Artwork Design Specifications

Your label's journey from digital file to printed masterpiece can be straightforward with just a little prep work. Follow the guidelines below for the easiest, fastest, and most cost-effective production of your product labels.
If you need help with the label design itself, take advantage of our Graphic Design Services. Whether you need to refresh your current label design, or start a design from the beginning stages, our team of professional graphic designers can help.
You’ll find our Frequently Asked Questions page is also helpful tool when creating your custom labels, so be sure to check it out!

Once your artwork files have successfully made it through the proofing process, any subsequent revisions will require us to repeat the entire process for any replacement files. Please note that you will be charged for each file that requires revisions, so it's critically important that you check your artwork for accuracy before submitting to us.

Preferred:
    ● Native Adobe Illustrator (Saved as .ai or .pdf from Illustrator)
    ● Native Adobe Photoshop (Saved as .psd or .pdf from Photoshop)

Supported:
    ● Adobe Illustrator (.eps)
    ● Adobe Photoshop (300 DPI or higher; .psd or .eps)

When working with a graphic designer or creating artwork yourself, be sure to select the size of label you want first. Designing the label in the right size will make the ordering process much easier when it is time to print your labels. Please round all dimensions to the nearest 1/32" (0.031") when ordering common shapes such as rectangles, squares, circles, and ovals.
Look at our blog post about Label Artwork Sizing for further explanation.

Including a bleed for your artwork is an important step to get a professional look and finish to your labels. In printing, a bleed is when the ink goes all the way to the edge of the label instead of stopping before the edge. This is done on purpose so that when the label is cut to size, there will not be any white space around the edges where the ink did not reach. Bleeds should extend 0.0625” from the trim line of your artwork. So, if you have a 1” x 3” finished label, your artboard will need to be sized at 1.125” x 3.125” to create the additional bleed.
To learn more, check out our blog post: Product Label Design Artwork Bleeds.

Another key component of creating professional-looking labels is to adhere to clear space or safe zone standards. When converting labels to their finished size, there can be very small shifts in print or material, which can lead to important elements of your design being cut off. To combat this, we require all elements that are not to be cut out to be inside of this area. If your finished label size is 1” x 3”, your clear space area would be 0.875” x 2.875”.
To learn more, check out our blog post: Remember Clear Space When Creating Labels. 

Files should be created between 300 DPI and 800 DPI. Any placed graphics or files above 800 DPI will be down-sampled to meet these requirements. For the best results please submit all files in a vector format.

Missing or substituted fonts can create errors in your artwork. Please do not send live fonts with your files, and be sure to convert all fonts to outlines.
To learn more, check out our blog post: How to Outline Fonts When Sending Label Artwork.

Choosing the right font is an important part of any design, and it is also crucial to pick the right font and size that will print the best as well. We recommend font sizes no less than 5pt and even then, check to make sure your font is not too thin; otherwise, it could be hard to read or completely ineligible. If you require small text we recommend using a font that is easy to read and using 100% black. If you require white or light-colored text to print we recommend using a 6pt to 7pt instead.
If you are creating your files in Photoshop, we also recommend designing your document at 800 DPI; this will help provide as much detail as possible for the text you create in a raster format. For the best results please submit all files in a vector format.

Each individual label design should be in its own file and named clearly to indicate which label it applies to, e.g. Body Lotion 8oz Vanilla.eps – or similar convention that clearly differentiates between designs.

Any artwork files named in a way that makes it difficult for us to identify their contents (e.g. "label1.pdf" or “lynns_outlined_300_latest_for_print.pdf") may be rejected and you'll need to rename and resubmit the files, which could result in unnecessary delays. Please use sensible file names that reflect the contents so we can easily identify each version.

Please check all artwork for spelling or typing mistakes as we do not offer proofreading services.