Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hello there. I'm Beatrice Menis. I'm a Branding And
Packaging Designer. In this class, I'll
be teaching you how to successfully
prepare for print. Any of your packaging designs. Whether you're working
on a simple label or an a more complex structure that uses a lot of Special Finishes. One of the two
co-founders of COPD, armed with more than ten
years of combined experience, we've been sending
all shapes and sizes of packagings for print. From simple labels,
two stickers, to more complex structures
that we special Finishes to pouches
and many others. In this class, I will also be sharing some basic
knowledge around Printing. And that's only really need to know in order to prepare
your files for print. Of course, the printing
field is huge and I'm not an expert as I'm
not an artwork her I'm a designer. For that reason. I've added a bunch of
links where you can feel free to go ahead and read
and learn more about it. They all be found in the
project resources links. We'll kick-off the class by
learning about colour Setup. We will go through the two
most common color modes, CMYK and RGB. One to use. Each one will then go through the various printing
techniques to keep in mind when printing
your packaging design. Why is having a basic printing
knowledge important beyond just teaching us how to prepare packaging
files for print. Having a basic understanding
of what's possible will help you enhance your designs
from the very beginning, it's also going to place you as an expert in the
eyes of your client, as you'll be able to show them, you're already thinking how the finalised products
will look on shelf and how these tactile add-ons
will help consumers engage with the product and ultimately stand out
amongst competitors. Once you've gone through
the basics or will go through a step-by-step
journey on how to prepare your packaging design files for print will get
started by setting up our Illustrator file and creating a Print
Friendly workspace, which will come in
handy every time we will have to prepare
a file for print. Will then go through
the cutter and measurements and how to
correctly set them up, understanding spot colors
and over print previews. Once the bone structure
of our artwork is created or other
finalised design and add any special finishes in this class will prepare
for print two files. The first one will be
a quite simple label for nail polish packaging, and the second one will
be an outer box with holographic finish and a bit
more of a complex structure. With the skills
learned in this class, you'll be able to prepare any
Packaging Design for Print, whether you're working on
a can label or a carton, you should be able to follow the step-by-step process that will help you prepare
any artwork for print. This class is aimed at
designers at any level, preferably with some basic
knowledge of Illustrator, looking to understand
the printing options available and how to enhance
their packaging designs. It's time to get started. Go ahead and click onto the
next lesson. See you there.
2. Class Projects: Class Projects. In this class we'll
be working on a couple of different
packagings. One will be a bit more simpler and the other one
will be more complex. And we'll be using special
techniques and Finishes. By doing so, you will then be able to apply your learning. So any type of design
for the first print ready file will be looking
at a nail polish label. For the second print
ready file will be looking at a more
complex packaging and prepare for print
an outer box for a natural contact
lenses brand has, you can see the outer packaging has an holographic finish. We will go through
all the elements and how to prepare
them for print. Let's dive right into
it. See you there?
3. Color Setup: Let's get started by
looking at colors. What type of colors should we be using when it
comes to printing? Let's have a look at the
two most common color modes which you might be working with. We have CMYK, which
stands for cyan, magenta, yellow, and key or black, which is intended for anything
that will be printed. And we have RGB, which stands for red, green, and blue, and it's intended for anything there will be
living on the screen. When do we use CMYK versus RGB? If the design you're
creating is for digital use. So for example, for web design, social media, and so on, you would always use RGB if the design you're
creating is for Printing, such as for brochures, packaging design,
business cards, etc. you will then always use CMYK. In essence, CMYK is
used for any type of print products and RGB is used for any type
of digital work. Knowing the difference
between the two is super important as
it will help you understand what color mode to use whenever you're
starting a new project. Let's look at RGB. Rgb is an additive color model, uses white as a combination of all primary colors and
black as absence of light. A light source within a device creates any color you
