Stand out on shelves
A shelf is won in a second. A pack that is unmistakable stops the eye, stands apart from the one beside it and makes the product easy to find again — so the brand is remembered, not just seen.
Graphic-to-press packaging
Packaging Artwork Design That Drives Margin & Prints Flawlessly
Transform your brand vision into shelf-ready packaging artwork — a visual hierarchy that converts on the shelf and prints exactly as approved, so the approved box is the one that ships.
Why it pays
Turn Packaging Into Your Brand’s Secret Weapon
In a crowded market the pack is the first touchpoint — what it says, how it opens and what it costs to ship decide whether a product is picked up, kept and reordered.
Enhance the unboxing
The open is part of the product. A considered reveal — the weight, the moment, the detail inside — turns a delivery into something worth photographing, and a first-time buyer into a regular who tells others.
Drive business growth
Better packaging pays for itself. A tighter, well-designed pack usually ships cheaper, damages less and reads more premium — lifting perceived value, repeat purchase and word of mouth over the life of a brand.
1 · Print process
Digital, Flexo or Offset — Pick the Right Run
The process is set by quantity, board and fine detail. Here is the honest trade-off, so the run and the board settle the choice.
Digital
Short runs, no plate
- Volume
- 500–2,000 units
- Board
- Coated & kraft carton
- Fine detail
- Sharp, but limited spot colours
Best for: Tests, drops and market launches — each box can carry different data.
Flexographic
Volume on corrugated
- Volume
- 2,000–50,000+
- Board
- Corrugated & kraft board
- Fine detail
- Bold solids, fewer colours
Best for: Mailers and corrugated boxes where board texture matters more than a 5-pt rule.
Offset litho
Fine detail on carton
- Volume
- 2,000–100,000+
- Board
- Coated folding carton & rigid board
- Fine detail
- Best for photos, gradients, fine type
Best for: Retail cartons and rigid gift boxes where the finish carries the brand.
2 · Finishing
Five Finishes, Priced to Fit the Moment
A gift box and an e-commerce box should not finish the same way. Here is each effect, what it costs in the run, and where it earns it back.
Foil stamping
A metal or pigmented foil pressed in with heat. The most premium read per square centimetre — the one finish that photographs as luxury.
Gift box
E-comm box
Embossing / debossing
The surface raised or sunk to catch the light. Tactile without adding a layer — a quiet mark of craft on a gift box lid.
Gift box
E-comm box
Spot UV
A high-gloss clear varnish on one area, matte everywhere else. A small area of shine that costs little and sells the pack on a shelf.
Gift box
E-comm box
Lamination (gloss / matte)
A thin film over the whole sheet — scuff-proof, richer colour, and a matte option that reads high-end. The everyday workhorse.
Gift box
E-comm box
Soft-touch coating
A velvet-matte coat. A dry, high-end hand-feel that also hides fingerprints — the flavour of a rigid box without the film.
Gift box
E-comm box
Start the artwork
A Story Woven Through Fold & Colour
Send a design or a brand manual and get a creative direction back — before the run is committed.
- 1 Die-cut edge — where the sheet is trimmed; no live art sits outside it.
- 2 Crease / fold — the line a panel folds on.
- 3 Bleed 3 mm — art runs past the cut so a cut wiggle never shows white.
- 4 Safe line — critical type, barcodes, QR and legal copy stay inside this line.
- 5 Window knockout — a see-through panel.
- 6 Spot colour & overprint — named, then set to overprint so traps hold.
3 · File spec
A File That Prints First Time
Most ‘looks right on screen’ files fail on the press. These are the specs that keep a file out of the rework pile.
A supplier needs the dieline, the bleed and the separations to match — and the key visual, the codes and the inside print in the right zones. Hand over a file that already accounts for them and the first proof is the one approved.
- PDF/X-1a or an unflattened AI, art on its own layer
- Text outlined and fonts embedded
- Images at print resolution, at 100% scale
- Finishes and spot colours on their own layers
- Inside-print and unboxing detail on the keyline layer
- Dieline locked to a keyline layer that can be hidden
4 · Colour
Hold the Brand Colour Across Every Run
CMYK drifts between presses. Pantone holds. Here is how the brand colour stays the same on the first box and the ten-thousandth.
