A7 paper size is a fixed sheet standard within the ISO 216 A-series that measures 74 by 105 millimeters, one of the smallest sizes in…
Most people look up A0 because a printer or a poster guideline just asked for it, and the number they need is 841 x 1189…
The A6 paper size is 105 x 148 mm (10.5 x 14.8 cm, 4.13 x 5.83 in), exactly one quarter of an A4 sheet. ISO…
The smallest sheet in the ISO 216 A series measures 26 x 37 mm (1.02 x 1.46 in). That’s A10. Print shops cut it for…
Put a glossy print and a matte print on the same desk under the same lamp and the first thing you notice is the lamp.…
The main difference is a mineral layer. Coated paper has one and uncoated paper doesn’t, and that changes how ink sits on the sheet. On…
Print the same file on two different sheets and the tones won’t match. A 50 percent black tint grows by 17.2 points (colorimetric) on gloss…
Spec sheets use “weight” and “thickness” as if they meant the same thing, and they don’t. Weight is mass per unit area, written in gsm…
If you’re sending a file to a printer, the number to have in front of you is 594 x 841 mm (23.39 x 33.11 inches).…
A2 measures 420 x 594 mm (16.54 x 23.39 inches) and sits in the ISO 216 A-series between A3 and A1. Posters and framed art…
Lay two A4 pages next to each other and you have an A3 sheet, which under ISO 216 measures 297 x 420 mm (11.69 x…
Most of the world prints on a sheet that measures 210 x 297 mm (8.27 x 11.69 in). That’s A4, part of the ISO 216…
A5 measures 148 x 210 mm (5.83 x 8.27 inches). It sits in the ISO 216 A series as A4 folded once, and it’s about…
A8 paper size comes out at 52 x 74 mm (2.05 x 2.91 in) under ISO 216. It sits at the small end of the…
Most people run into A9 on a sticker sheet or a coupon, and the size they need is 37 x 52 mm (3.7 x 5.2…
Paper usually gets picked at the end of a project, when the printer asks for a stock and someone names whatever sounds right. It deserves…
Every sheet in the ISO paper system has the same shape, a 1:1.414 aspect ratio, which is why a sheet cut in half across its…
A print shop asks for your caliper spec and most people answer with a weight. That’s the wrong number. Two stocks can share the same…
Varnish is a liquid coating that dries or cures right where it lands on the printed sheet, while lamination bonds a clear plastic film over…
Open dielines from two different printers and the line colors rarely match. PakFactory draws cut lines black and fold lines red, while Die Cut Templates…
Playing cards and a lot of supplement bottles come in cartons that close by pushing a flap into the body of the box. There’s no…
A label can look finished and still get rejected because the letters are a fraction of a millimeter too short. The FDA requires letters at…
Nobody at FDA signs off on a food label before it reaches a shelf. FDA does not pre-approve food labels (FDA Food Labeling Guide, 2013),…
Nobody can build a pack that a determined person won’t get into. What a designer can do is make sure the attempt shows. That is…
Plastic packaging does not automatically keep food fresh longer. WRAP ran an 18-month study in 2022 on apples, bananas, broccoli, cucumbers and potatoes, and it…
Most packaging printers want the cut line as one closed vector path sitting on its own layer. It gets stroked in a spot color with…
A file either remembers shapes or it remembers pixels, and that is most of the vector versus raster question for print. Paths stay sharp at…
Most people have run a thumb over foil stamping without ever hearing the name. It’s the gold lettering on a business card, the title on…
Silver and gold inks are made with actual metal. Aluminum flakes give you silver, copper-zinc bronze gives you gold, and both bounce light back in…
Spot varnish covers part of the sheet and flood varnish covers all of it. Nearly everything else about the two follows from that. A logo…
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