Getting your design press-ready for specialty label printing
At Rose City Label, we love helping our customers create bold, standout labels, and one of the best ways to do that is by printing on specialty stocks like metallic or clear. These substrates offer a premium look, but they also require a slightly different file setup to get great results.
In our latest video (see below), we walk through how to correctly set up your artwork for printing on metallic or clear stock. Below is a quick summary of the key steps and best practices we covered:
Why It Matters
Metallic and clear stocks allow the base material to show through your design, creating shimmer, shine, or transparency effects. But unlike standard paper labels, you’re not printing the metallic effect; you’re letting the stock do the work. That means you don’t design the metallic or clear effect directly—you plan around it.
Key Takeaways from the Video
1. Don’t Simulate the Effect with CMYK
If you want a part of your label to appear metallic, don’t use a faux gray or gradient to simulate the look. Instead, leave that part empty—set it to 0% CMYK. That’s how Illustrator (and your printer) knows you want the raw stock to shine through.
2. Create a Spot Color for White Ink
To control what parts of the design should not be metallic or clear, you need to print white ink underneath those areas.
Create a spot color and name it “White.”
Give it any visible color (blue, green, etc.) just so you can see it in your file—it doesn’t affect the print.
Make sure the white ink object is set to overprint.
Layer it on top of your other objects in your file—this makes it easier to visualize, even though it will print beneath everything else.
3. Use White to Block Out the Metallic or Clear
The white ink acts as a blocker. Wherever you place it, it prevents the metallic or clear stock from showing through, giving you a solid, opaque look.
Want only part of a design element to be metallic? Easy. Just:
Create a new shape on top of the white layer.
Fill it with 0% white (not empty—just 0% of the white ink spot color).
Set that to overprint as well.
This “knocks out” a portion of the white and lets the stock show through without needing to mess with complicated compound paths.
4. Keep Things Organized
We recommend putting your white ink elements on a separate layer. It helps with file organization, and more importantly, it makes your intent crystal clear to your prepress team.
Final Reminders
Always use a spot color for white ink
Set it to overprint
Put white on top in your file (even though it prints underneath)
Use 0% white ink to knock out metallic/clear areas
Whether you’re going for a luxe metallic look or a sleek transparent design, setting up your file correctly makes all the difference. It ensures your label prints exactly the way you envision—and helps us deliver the high-quality results Rose City Label is known for.
At Rose City Label, we love helping our customers get the best results from their label designs—both visually and financially. When it comes to flexographic printing, a few smart design adjustments can make your artwork more efficient and cost-effective to print.
This post is the first in our series on making label designs flexo-friendly. Today’s focus is on reducing color complexity and improving print registration.
Why Simplify Colors?
Flexographic printing uses individual plates and stations for each color, so every additional color adds time, cost, and complexity. The fewer colors required to create a specific tone, the better your label will run on a flexo press.
Example: Adjusting a Red Color Build
Let’s say you have a red area in your design that’s built using all four CMYK colors—cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. While this may look fine digitally, it’s not ideal for flexo printing because:
More colors = more risk of misregistration (colors not lining up perfectly)
More complexity = higher setup time and cost
Here’s how we make it better:
Start by identifying the key colors. For red, we know magenta and yellow are essential. Cyan and black are often used to darken the tone, but they aren’t always necessary. For your color, look at which colors use the largest percentages of CMY or K. Colors with low percentages are more likely to be able to be successfully removed and compensated for.
Remove unnecessary components.
Try removing black first. If the color becomes too light, that’s okay—we’ll compensate later.
Increase cyan in order to compensate for the lack of black.
Adjust remaining values.
Increase magenta and yellow to deepen the red.
Result: You now have a red that’s built from just two or three colors—a huge improvement for flexo production. If it looks similar enough to what you want, it’ll help us out. If not? Maybe try looking at different low percentage color (removing Cyan for example, and compensating with black). It will print more clearly and consistently, and it sets up faster on press.
What About Small Text?
Even if you simplify large areas, fine type—like government warnings or ingredient text—can still be a challenge.
When small text is built from multiple colors, any slight misalignment can make it:
Blurry
Unreadable
The wrong color entirely
A Simple Fix:
Ask your designer or prepress partner if you can change fine print to black only. This single-color solution:
Removes all registration risk
Prints clearly over other colors (like yellow)
Ensures legibility, especially in small fonts
The Payoff
By reducing the number of colors used in large areas and simplifying your fine text, your label design becomes much more flexo-friendly. That means:
Faster press setup
Lower production costs
Cleaner, more reliable results
Want to see how this looks in action?