need by mixing red, green, and blue, and
varying the intensity. This is known as
additive mixing. All colours began as black
as darkness and then red, green and blue light
is added on top of each other to brighten it and
create the perfect pigment. When red, green, and
blue light is mixed together at equal intensity, they create pure white. When do we use RGB? If your design will live on a digital screen,
always use RGB. For example, if you're
creating graphics for social media, websites, banners, or anything
that involves a screen, always make sure to use
the RGB color model. What are the best
file formats for RGB? We have JPEG, PNG, PSD, and GIF. Let's go ahead and
break them all down. We have JPEGS. This is a very common format, which is a readable
anywhere and it's a nice middle ground between
file size and quality. These will always have
a white background. We have PNGs. If we're looking to save any
Graphic using transparency, this is your go-to format. It's great for elements
such as icons, buttons, as they can be superimposed without interfering
with the background. Gifts. If you're creating
an animated elements such as the moving logo
or a bouncing icon. This is the ideal type of file. Last but not least, PSD, if you're using Adobe CC than Photoshop is a standard
source for RGB documents. Let's look at CMYK. Cmyk follows a
subtractive color model. It uses white as a
natural background of the print and black as a combination of all
the colored inks. A printing machine creates
images by combining CMYK colors to varying
degrees with physical ink. This is known as
subtractive mixing. All colors start as blank white, and each layer of ink reduces the initial brightness to
create the preferred color. When all colors are
mixed together, they create pure black. When to use CMYK, this is super simple
and straightforward. If your project will
be physically printed, then always, always use CMYK. What are the best file
formats for CMYK? We have PDF EPS in AI. Let's go through them. Pdfs, these are the
most compatible files. Eps, an alternative file format to AI that is compatible
with other vector programs. Ai, this is the
standard source file for CMYK if you're
using Adobe CC, an Illustrator,
we've just covered the two most common color modes which are relevant
for this class. There's of course,
many, many other ones, such as loud gray scale
indexed and so on. If this lesson has
sparked your interest and would like to know
more about colors, I've added a couple of
links for you to just go ahead and read all about it. See you in the next lesson where we'll learn about
printing Techniques
4. Printing Techniques: In the previous lesson,
we've learned all about colors and how they might work best for different mediums. As this class is all about preparing packaging
files for print, Let's go through some of the most common printing
techniques you might encounter, will go through the following
printing Techniques. Offset Printing,
Digital Printing, Flexo graphy or Flexo Printing. Let's start with one
of the oldest but most popular techniques for
mass printing production. Offset Printing is
where your artwork is transferred two
metal plates and then placed Offset onto rollers or rubber blankets before
going onto the print media. This method of
printing is commonly used for high-volume
commercial printing, such as newspapers
and magazines. It also provides a
very high level of accurate color control
and you will end up with really
professional-looking printing. What are the pros and
cons of Offset Printing? Some of the pros are, it's super versatile
and flexible as it prints on any type of paper
and any flat surface. It's great for long-term
usability as the plague life is extended due to
the print media not coming in contact with them. It's great for high
printing volumes. Large capacity
machines can process as much as 15,000
impressions per hour. It uses PMS, which is Pantone matching system for
printing in color, which provides an
accurate color matches because it uses Pantone ink, this is crucial when it comes
to Branding And Packaging. Some of the cons, it's not environmentally friendly
as it printing bulk, it means there can be
more waste leftover. It's also not cost-effective. If you're looking for
a small print batch, it's only used one very large volumes of
print are needed. What is it most
commonly used for? Folding cartons, labels? Let's now have a look at another very common
printing technique, which is Digital Printing. Digital Printing works by transferring a
digital image onto different types of media
as it does that by using high-volume inkjet
or laser printing. Laser printing, a beam of
light is transferred onto light-sensitive paper to
create the desired image. One of the biggest advantages of digital printing
is that it doesn't use plates like
other techniques. Let's once again go through some pros and cons
of Digital Printing. Let's look at the pros.
