Artwork Guidelines

For the best print quality, we recommend using bold, legible text, properly sizing line art, and working in CMYK color mode.  

For complete artwork recommendations, including text and line weight guidelines, color settings, raster and vector file requirements, and other file preparation tips, see Setting up artwork for digital printing.  

If you have questions about your artwork, our Customer Service team is happy to help before you place your order. 

If you’re designing in our 3D Design Tool, there is a live 3D preview on the screen. It will update as you make changes to the artwork. 

If you are creating your artwork in professional design software rather than the online 3D Design Tool, you can reference one of our Box Models to preview how your artwork will be positioned once your box is printed, folded, and assembled. These printable miniature boxes were created to help you verify the correct orientation before submitting your design. Download the Box Model(s) you need here. 

For the most accurate print results, we recommend creating and saving your artwork in CMYK color mode. For more advanced users, we recommend using Coated GRACoL 2006 color profile. This will give the closest on-screen representation of your printed artwork. 

Because Packlane prints in CMYK, any artwork submitted in RGB will be converted to CMYK before printing. This may cause some colors to shift or appear less vibrant than they do on screen. 

Learn more about color modes and preparing artwork for print in Using color in print: RGB vs. CMYK. 

For complete artwork recommendations, including text and line weight guidelines, color settings, raster and vector file requirements, and other file preparation tips, see Setting up artwork for digital printing. 

While we cannot guarantee color matches, most of our customers are pleased with their final printed results.

We accept both vector and raster artwork files. To learn more about each file type and when to use it, see our Vector image and Raster image guides. 

Acceptable file formats for print include: 

For complete artwork recommendations, including text and line weight guidelines, color settings, raster and vector file requirements, and other file preparation tips, see Setting up artwork for digital printing. 

Vector files are recommended whenever possible, as the preferred format for logos, text, icons, and illustrations. Vector graphics can be resized without losing quality, resulting in crisp, sharp print. 

For more information about vector images, recommended settings, and other artwork requirements, see our guidance on vector artwork files.

Raster images are made up of pixels. They are commonly used for photographs and other detailed images. For the best print quality, we recommend using high-resolution raster files (at least 300 PPI at the final print size). 

Low-resolution raster images may appear blurry or pixelated when printed. 

For more details about recommended image quality and other artwork requirements, see more information on raster image files.

For any printed product except Custom Tapes and Econoflex boxes, following the guidelines below will result in the best possible print results: 

• Black text, linework, and scannable codes  should have a CMYK value of 100% black ink only:  0c, 0m, 0y, 100k . 
  Do not use a combined or “rich” black value.
• Large areas of solid gray  are best built as black only (no cyan, magenta, or yellow values). Example:  0c, 0m, 0y, 20k
• Large areas of solid black , such as a black background, are best set to Packlane’s recommended “rich black” value:  60c, 40m, 40y, 100k .

To achieve the best print quality, we recommend using vector artwork whenever possible and following our guidelines for font size and line weight. 

For complete recommendations on minimum text sizes and line weights for each product type, see Designing with text and line art.  

Artwork below recommended minimums may appear blurry or difficult to read when printed. 

For the best scanning performance, we recommend creating barcodes and QR codes as 100% black vector artwork whenever possible. High-resolution raster files (300 PPI at the final print size) are also acceptable. 

For recommended barcode and QR code sizes, file requirements, and best practices, see Guidelines for setting up scannable codes. 

Please note that Packlane cannot guarantee if printed barcodes will scan and does not offer barcode testing or verification. For critical applications, we recommend using printed labels. 

Explore our detailed artwork guidelines for:

• Artwork Proofing
• Faux Kraft Artwork
• Econoflex Artwork
• Pouch Artwork
• Using the 3D Design Tool
• Using Dielines and Templates