Watch the video below to follow a real-world example of optimizing a label for flexo printing. Our team walks you through the process, showing before-and-after adjustments in real design files.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of the series, where we’ll examine grading two Pantone colors together to simulate the look of a CMYK gradient.
At Rose City Label, one of the most common questions we get is: What’s the difference between digital and flexographic printing? The answer depends on a few key factors, like quantity, design complexity, and cost.
Let’s break it down in simple terms.
Digital Printing: Best for Short Runs and Complex Designs
Our HP Indigo digital press is ideal for small to mid-sized label orders. Here’s why:
Low Setup Costs: Digital printing doesn’t require physical plates or manual ink mixing, so it requires minimal setup time and cost.
Perfect Registration: The digital press delivers crisp, accurate color placement—every dot of CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) goes precisely where it’s intended, without color shift or trapping issues.
Press Proofs Available: Want to see a sample before your full run? We can produce a low-cost press proof directly from the machine.
Flexible Color Options: Digital is great for full-color artwork, smooth gradients, and photography, especially when the design uses more colors than our flexo press can handle.
When to choose digital:
You need fewer labels.
Your design includes many colors, gradients, or screens.
An immature design that may change often.
Variable data, barcodes, or serial numbers (different on each label).
Textured materials, typically used for wine or spirits labels.
You want lower initial costs.
Flexographic Printing: Ideal for High Volumes and Thoughtful Ink Choices
Flexographic (or “flexo”) printing is a traditional, high-speed method using physical printing plates and ink. It’s perfect for larger print runs.
Ideal for Stable, Established Products: Once the prep and plates are paid for, the ongoing cost can be significantly lower on flexographic designs that print on an ongoing basis.
Fast, Efficient Runs: The flexo press runs at high speeds once set up, making it very economical for high-volume jobs.
Fast Turnaround Times: Multiple presses of different sizes allow for scheduling flexibility.
Pantone Matching: For solid colors, especially brand-specific Pantones, flexo can deliver precise color with a single ink station.
Metallic Colors and Inline Foil: Although we can create simulated metallic colors on digital, flexo printing offers true metallic PMS colors and possibly inline foil stamping, depending on the design
More Flexible Finishing: Flexo labels can be delivered in sheets or rolls, can have top scores, perforations, and even back printing on the adhesive or on the backing paper
Flexo-Friendly Design Tips:
Use spot Pantone colors for linework and text when possible, but be aware of using too many colors, particularly when paired with CMYK.
Fewer colors can mean less expensive labels, and avoiding screened colors can help too.
If it works with your design, CMYK linework can be outlined in black for better registration.
However, flexo presses have a limited number of color stations. If your design exceeds those limits, even at high volume, digital may still be the better fit.
So, Which One Is Right for You?
Based on quantity, a job might look like a good candidate for flexo, but if the design has too many colors, digital might be the only option. On the flip side, a simple, Pantone-based design in large quantities can be perfect for flexo.
Quantity: Generally, lower quantities are better for digital
Complexity: Very complicated designs, fine screens, or more than seven colors, all lean toward digital
Cost: Smaller runs are less expensive on digital, while larger runs have a lower unit cost on flexo
Design Stability: A known, mature design that will reprint often is often better on flexo
Still Unsure? We’re Here to Help.
At Rose City Label, we evaluate every job individually to determine the best print method. Our goal is to provide you with beautiful, high-quality labels on time and on budget.
Contact us today if you’re not sure which print method is right for your next project.
Watch the video below for a side-by-side explanation, label examples, and design tips from our production team.
One of the most common issues we see at Rose City Label is label artwork submitted without all the necessary files. We get it—file prep can be confusing. But don’t worry! We’re here to help you get it right the first time so your labels print perfectly.
When you create a label in Adobe Illustrator, it’s essential to understand that the final .ai file often doesn’t include everything it needs to print correctly—mainly if you’ve used custom fonts or imported images.
Packaging your file is a critical step before you send it to us.
Why You Need to Package Your File
When you send only the Illustrator file:
Custom fonts may not display correctly on our end.
Linked images may be missing entirely.
The layout might shift, causing unexpected print issues.
Packaging gathers all the assets—images, fonts, and artwork—into a single folder. It keeps everything clean, tidy, and ready for print.
How to Package in Adobe Illustrator
Here’s a quick walkthrough:
Open Your Final File: Ensure everything looks correct on your end—images are linked, text is in place, and you’re happy with the design.
Go to File > Package: This tells Illustrator to gather everything needed to reproduce your file correctly.