It's incredibly fast. If you're working within
a tight deadline, this could be your
best option if you're printing a low
quantity less than 1,000 pieces is cost-effective compared to other Techniques, the print proof is
your final piece, which is great for approving what the final print
will look like. Last but not least, it
has easy customization. Digital Printing can
be used to customize your packaging and make it
stand out from the crowd. Now let's look at some cons. It's unable to colour-matching
Digital Printing uses the four-color process. So CMYK, while traditional
offset printers, which we've just gone through, use PMS, Pantone, which
delivers color accuracy. We can have some
cracking in the folds. This is not ideal,
especially when it comes to packaging as the inks are in
fully absorbed by the paper, as in traditional
offset printing, one folding the paper so some
whites could show through. And last but not least, there's
less variety of material. Traditional Offset
Printing offers a wider range of paper, ink and Finishes options. What is it most
commonly used for? Elements such as
labels, prototypes, corrugated boxes,
folding cartons, film for flexible
packaging, and so on. Let's look into Flexo Printing. Flexo is the modern version
of letterpress printing. It's used for printing
on any type of materials, including
uneven surfaces. So compatible with the
high range of ink type. This printing process involves a flexible photopolymer
printing plates wrapped around rotating
cylinders on a WordPress. These inked plate have erased image of the
content on them. So as they are rotated
at high-speed, they transfer the image
onto the print media. What are some of
the pros and cons? When it comes to the pros, it's faster production speed over other techniques
as Uses fast drying inks is fairly affordable
as the process is quicker than overall
printing costs are reduced, its place are also very durable. It provides solid
color printing, especially when dealing
with solid colors. Flexo is both faster
and will save your money and it's a great
green printing solution. Flexo graphy reduces
your reliance on plate making solutions. Solvents based inks and cleaning materials that
contain harmful chemicals. The use of water-based
inks reduces the environmental
impact and reduces the amount of toxins released
into the atmosphere. So it's a great choice. Last but not least, is
suitable for a long runs. It can print on a
huge range of media, including plastic, cellophane
and metallic film. Let's have a look at the cons. It's a complex
printing equipment. It's quite complicated
in nature and contains a number of integral system
built into the process. Plates can be very expensive, is not recommended
for small print jobs, but rather a medium
to large print runs. It's plates equals two
different color as well. So the more colors, the
more expensive it will be, and it's more time-consuming. It takes some time to set it up as it's a complex process. So it's not
recommended if you're working on a tight timeline. What is the most commonly used for elements such
as Sunda pouches, such as flexible packaging, corrugated boxes, and so on. Now that we've gone
through all of the most common
printing techniques, which one is the best
one for packaging? There's not really a
definite answer as it depends a lot on the
needs of your project. Is it high volume? Is low volume? Does it have a high budget? Does it have a small
budget, and so on. Here's a super handy table by Sarah grizzly from
how to buy packaging. If you want to read
more about it, I've linked her website
in the class notes. We've covered some of the
basics when it comes to printing Techniques
and which ones might be best for
your packaging needs. Of course, each one of them has a lot more
technical details. So once again, I've left
a couple of links for you to read more about it and
are more about all of them. Go ahead and click
onto the next lesson. See you there?
5. File & Workspace Setup: File Setup and Workspace. It's time to get started on
prepare our files for print, will be working on two
different artworks. The first one would be a quite simple label for
a nail polish brand. And the second one will
be a more complicated box for a contact lenses brand
using special finishes. Let's start with file Setup. Let's get started by
opening Illustrator and click on File New to
create a new file. As you will see, the New
Document window will open or you'll have
multiple preset options. Make sure to click
on the print tab and select your format. Up. Next, double-check the
preset details to make sure you're finally set
using the correct settings, color mode, make sure
it's set to CMYK and RGB as you're preparing
this file for print. And raster effects
should always be 300 DPI when it comes
to printing up. Next, let's create an
artwork in workspace. I always have two
different Workspaces setting my Illustrator, one that I used for designing, and one that is you only
for aren't working. At first, we will need
a separations premium, which you can open by selecting Window
separations preview. Here you'll be able to see all the active colors that
are used in your file. I then have my
swatches to see all of the colors are in my
document, used and unused. Alongside with my
swatches, I have color. The color panel will
come in handy for using a Pantone color
and we want to see the tint percentage
that we're using up. Next we have attributes
which will come in handy when needing to overprint
either fails or strokes. No worries, we will go through these later on in the class. Last but not least,
we are links panel to see all the images that
are present in our file. Now that we have
created a specific workspace for artwork king, you will come in super
handy every time you'll have to create
a new file for print. So as soon as you are design as been approved or finalised, feel free to open a
