Using
Our Graphic Design Templates
One of
the leading causes for order delays and extra
charges throughout the CD and DVD industry is
artwork that isn’t supplied correctly. This issue
can be split into two separate areas:
One of the most common misconceptions about
designing for CD or DVD manufacturing or
duplication, is that there is an industry ‘standard’
whereby all suppliers of discs and related packaging
use the same sizing guidelines and have the same
requirements. Depending on the product type it's very common to find variations
between different vendors.
Due to this, you should choose the vendor you are going to
use, and then use their templates before finalizing
your artwork first. Once you’ve decided on the company who will
manufacture your discs, download the applicable
graphic design template for your needs and then
finish off your design.
Templates for
Printed Paper and Boardstock
For
printing on paper and boardstock, a good
template should provide you with some visual
references, namely Keylines and Crop Marks. These
are used as guides to provide you with visual reference of where the
product will be cut, folded, perforated, etc.
-
Crop Marks: These are the thin black lines
generally located at the corners of the template,
and are used to line-up the cutting blade that
will trim the print down to its finished size.
Crop Marks will actually print, so don’t move
them, remove them or change their colour values.
-
Finished Edge: The Finished Edge represents
where the product will be cut. On Precision Disc
templates the Finished Edge is shown as a solid
red line.
-
Bleed: If your design is supposed to touch the
edge of the finished product (as represented by
the keylines and crop marks) you must extend, or
Bleed, your design 1/8” past that finished edge.
Your graphic design template may provide you with
a separate keyline to give you a visual reference
of how far to Bleed the design. Due to variances
and tolerances in the cutting process, Bleed
ensures you won’t see white unprinted paper or
board-stock running along the edge of your print.
On Precision Disc templates the Bleed boundary is
shown as a dotted blue line.
-
Gutter: A common design mistake is to crowd
the finished edges or folds with text and graphics
- the result of which negatively affects the
visual appeal and legibility of your design. If
you look at a book or magazine you will notice
that there is a significant border that frames any
non-bleeding text and imagery from the edge of the
page and folds. This border is called Gutter. In
the CD and DVD manufacturing industry an absolute
minimum gutter of 1/8” is generally advised but
you may want to experiment and increase it to
3/16” or 1/4" or greater. On Precision Disc
templates a 1/8" Gutter is shown as a dotted green
line.
Templates for
Replicated CD DVD Discs
The
templates for our replicated CD DVD discs are
set up as a mask. If you set up your Layer Menu
correctly you will only see the portions of your
design that are going to print because all of the
'bleed' gets hidden under the mask.
-
When
you set up your Layer Menu, make sure your design
layers are underneath the template layer. That way
the mask will work properly.
-
If you
have set up your Layer Menu as noted above, don't
trim your design to fit the circular areas of the
template (the outer edge or the center hole).
Instead, let the design bleed past the outer edge
of the large circle, and let the design bleed
through the center hole, so the template can mask
off that 'bleed' automatically.
Templates for
Duplicated CD DVD Discs
The
templates for our duplicated CD DVD discs are
set up as Keylines. The red lines in the template
represent the maximum printable area on the disc,
showing both the center hole and the outside edge of
the disc.
-
When
you set up your Layer Menu, make sure your design
layers are underneath the template layer. That way
the template is always visible and you can
properly align your graphics.
-
Do not
trim/crop your design to fit the red Keylines of
the template. As shown in the example above, let
the design bleed past the outside edge of the
disc, and let the design bleed underneath the
center hole.
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