Art Specs -

Preparing Art for Shopping Bag Printing

Include ruled lines that indicate: The vertical center of the FACE and the BACK panels. (Face width ÷ 2) The horizontal center of face and back panel located halfway between top edge (either top fold line or cut-off) of bag and bottom fold line. ( Face Length ÷ 2 ) All rules are to the extreme outside of copy area by 1/4". (no more, please) They are to be in a uniformly consistent, exact position on down art and on each overlay, or layer in electronic file.
Registration / print information - paste area is void of design but does include: 3-4 register targets (depending on bag size), placed on a true horizontal plane in exact inch increments apart from the center of one register to the center of the next. (For pin registration) ALL REGISTRATION TARGETS/PINS ARE PLACED AT THE BOTTOM SIDE OF ALL COPY (IN BOTTOM PASTE AREAS OF TEMPLATE.) A target or a pindot • or mark must be placed in exact inch increments apart (ex. 10" not 10 1/8") Ink color name on down art and on each overlay. (In bottom paste areas)
Bottom stamp requirements: Stamp should be positioned upside-down, centered inside drawn perimeter on bag template and be legible for both positive print at least 6 pt. type and reverse print at least 10 pt. bold type. Universal Product Code (UPC) should be positioned with bars parallel to the direction of travel (top to bottom of bag or vertical direction) and have a bar width reduction =.005 for flexographic printing. Number System Character (NSC) # has to be included along with manufacturer's 5 digit #'s plus product or reorder 5 digit #'s. Magnification is to be 100% or larger. UPC negative is to be emulsion down; right reading. Color is critical. UPC cannot be printed in red or any color with red in it; also light colors are not suitable. A knockout window is required for 100% bottom coverage prints when printing a UPC. UPC's cannot be printed on embossed paper.
Full coverage of face or back of design requires that you bleed design into the gussets by 1/8" on 10" or less width and 1/4" for bag face widths of greater than 10". Bleeds into bottom of bag are minimum 3/8" and 1/4" beyond top fold or cutoff after distortion. (BLEEDS INDICATED ON TEMPLATES.)
Traps are created:
1. When different colors touch each other in a design where there is not a black or dark colored outline holding shape of elements.
2. Traps are created by use of chokes and spreads to overlap colors, and eliminate unprinted areas from appearing. Colors are placed light to dark (with dark holding shape and light bleeding under the dark).
3. A 3rd color appears due to trap and the amount of color depends on the printing process.
1. Orders for Preprint:
2. Orders for Tailprint:
Plate distortion:
When a flexo plate is mounted on the printing cylinder it will distort. The plate will elongate on the outside surface, this is referred to as "plate gain" or stretch. PLATE DISTORTION OCCURS ONLY IN THE VERTICAL DIRECTION (top to bottom of bag)
1. If you are sending an electronic file we will distort the film output.
2. If you are providing films for Process Printing have your color house distort the films for use with .067" photopolymer plates.
3. If you are providing line films or board artwork, compensate for approximately 9/16" gain over the entire image for 100% coverage, 1/2" for face length only.

INDICATE ON ART/FILMS "PREDISTORTED"

Conversion Tolerances: During the actual formation of the bag, machine movement occurs side to side and top to bottom. It is recommended not to use grids, squares, borders, and outlines within 1/2" of folds. Minor shifts of print copy relative to fold lines will result in off centered print copy. Please be sure to follow bleed instructions carefully to compensate for machine tolerances. Face or back panel bleed into bottom is always 3/8" when it applies to the design.