Choose a Destination: Pick a folder location (like your Desktop), name your package something clear (like Sarat_2023), and make sure these options are selected:
✔ Copy Links
✔ Collect Links in Separate Folder
✔ Include Fonts
✔ Include Linked Files
Click “Package”: Illustrator will create a folder that contains your .ai file, a Links folder for images, and a Fonts folder with any custom typefaces you’ve used.
Zip the Folder: Right-click the new folder and choose “Compress” (Mac) or “Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder” (Windows). This ensures nothing gets lost in transit.
How to Send It to Us
Once zipped, you can send the package in whichever way works best for you:
Email
FTP
Dropbox
WeTransfer
Or any file-sharing method you prefer!
Taking a few extra minutes to package your file correctly saves time, avoids production delays, and ensures your labels look as great in print as they do on screen.
Thanks for working with us—we’re excited to bring your label to life!
When submitting your label design, a few last-minute checks can save you from costly errors and reprints. In this blog post, we’ll walk you through essential final checks—from clipping masks to text placement—so you can be sure your design is ready for press.
Watch the video below for a step-by-step demonstration, and read on for a concise overview.
1. Verify Your Die Line & Clipping Masks
Check shape alignment. If you’re using a custom shape, offsetting the path Object > Path > Offset Path (for example, by 0.2 inches) helps reveal any misalignment.
Clean up your clipping masks. Make sure your image and die line match perfectly. If there’s a stray or incorrect mask, remove it and create a correct clipping mask with the right object.
2. Maintain a Safety Margin
Offset the die by 1/16″ (0.0625″). This margin is your die “safety zone.” Any critical text or artwork that crosses this line risks being cut off.
Move the text inward. Keep important details inside the safe area so the final cut won’t clip your design elements.
3. Align & Center Your Elements
Use alignment tools. Double-check that text or graphics are centered and look balanced on the label.
Watch for off-center text. Even small shifts can be noticeable when printed, so take a moment to make it perfect.
4. Remove Extraneous Objects
Path Clean Up. In Illustrator, use Object > Path > Clean Up to get rid of unwanted points or stray elements.
Check your links. Ensure there aren’t any hidden images or random objects hanging around that you don’t actually need.
5. Final Review
Hide/unhide layers. Temporarily hide layers to see if there’s anything still lurking on the artboard that shouldn’t be there.
Set up for success. With everything cleaned up and properly placed, you’ll avoid surprises once the job hits the press.
Watch the Video
Curious about how it’s done in real-time? Check out our quick demonstration of these final checks. You’ll see exactly how to offset paths, manage clipping masks, and keep your design safe and tidy.
Have Questions?
If you’re still unsure about your file setup or need help finalizing your design, feel free to reach out to Rose City Label. We’re here to help make your label printing process as smooth as possible!
Welcome to our new series, where we share quick technical tips for better label design! This post will walk you through creating a simple rectangular or circular label template in Adobe Illustrator, including bleed and safety margins. Check out the embedded video below for a step-by-step demonstration or read below for a quick tutorial.
Key Steps and Tips
Document Size and Bleed
Create a new document (e.g., 4″ wide × 3″ tall).
Set bleed to 1/16 inch (0.0625″).
This 1/16″ bleed applies no matter the overall label size.
Inside Safety Margin
Create a guide 1/16″ inside the label to mark your “type limit” or “die safety margin.”
In Illustrator, you can do this by drawing a box the same size as the label and then using an Offset Path at –1/16″. Convert it to a guide so it won’t print.
Shape Options
Rectangles: Use the desired dimensions (e.g., 4″ × 3″).
Circles: Set your artboard to the size of the circle (e.g., 1″ × 1″).
Tell your CSR (Customer Service Representative at Rose City Label) the shape and size so it’s clear whether you’re printing a circle, rectangle, or any other shape.
Background and Bleed
Extend your background color or imagerybeyond the bleed line.
The red line (or outer border) marks where the label will be cut. Make sure your background or any non-critical design elements continue past this line.
Safe Zone for Text and Critical Graphics
Keep all important text and imageswithin the 1/16″ safety margin inside the label.
This ensures important elements won’t be trimmed off or look misaligned if the label shifts slightly during cutting.
Why This Matters
Prevents Trimming Errors: Setting up bleed and safety margins ensures your label designs come out crisp and professional without unwanted white edges.
Maintains Legibility: Keeping text within the safe zone avoids accidentally cutting off important info.
Simplifies Production: Printers have consistent guidelines to follow, reducing back-and-forth corrections.
That’s all there is to it! Embedding a proper bleed, creating clear safe zones, and specifying the correct shape upfront will help your labels print perfectly every time.
If you have any questions or need assistance with your label designs, feel free to contact our team. We’re here to help you get the best results possible!