new Illustrator file. Choose these Workspace and all of the needed
elements such as windows that you will need to create an artwork will pop up
and you'll be ready to go. The next lesson to set up
our layers and Die-Cut
6. Layers & Die-Cut: Layers and Die-Cut up. Next, we have our layers. I always recommend to
have a super clear, tidy set of layers
that will make your life easier at when you're sharing the print ready files. We've printers or suppliers, as they will be able to locate every element as soon as they
open the Illustrator file. Let's look at our layer setup. I usually have around
six layers which capture all of the elements
that I will need for a basic file setup. My first layer, which I
usually play some top, is the cutter or Die-Cut layer. Here is where we will have the structural technical drawing for our label or Packaging. My second layer
has measurements. Here we'll have the cutter
or Die-Cut measurements. So they're neat and tidy in
their own separate layer. My third layer is my
notes or an agenda. Here is where I'll have
oldest technical information that I need to communicate to the supplier about the files, such as the number
of colors I'm using, the name of the client, the project, and so on. Up next we have graphics. This one is super
straightforward and it's where I
will have all of my graphical elements
and text of my design. Then we have images. Here. I will have all the images
they live in this file. Last but not least,
we have background. Here, we'll have any
background colors are elements that would sit in the
background of our design. This is the set of
layers I usually go as a starting point. But of course, if you're wanting to add any
special Finishes, each one of them, they
will need a special layer. Don't worry, we're
going to look into it later at, during the class. First things first,
let's have a look at the cutter Die-Cut
or dieline layer. I always recommend
asking your client for a cutter or Die-Cut at the
very beginning of the project. That might not
always be possible, but it should at least
be able to provide you with rough dimensions
for you to get started. But always make sure that before finalizing any design or
receiving any final approval, that you do receive the
final cutter as that's where you would want to
create the final design, preparing for print, and
send it off to the supplier. We always ask our clients to receive a cutter
from their supplier. As you will minimize
the margin of error, is you create one on your end. You won't be able to predict things like thickness
of material. So you wouldn't know how
many millimeters you will need to allow for
false and so on. And most importantly,
if anything goes wrong with the actual
structural design, you won't be liable for it unless you've
designed it yourself. When you receive your finalised cutter it from the supplier, There's a couple of things you should be watching out for. The most important thing
is the file format. Ideally, you should be receiving a file in Illustrator or an SVG. So a vector file, in that case, you are able to just open it in Illustrator and get started. Most of the times you will
be provided with a PDF file which still works as you are still able to open
it in Illustrator. Sometimes suppliers will provide you with JPEG or PNG files. These are not ideal as once
you open it in Illustrator, you would have to retrace
all the lines and all the points to pretty much recreate the
cutter yourself. This could of course lead
to potential mistakes. If this happens, tried
to push back and try to receive either a
PDF or a vector file. You also need to
check the cutter is one-to-one scale as you want to be creating your
final artwork design in its actual size, as you'll be able to check
font sizes and so on. In order to do that,
we always need to ask the client or the
supplier to provide us, we separate measurements to
be able to cross check that our file measurements match the actual
measurements provided. Let's go ahead and check if this Die-Cut its measurements
are correct. And if it's in one-to-one
scale, to do that, we need to select the Die-Cut
and click on Transform. I pop out window will open and highlight the measurements
of the elements selected. In this case, we can
see the width is 23 mm, which corresponds to the
measurements received. And height is 30 mm, which also corresponds,
which means that our label is
one-to-one scale. That's not least,
we want to create a specific unique spot
color for your cutter. By doing this, the printer won't accidentally print the lines of the cutter onto your design. But they will understand
that the spot color refers to the cutter and the will of course,
not be printed. What is a spot color? Spot colors are solid colors created using a
specific premixed ink, usually based on Pantone
matching system or PMS colors. We want to select our Die-Cut and onto the swatches panel, click on the Plus button to create a new swatch from
the color selected. I always tend to
use 100% sign or 100% magenta for my
Die-Cut spot colors, I tend to use pretty
strong colors so that I'm always able to distinguish my Die-Cut from the
rest of my design. Our window will
pop up and we will name our swatch
cutter or Die-Cut. And in the colour
type drop-down, we will choose a spot color. Click. Okay, and you're done. We'll do the same with all
the elements of our Die-Cut. As we are in our
artwork workspace, we're able to turn our
Separation Preview on and check which colors
are active in our design. If we click on the eye next
to the cutter, spot color, we've just created all
the elements that are using that spot color
will be hidden. And as you can see, our
Die-Cut disappears, which means all
of its lines have been setup with the
correct spot color. Now that we set up our cutter in the correct spot
color and dimension, we're going to go
