Packaging Design and Printing Technology

The ever-changing computer design and prepress printing have made the traditional hand-painted design a historical one. Network transmission and digital printing have also opened up design ideas and enriched design methods for designers. However, many new problems have emerged. Numerous "technical factors" have never been encountered by previous designers. Packaging design is a systematic work, involving many factors, such as materials, structures, graphic design and manufacturing processes, etc. It is by no means simple to draw an image. Therefore, the packaging design of developed countries is usually completed by a group. Both packaging professionals who understand materials and structures, as well as graphic designers, as well as salespeople and engineers from production companies, participate in the opinions and strive to perfect the design and achieve it in production.

There are some misunderstandings in the packaging design practice of our country's enterprises, which mainly include the heavy plane and light structure; the heavy design effect and the light production process. The direct cause of this problem is that China's packaging design is mainly done by designers. These people are almost all learning arts origins, and have great limitations in the understanding of materials, structure and processing technology. The continuous emergence of new materials and new processes can open up the creative space for designers, but it is also a challenge. The rapid development of new design methods, printing methods, and prepress technology has also had a profound impact on designers' design activities. New technologies such as computer design, networked transmission and digital printing directly affect the design work of designers. Therefore, packaging designers must be aware of possible problems in the design process in a new environment. Use appropriate fonts Before using a computer for page design, discuss with prepress service providers and printers to determine whether to use hard-copy or electronic files.

If you decide to use electronic documents, fonts are the main factor in determining whether a design job can be displayed at the time of output. Whether to use TrueType fonts, Postscript fonts, or Unicode fonts must be discussed with prepress service providers and printers to avoid possible problems with the output fonts. If possible, convert the font into a graphic in an EPS (compressed page description file) file. For prepress service providers, the general problem is the font-induced placement or page description error when importing EPS files. But avoid "nesting" EPS files. The EPS file contains other EPS files that can cause output errors or increase output time. The problem is simplified by replacing the use of import or insert functionality by copying and filling elements from one EPS file to another. Reverse fonts are often used to reverse fonts, but use them with caution. Most of the reversed fonts are hard to read. Be especially careful when inverting fonts by processing color images. These images usually contain light and dark areas, making reversed fonts difficult to read. See the output section and the technical manual for more information on trapping. Use a more pronounced color in the shaded part of the font, and dot points are at least 70% above. In addition, to ensure that the inverted font is readable, you should also avoid the use of small or fine fonts. The size of the font must not be less than 6 pounds or the minimum size of characters must not be less than 0.007 inches. Sans serif fonts and bold fonts are the best choice for reversing fonts. OPI or APROPI (Open Print Interface) or APR (Auto Image Replacement) is the most accurate way to position the output image of the page.

If the prepress service provider supports OPI or APR, they will scan the image for you and give you a low-resolution image for the positioning of the page output file. When you send jobs to a prepress service provider, their software automatically matches and replaces low-resolution images with high-resolution images. This workflow can provide you with smaller files that can be operated faster and easier. See the page output section for more information on working with OPI and APR files. The impact of post-processing on output In the planning and design phase, post-processing issues must be considered. If any coating materials are used, do they require special effects such as: hot stamping, convex printing, screen printing, coating, etc. In addition, if more post-processing is required, it should also be considered during working hours to allow time for completion. Printing on digital presses As the industry is gradually evolving toward an all-digital printing workflow, digital printing has become more widespread and more widely accepted.


Digital workflows not only allow files to be reused, or "used for new uses," but also allow for the transfer and printing of documents over long distances for different output media such as print, CD-ROM, or the Internet. Digital printing no longer has traditional, time-consuming production steps: film production, imposition and preparation. Another powerful advantage is that it allows short-run color printing on demand. With suitable front-end software and hardware, the digital press allows image and format changes, allowing every printed image to change. Digital printing systems differ from traditional printing systems in several ways, such as paper specifications, printing processes, and the use of inks. To obtain the most suitable results, these variables must be considered at the design stage. Be sure to contact the printing manufacturer and consult the manufacturer for a detailed critical area of ​​their specific digital printing system. Design Tips for Combining Digital Printing with Traditional Offset Printing If a job requires this: Offset printing presses Preprinted goods are used in digital printing equipment such as laser printers, color photocopiers or digital printing machines. Then check the paper size of the digital printing device. If possible, use a white paper with a smooth coating. It is not recommended to use colorants that are unevenly distributed on rough-surfaced paper surfaces, textured paper, or raised paper; be aware of printing inks used.

With the conventional printing ink pre-printing method, the extreme pressure and temperature easily cause the eyes to bloom when the fusing roller is reproduced at a high speed. Ink suppliers can provide oil-based, heat-resistant inks for digital printing. To avoid the metal ink and fluorescent ink stripping and increase the hot melt roll; be careful not to stick to the large amount of ink. Digitally printed images should be printed directly onto paper. Digital Printing Design Tips These devices are easy to handle continuous tone images, allowing the use of a large number of pictures. Be sure to convert all images to CMYK format. As the most predictable color, let the printing service provider scan - their scanners have been calibrated relative to the output device. Avoid large areas of color. If you have to use large areas of color patches in digital images, add "noise" (changes in color) to produce some textures. Be careful when using spot colors or other special colors such as metallic. Some digital presses can handle spot colors, while others convert spot colors to the closest CMYK values. Avoid using metallic colors because no CMYK values ​​match. Some printing service providers will provide spot color charts produced by their digital printing systems. The conventional packaging printing method does not have a traditional printing method that is only for packaging printing. Almost all printing methods can be used in the packaging industry. Among them, offset printing accounted for 45%; followed by flexographic printing, accounting for 28%; followed by gravure printing, accounting for 20%; and other printing methods including digital printing accounted for only 7% at present. The traditional printing method of folding cartons is mainly offset printing. In Europe, this method has a share of 80% in the industry and 73% in the United States. The proportion of flexo printing is increasing. This trend is mainly due to the addition of gravure printing defects, and partly due to the offset of offset printing defects. At least this way, compared with gravure printing, the time and cost of plate making are greatly reduced. New printing methods such as inkjet and digital printing are still in the development stage.

Reprinted from: Arting365.com