Submitting print-ready files

Submitting files

• All files supplied must be vectorised
• Embedded colours are pantone colours (PMS) if applicable
• The design may only be formatted in the technical drawing supplied
• Submit your files as PDF, ai or eps
• Lay-out is always on a scale of 1:1
• All text must be in outlines or letter contours
• Do not place objects outside the bleed area

Technical drawing

We can supply all technical drawings of the products to be printed. Below is an example of what such a drawing looks like. We can also place your design on the working drawing if you can provide us with the vectorised file. If you do not have this, we can design it for you.
You can discuss the cost price of this with your packaging coach .

Delivery time

The delivery time depends on each product, you can find it on the product page.
The delivery period starts after approval of the design.

A vector file is a graphic image that can be infinitely enlarged without loss of quality. A pixel file, on the other hand, will become blurred when enlarged.

What exactly is a vector file?
A vector file is made up of vectors. These are paths defined by a starting and ending point. In between are other points through which they connect to form lines. Vector images are therefore sometimes called line drawings. When a vector file is enlarged then the distance between these paths is recalculated and adjusted to the correct ratio. In this way, a vector file can therefore be enlarged infinitely while maintaining the quality of the image.

What is the difference with a pixel file?

A pixel file is a raster image stored by the computer in pixels. When the file is opened, it is loaded pixel by pixel, like a photograph.

Pixel files depend on resolution: the higher the resolution, the sharper the image will be. But a pixel file will therefore become blurred when enlarged.

The images below clearly show the difference between the two types of files:
a vector file (.eps/.svg/.ai/.pdf) and a pixel file (.jpg/.png/.tiff/.psd).

Why are vector files so in demand?
Vector files have some important advantages. We list them briefly:

Razor-sharp, featherweight and lightning-fast

With vector files, resolution does not apply. This type of file always has the best resolution, so to speak, no matter how large or small. Fonts, for example, are therefore always vectorised.

No matter how large the size, a vector file takes up less memory and file size than a pixel file. So not only do you save a lot of disk space, but you can also send it via e-mail much more easily. The file will also open faster.

User-friendly and necessary

Adjustments, such as changing a colour, making a line longer or correcting a curve, are much easier to make in a vector file than in a pixel file that you have to "photoshop".

In fact, for specific printing techniques with colour separations (such as screen printing, Pantone printing, etc.), a vector file is always essential in order to define the colour separations for the printing machines.

When is a file vectorised?

Is the file type JPG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, BMP or PSD? Then you can be sure it's not a vector file. However, is the file type PDF, AI, or EPS or SVG? Then chances are very high that your file is vectorial! You can check this by opening the file in the layout programme and zooming in sharply. Want to be absolutely sure? Feel free to send the file to us and we will check it for you!

How to create a vector file?

The best-known software packages for drawing vector files are Adobe Illustrator and CorelDRAW. However, both are paying. A free alternative is Inkscape.

Common file formats are EPS (Encapsulated PostScript), which can be opened and edited by almost any graphics programme, AI (Adobe Illustrator) and CDR (CorelDRAW). But you can also simply save a vector file as a PDF.

Who creates a vector file?
So you can do that perfectly yourself! You can also always ask a graphic designer or get help from our designer.

CMYK colour model

CMYK stands for the colours cyan, magenta and yellow. However, mixing these colours together does not create black, at most dark brown. That is why the colour black (key) was added.

With these four basic colours, almost every possible colour can be made by printing them on top of each other in certain doses, resulting in about 16 million colour variants. CMYK is a so-called 'subtractive colour mixing': you start from white light and keep the desired colour by subtracting a few others.

CMYK finds its application in printing. You undoubtedly know it from your colour printer, the four pots of ink that the printer uses to create any print it wants. CMYK is therefore sometimes called quadri-printing or full colour.

Pantone, a range of colours

PMS stands for Pantone Matching System. In this system, each colour has its own unique code. Every printer knows these colour codes and this guarantees that the printed matter looks exactly the same all over the world. This makes Pantone colours ideal for company logos and corporate identities.

Combining a certain amount of one pigment with a certain amount of another creates one specific Pantone colour. Unlike CMYK, mixing is therefore not necessary in the Pantone colour system. Currently, the Pantone Matching System already describes more than 1,500 colours and new colours are added regularly.

When you want to use more than four different colours, you choose CMYK. So a design that contains a lot of colours, such as colour photos, will always be printed in CMYK or full colour.

Pantone colours are predefined colours. They must comply with a standard and will therefore never deviate. Pantone colours are suitable for your printing if you use one to four different colours in your design.

If necessary, you or your graphic designer can also place the artwork on the working drawing themselves.
You can always request this from our packaging coaches. 

You will also receive this working drawing for approval of the artwork, so you can check whether everything is correct and release it for printing.