through the same process for the measurements. Let's get into it. As we've
done for the Die-Cut lines. We will click on one of the measurement lines
and create a new swatch. A window will pop up again and we will name our new swatch. Measurements, will then tick
colour type and spot color. And just like that, we've
created another spot color. Now let's go ahead and select
all the lines and fills for the measurements and apply the measurements spot
color to all of them. Once we're done, we can do the separation preview
check again and toggle on and off the I icon to see if all of our measurement
elements disappear, which means they're all using
the correct spot color. Now that we have made sure that our categories in
one-to-one ratio, we can go ahead and
not bleed to it. Let's select our Die-Cut
or labeling this case and click on Object
Path, Offset Path. I would usually
recommend 3 mm of bleed. But in this case, since
the label is so small, we can just add 1
mm of bleed there. Let's hit. Okay, and we should
see a shape has been created 1 mm bigger than
our original selection. Let's go ahead and repeat the same process for all the
elements of these Die-Cut. Now, let's select both bleeds and move them to the
background layer. As they will serve
as a guide for any background element,
will be creating. Well done. Now there will set out
our layer structure, Die-Cut layer and
measurements layer. We can move on with
our design elements in the next lesson
7. Design & Special Finishes: Design and finishes. Now that we've set up
our Illustrator file, that will be our
print ready file. And we have established
all of the ground layers assigned to paste our
final as design into it. I always recommend having
two different files. I have a file which will
be my working file, where I will keep all
of my design elements until they're finalized and
approved by the client. Once they've been
finalized and approved, I will copy all of the
elements and paste them onto the correct layers into the
file that we've just created. Now that we have looked at
the technical layers for the Die-Cut and measurements
for artwork file, It's time to look at
the design layers. We have the Graphic layer, the images layer, and
the background layer. In this specific file or a design doesn't really
have any images. So we can go ahead and
delete our image layer. Let's focus on the
background layer first. I'm going ahead and hide
in the graphics layer. So we can just see
all the elements that belong in the background. This is where I bleed
shape comes in handy. As our goal is to extend all of the elements to
have a 1 mm bleed. In this case, we can click on the outer bleed shape and
click on the eyedropper tool. Now, let's click on the
background color in order to fill the bleed shape with
our main background color. This is the quickest
way to extend the background if it's
just a simple fill. As you can see, the other shape that belongs to the background
has now disappeared. So we can click on
the main background and right-click to Send to Back. Now that we can see
the secondary shape, we can manually extend it to match the extended background. Now let's go ahead
and do the same for the remaining components
of this label. All done, we can now
click on the graph, it's layer to make
it visible again. As you can see, it's
all very simple and straightforward as this
label is quite basic. Now let's move onto a bit of a more complex
packaging will we will have a look at
special finishes and how to set up those
layers and the file. As you can see here, we have a double-sided leaflet file which contains
holographic elements. So how do we set
up an artwork file when he contains a
special finishes? First things first, we need
to create a separate layer which will contain all of the holographic
elements in the design. As you can see, if we hide
all of the other layers, we can see the, all
the elements which are holographic
belong to this layer. We will then need to
create a unique spot color to indicate holographic. In this case, I chose to use 100% yellow to make sure it didn't get confused
as a design choice. And it will extend out
from the oral design. Once created, always make sure to add it in the
color breakdown in our legend to the side of the artwork to highlight
the colors used. Once that setup, we can use the same exercise we've
done previously and turn separations preview on where
we will be able to see if all Graphic elements have been assigned to the
correct spot color. If they have all of
the elements that use that spot color
should just disappear. To make things extra
clear for suppliers, I advice to add a
little warning sign highlighting the spot
color use per holographic, in this case, specifying
that all elements in that spot colors are meant
to be holographic elements. Last but not least, I always try to add a visual reference at the bottom of our
legend or notes wherever visual reference
of the final product. In this case, I've
created a mock-up using holographic texture
to communicate how the final results
should look like. Let's have a look at
another more complex file. It's for the same project, but it's a packaging design that has three different components. Two of those components are using the same
holographic finish. Once again, makes sure to have
all of those elements that indicate we're using
a holographic finish, the warning sign highlighting
the spot color used, the holographic spot color
in the legend or nodes and the visual reference
to communicate how the final outcome should be. As always, use
Separation Preview to triple check that all of the holographic
elements are using the correct spot color and
belong to the correct layer. Your designs are now
almost ready for print, whether there are very simple or have any special Finishes. Go ahead and click
onto the next lesson. See you there?
