DEMO — fictional range. Local brief only, NOT SENT. No personal data is collected or transmitted.
Print on packaging is a process decision before it is a design.
The same artwork behaves differently in flexo, litho and digital, and on kraft rather than white. Choosing the process after the design is how a colour ends up unachievable.
- Flexo
- Direct onto corrugated · inexpensive at volume, coarse detail, colour shifts on kraft
- Litho
- Printed on a liner then laminated · fine detail and accurate colour, higher cost
- Digital
- Short runs and variable data · no plates, higher unit cost, limited substrates
- Screen
- Bold flat colour on rigid boxes · opaque on dark stock, slow
- Foil
- Metallic accent · applied after printing, needs a plate and a die
- Emboss
- Raised detail · needs a die, and shows on the inside of thin board
Illustrative print reference
| Process | Best for | What it cannot do |
|---|---|---|
| Flexo | Shipping cases at volume | Fine detail or accurate colour on kraft |
| Litho | Presentation packs | Print directly onto corrugated |
| Digital | Short runs and trials | Match litho colour exactly |
| Foil | A single metallic accent | Cover a large area economically |
Why kraft changes the colour.
Because it is not white. Ink on a brown liner reads darker and duller than the same ink on white, and a proof supplied on white board does not describe the result.
The one worth avoiding.
Approving a colour from a screen. Every process in this list reproduces colour differently, and the only proof that means anything is one made by the process that will run the job.