to artwork supplied to us.  We will trap the artwork, as required, at the repro stage and will apply the appropriate amount of dot gain compensation necessary to suit the individual press used in the printing process.

 

ADDITIONAL ITEMS

Unless otherwise requested we will use a screen of 150 lines per inch and use a round dot with the following screen angles:

 

Cyan 75° - Magenta 15° - Yellow 0° - Black 45°

 

For identification purposes we request that our house mark, specification reference and type number be included on a portion of the profile that is not visible when the carton is made up, preferably a dust flap.  Please inform us if you do not wish us to apply these when you submit your artwork.

 

BAR CODES

If supplying a bar code, please make sure the bar code is generated following the guidelines published by GS1uk (www.gs1uk.org).  These guidelines will provide you with information regarding the suitability of bar code colours and background colour combinations.

 

On all bar codes a bar width reduction of 25 microns is required to compensate for pressure addition to the bars in the litho printing process.  Please ensure that the correct print free area is incorporated around the barcode.

 

If there is insufficient space for a full height bar code, the bars can be truncated (i.e. cut off from the top) by up to 10mm or 37.5%.

 

The bar code should be generated at the required final size.  Bar codes should never be reduced or enlarged after generation and should never be scanned from another source.

 

If you do not have the facility to produce your own bar codes, our Prepress Studio can generate most types of code in-house and insert them in the final design for you.  If you require this service, please supply the following information with your artwork:

 

Type of barcode: e.g. EAN-13, UPC-A, Pharma code etc.

Code number: Full code including check digit.

Size of code: Range between 120% - 80% scale in 5% increments.

Position: This should be indicated on a proof or within the digital file

LMI: Light margin indicator - Y/N

Colour: Please specify bar code colour and background colour required

 

SUPPLYING DIGITAL ARTWORK

 

FILE FORMAT

To help ensure a smooth workflow and allow us to react quickly to your requirements, please supply final artwork files in PDF 1.5 format.  We advise you to use direct PDF export from within the native application; this will ensure that all information remains in the PDF file and that no flattening of any objects takes place before absolutely necessary.  If direct export is not an option within your workflow, we can provide a Distiller JobOptions file on request.  Keep in mind there are limitations imposed by the PostScript language when using more than 4 colours (spot colours) and overprint or transparency in files to be converted to PDF.

 

MEDIA

All artwork files can be compressed with either WinZip or Stuffit prior to submission in order to reduce their size.

 

Artwork files up to 50MB in size can be emailed to prepress@bridger.co.uk.  Alternatively, or for larger files, please submit on either a Mac or PC formatted CD or DVD.  Please ensure that you maintain a copy for your own records.