1. White as base
The film we use for our Pocket Packs is printed by means of flexo print. The film is PE-LD (in accordance with ISO norm 1043-1). This material, also known as low density polyethylene, is transparent though not entirely colourless. Before the desired colour is printed, white is printed as a base in order to show the colours to their best advantage. The clarity of the colour is impaired if no white is printed underneath it. If the first tissue is removed from the pack, the transparency of the material is more visible without the white base.

Below we present what would happen with the colour intensity if no white were to be printed underneath the print.

  Without white  50% (+300%)           White as base 50% (+300%)
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2. Registration / printing in PMS solid colour
In the flexo print process, rubber printing stereos (stamps) are made to apply the printing ink on the material. The film is somewhat elastic by nature. This natural elasticity of the material combined with the technical quality of the flexo printer (34 lines per cm / 86 lines per inch) results in limitations to full colour prints as far as sharpness and exact colour registration are concerned. Printing in PMS solid colour creates the best result.
- Create texts preferably in solid colour, e.g. a pantone colour (PMS colour) or only cyan, only magenta, etc.
- The same applies to logos and logotypes as to texts.

Full colour texts or images are composed of several sheet passes (cyan, magenta, yellow and black). Due to the use of rubber stereos and the elasticity of the material to be printed, it is scarcely possible to match the various printing layers to each other perfectly. An enlarged version of a logo is presented below, showing clearly that the various sheet passes do not exactly match up to each other.

The above is no reason for complaint 150% (+930%)
 

If a logo is printed in 1 PMS colour, the text is perfectly legible and sharp. 180% (+1000%)


Without overfill, white lines may be created when PMS colours are used.This is no reason for complaint. 130% (+800%)

This risk can be reduced in the prepress stage by applying overfill. See the photo below. 160% (+940%)

In case of overfill, dark or otherwise coloured edges may be created between the two different PMS colours. This is no reason for complaint either.
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3. Shifting
As pocket packs are made of a flexible material (polyethylene), and production takes place in a machine that creates ± 300 packages per minute, it is nearly impossible to maintain 100% uniformity in the way all packs are folded and glued. Furthermore, the corners of the packs are not exactly square and oscillation of some millimetres may take place in either horizontal or vertical direction. Taking this into account is advisable when preparing the design. This has to do with the product and is no reason for complaint.
Some examples where shift occurred are shown below:
1.    No exact right angle
2.    Connection between the left and right sides
3.    Upward and downward shift
4.    Gluing at an angle

                          

   1. 50% (+400%)           2. 35% (+225%)       3. 35% (+280%)         4. 40% (+460%)           ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. Additional colour
Bear in mind that a separate (additional) colour is usually used for the text in a layout in composite colours (CMYK) in order to achieve clear legibility. (CMYK + text colour + white = 6 colours). A second black print layer is often used for black texts and for the black in a full colour photo. It is important to know that printing by means of rubber printing stereos is a difficult technique. In some cases, it is also impossible to have a solid colour and screen printed in the same colour using the same rubber stamp (stereo). In such cases, it might be necessary to use an additional rubber printing stereo, which would be charged for as an additional colour.

1-4 full colour (cyan / magenta / yellow / black) + 5 white + 6 additional black (text)+ 7 PMS 485  50% (+225%)
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5. Glue edge
The film is glued on one side. If any text is printed on this side, this could be either not clearly legible or part of the text could be covered. We therefore advise not printing any text here, or else printing the text off centre.


 
Text placed off centre. 50% (+500%)

Text placed in the middle, as a result of which it is no longer completely legible. This is no reason for complaint. 65% (+450%)
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6. Opening
Two aspects must be taken into account in the design around the opening of the packs. Due to the speed of production, there may be some variation in where the stickers are applied, and they may be applied to a different place than indicated on the cutter-guide drawing. Due to oscillations as described under point 3, texts and images that were designed to be printed on the edge of the opening in the cutter guide may be sliced in two. Various examples of this are shown below.

          

 Logo is cut in two 85% (+415%)                     Sentence is cut in two 110% (+480%)
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7. Small texts and logos
We recommend using line work of 1 pt. minimum. To guarantee clear legibility, it is preferable to create texts no smaller than 8 pt. Texts in photos are often not (clearly) legible. To make texts as legible as possible, the best way to lay them out is in the program that you use. Do not import from Adobe Photoshop, as letters often lose their sharpness and texts are converted into ‘outlines’.
Parts of logos (such as ‘tm’, ®, ©, etc.) also often turn out to be too small for proper reproduction. See a number of examples below:



‘TM’ not legible, this is no reason for complaint. 165% (+1150%)

Texts in pictures not legible or scarcely so, this is no reason for complaint. 150% (+600%)

® legible / thinner lines not possible ±67% (±330%)
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8. Other tips
- Elaborate design with shadows and other small details, for example, often do not produce the desired effect. A clean and austere design produces the best result.
- Correct reproduction of colour gradation is often impossible.
- Illustrations made in e.g. Adobe Illustrator almost always produce a more attractive result than a photo.
- When using photos, sharpness and contrast is important to create a well-recognisable image. Photos with many similar colours may produce a somewhat pale result (Photos 300 dpi).

In conclusion, our design department is always willing to advise you about the design.