Approved — palette held to referenceUnmatched — CMYK drift between runs
Pantone reference
The brand colour is locked to a Pantone reference and proofed against it — not eyeballed off a monitor.
Proof sign-off
A contract proof or a printed drawdown is signed before the plate. That proof is the colour approved — and the one a run is held to.
Batch consistency
Ink density, colour and coating are measured and logged per batch, so a reorder matches the last run, not a new guess.
5 · Craft × structure
Where Artwork Meets the Structure
A finish can be ruined by the fold it lands on. A few rules keep the artwork and the box agreeing — the rest is structural engineering.
Do Place for a clean fold
- Keep large foil areas off crease lines — a fold through a wide foil cracks it.
- Hold the key logo off a window and off the die-cut edge.
- Route a large flat colour area around a fold instead of straight across it.
- Give a panel that tucks a little extra margin, so the fold never eats the art.
Avoid The classic failures
- Don’t run fine type in a spot colour alone — thin type drops out on a rough board.
- Don’t trap a solid dark area against a fold — it scuffs and shows a line.
- Don’t place a QR where a fold or a coating warps it.
- Don’t split an element that must line up across two panels that fold apart.
The process
From Idea to Iconic Packaging, Step by Step
A transparent path with input at every turn — balanced against the speed and quality a launch needs.
- 01
Discovery
A free session on the brand story, audience, products, palette, material and budget — a clear creative direction before any artwork.
- 02
Concepts
Two to three directions sketched inside the studio, shared as mood boards with the pattern, type and style that fit.
- 03
Drafts
High-fidelity digital drafts in Adobe Illustrator, with the pack size, print spec and sustainability factored in.
- 04
Feedback
Reviewed on a secure platform with annotations; changes land within 48 hours, over one or two rounds on colour and elements.
- 05
Approve
Print-ready files, a digital simulation and a physical prototype. Approval carries full IP ownership.
- 06
Print
Files go to the print partners with production guidelines and a brand asset kit — including the vector sources.
In real life
See the Packs Put in Shops
Related service
Get the structure first
Artwork sits on a dieline. If the box isn’t set yet, start with structural engineering, then come back for the artwork.
Go to structural engineeringAbout LeelinePackage
Next stepStarted in 2015, LeelinePackage is the custom-packaging partner for brands, retailers and DTC businesses — protecting the product and impressing the customer, from the first dieline to the final mile.
Packaging Sample & Prototyping
Prove the artwork on a physical sample — a white dummy for fit, a printed prototype for colour and finish.
Go to sample & prototypingFAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
The practical questions before a project starts. Structure and sample detail live on their own pages.
QWhat do we need from you to get started?
A brand manual, a logo, a high-res export or a printed pack — plus rough dimensions and a quantity. That is enough; anything on top is redrawn to vector here.
QCan you fix artwork that has already been made?
Usually. The logo and headline are redrawn to vector and the layout rebuilt to the dieline, then a print-feasibility check shows what is fixable before committing.
QHow long does the artwork design take?
A first proof usually lands within a few days, and small revisions within a couple of days. The timeline depends on how much needs redrawing, not on the run size.
QDo you work from our brand guidelines, or create the brand too?
Work starts from existing brand guidelines and artwork. With only a logo or a rough idea, the packaging artwork is drawn around it — the broader brand identity stays separate.
QHow is the quote structured?
A one-off setup plus any plates or tooling the finish needs, then a per-unit price that falls as quantity rises. The quote lists each line, so the total is clear before committing.
QWho owns the artwork and the dieline, and is it kept confidential?
Ownership stays with the buyer. The artwork and dieline are the buyer’s files, a master is kept for reorders, and work is held under NDA on request.
Start the artwork
Turn Any Brand Into a Pack That Sells
Upload an existing design or brand manual — get a print-feasibility check and a 3D mockup back before the run is committed. A single partner from the first concept sketch to the press line, so nothing is lost between design and print.