8. Artwork Legend: We can create a
legend which will sit on the right-hand
side of your artboard. By doing this, you will be able to communicate in
a very easy way. You're designing tensions
to any supplier or printer there will open
the print ready files. Let's have a look
at our Legend and all of the elements that
should be included. First, we have the date. This is handy for sending
multiple versions of the file. And in general, just to
keep track of the timeline, then we'll have the client name. Once again, this will make it easier to categorize
the project. And same goes for the
project name details. We don't have a section
for dimensions. This is helpful so
the supplier can triple check the
measurement of the Die-Cut, make sure they correspond to
the ones spelled out here. We then have item, for example, in this case, this is the cooling off label, which belongs to a much bigger portfolio of nail polishes. So specifying the project
item is pretty crucial. Up next is the key
color breakdown. Here we would have all of the active colors
used in our design. All the colors here
should be a reflection of all the colors visible in the
separations preview window. We then have the
cutter spot color and the measurements spot color. If we had folds, for example, we would have a
folds dotted line to indicate the folds
present in the Die-Cut. Last but not least, we have a section for a
visual reference. This is super-helpful
as he communicates visually how the final
outcome should look like. At the bottom of the legend, I always add a visual
representation of how the final outcome of the
packaging will look like. This is now 100% needed. But I think it's always nice to try and communicate smoothly to the supplier how you want the final packaging
to look like. If you're not 100% sure how to use mockups,
how to create ones. Feel free to check my
other Skillshare class as it's all about creating
your own custom mockups. See you the next
lesson where we'll export our print ready files
9. It's time to export: We've now been through
all of the steps needed in order to prepare
our file for print, It's finally time to export it. At this stage, you
want to make sure that you have your artwork
King workspace on as all of the windows that you will need in a
minute will pop up. Now let's go through it and finally export the
file for print. Let's begin by taking
the separations preview. So it's on. As you will see, the whole background
will become white. Some colors might slightly
change appearance and your overprint
elements will look like they've been
set to multiply. That's how you know that
your Separation Preview, it's now toggled on. Let's get started with the
cutter layer by clicking option click on the
eye next to the layer. All other layers
will become hidden. So we're able to focus
at one layer at a time. Let's now select the dot
next to the layers name. But doing so, all elements in that layer will be selected. Once everything is selected
in the cutters layer, Let's double-check
the stroke color and make sure it's the
cutter spot color. Let's make sure it's also set to overprint stroke from
your attributes window, which means it won't be
printed on top of our design, but it will cut through
all the other layers. And last but not least, let's check from the
separations preview window that all strokes are using
the correct spot color. Now let's click on Object, Expand, and select both
Fill and Stroke and hit. Okay. Alternatively, you
can use the shortcut Command Shift 0 to
outline the elements. Now let's lock the layer and move on to the
measurements layer. We will go through the exact
same steps when clicking two dot next to the layers name to select all of its elements, you will see that
you won't be able to precisely change the
stroke and fill color. So use one of my
absolute favorite tools, which is the recolor tool. Click on Advanced Options
and then we'll note will pop up as only one color
is present in this section, will only see one color. Let's double-click on it and
click on color swatches. And you will see which
color or spot color. In this case, it's been
used, as we can see, the correct measurements,
spot color is being used. So we can go ahead and
close the window as always, let's also quickly check from the separations preview window. And last but not least,
let's take overprint fail and overprint stroke
on the attributes window. We can then click
again on Object, Expand before moving
onto the next layer. Let's lock it. It's now time for
the design layers. Let's make the graphics
and the background layer visible alongside the notes
layer with our Legend. Let's once again use our
separations preview window to make sure all the elements of the correct
color is assigned. Our aqua color is
a Pantone color, and all the remaining
colors are a CMYK bland. Once we're happy
with the colors, Let's select all
the life elements, such as the texts
and go to object, expand as we want to
make sure all phones are outlined before exporting
the files for print. Once that's done, let's
go over to our links. We want to make
sure all links are embedded for two reasons. First of all, if we don't want the file to have
any missing links. And second, we want to avoid
supplying links to protect the creative and avoid
anyone else being able to modify them once
they're out of our hands? Let's click on all
links and click the burger menu of the link panel and
click on embed images. A window will pop up. Just go ahead and select. Okay. Now all the
links are embedded. Last but not least,
let's all sort line all the remaining text, which is a tax in our legend, to triple check,
there's no life fonts present in the file. Click on Type, find, replace Font, and no
window will pop up. And she looked pretty
much like this one. We're functioning
document are 01. Last step. Let's click
on the burger menu of the Swatches window and
click on Select All Unused. This will clear the swatches
menu from any unused color. In this case, there's none. So we're all good. Now we can go ahead. Click on File, Save as. And when naming the file, always add OL or
outlined at the end of your file name to highlight that this
is an outlined file, which means it's been artwork. Let's not repeat the same steps, but explored the file
as a PDF as well. Choose Illustrator
default as a preset. The only setting I usually
change is an output where I select color conversion to
CMYK coated photograph 39, and click on include
Destination Profiles to make sure the
same color space is used when the file is open from someone else on
a different machine. Let's now have a quick look
at the more complex file, which contains the
holographic finish. All the steps are exactly the same and I've already
gone through them. Now, we're not working the holographic layer
makes sure that it's also set to overprint like your cutter or measurements
layer would be. Then you can go ahead and export the outlined Illustrator and
PDF file in the same way. We did it. We've prepare not one, but two different
artworks for Print. We've started with a very
simple label and finish with a bit of a more of
a complex packaging using special finishes. Go ahead and click
onto the next lesson. See you there.
10. BONUS: Artwork Checklist: After preparing packaging files for print over and over again, I've created a very
simple artwork checklist, or preflight checklist, with
all of the steps that you will need to take off in order to export your files for print. To make it easier to digest, I've divided the artwork checklist into
different sections. Let's start with some
general points which you'll always need to check before getting into the nitty gritty, make sure you're using
your artwork workspace, which we've created previously in the class, and double check. Your file is set up to CMYK. You can do that by clicking
on File Document Color Mode. Let's start by looking
at our layers. Tick on separations, preview On. You're now viewing your
file in print mode, which will make it easier to
go through the next steps. Make sure all of
your layers are in correct order and each layer contains the correct elements. Now make sure all of the
cat elements have a bleed. Usually 3 millimeters
is considered standard. But it can be up to 10
millimeters for very large files. Now let's move
onto our swatches. If you're using spot colors, double check, they're assigned to all the correct elements. A quick way of doing
this is by ticking and unticking the colors in your
separation preview window. You're using special finishes, make sure all the correct spot
colors have been created. The elements where
the special finishes are applied are in
their own layer. If you're using MK elements, make sure you're black
is set to 100% black. For a rich black,
make sure you have a special spot color assigned for your dicot
and your measurements. Once you've checked
all of your colors, go to your swatches panel and
delete any unused swatches. Now onto attributes. Here is where we will check which elements are
set to overprint. Elements such as the code and measurements should always
be set to overprint, so make sure to
check that up next. Make sure that all of
your links are embedded. Now select all of your text
elements and outline them. Make sure you have
saved a live version of this file before doing this, because once you're outlined, no more changes can be made. Now let's clear any
unused floating elements or objects by clicking
on Object Path. Clean up this will delete
any straight points, some painted objects,
empty text path. Let's lock of our
layers and we're done. Now we're ready to export. You'll be able to download
the artwork checklist as an interactive PDF from a link
in the resources section.
11. Final Thoughts: Congratulations on
completing the class. I really hope that you've
learned and had FUN all preparing all of your
packaging Projects for print. We started by learning about color spaces and
printing techniques. We then went through a
step-by-step process, preparing for print to artwork files and easier
one and a more complex one. And last but not least,
we've successfully exported them for print. Now that you have a
basic knowledge of printing techniques and how to prepare your files for print, you can pretty much tackle any packaging design
project with any finish. Always make sure to check with the supplier at the
beginning of the project in case they have any
special specs or request for you
to consideration. I'd really love to
see the types of artwork your work with
and you've created how technical you've gone in
your legend and what type of special Finishes you've
decided to experiment with. Please share any design or any questions in the
project gallery. I'd really love to see
what you've come up with. If you have any questions,
comments, concerns, or just want to say
hi, please reach out in discussion tab or
just sent me a message. If you want to find out
more about packaging, feel free to check
out my other classes. One on back of pack and one on how to create your
own custom mockups. Thanks so much for
taking the class. I hope you've enjoyed
it. See you soon.
Beatrice Menis, Branding & Packaging Designer
