FAQ
Advantages Of Digital Printing
The product labels you see in store shelves are usually printed using either flexography or digital. Flexography or flexo uses mechanical presses and flexible printing plates (one for each color) to apply the ink to the label material. Flexo produces a good quality label and is cost effective in high quantities but not so much for lower quantities. Printing plates are expensive (more colors means more plates) and any changes to the design or content of a label requires new plates with additional costs. Additionally, flexo presses require significant setup time and substantial material wastage before the first production label can be printed. These overhead costs are spread over the cost of each label – so with large quantities it does not add significantly to the price per label but at small quantities it does. This often forces customers to buy way more labels than they actually need just to get the cost per label down to an acceptable number.
Conversely, digital label printing presses do not use plates and require much less setup time and waste. In simple terms, they operate more like a desktop laser printer (although much bigger and way more expensive). Artwork files are sent directly to the press and the various colors are printed simultaneously. No plates, no special ink stations, minimal waste, and setup. The press operator can print as many (or as few) labels as you need at a time, and if you need to change the design or content then it's just a matter of changing the artwork and re-sending it to the press.
The product labels you see in store shelves are usually printed using either flexography or digital. Flexography or flexo uses mechanical presses and flexible printing plates (one for each color) to apply the ink to the label material. Flexo produces a good quality label and is cost effective in high quantities but not so much for lower quantities. Printing plates are expensive (more colors means more plates) and any changes to the design or content of a label requires new plates with additional costs. Additionally, flexo presses require significant setup time and substantial material wastage before the first production label can be printed. These overhead costs are spread over the cost of each label – so with large quantities it does not add significantly to the price per label but at small quantities it does. This often forces customers to buy way more labels than they actually need just to get the cost per label down to an acceptable number.
Conversely, digital label printing presses do not use plates and require much less setup time and waste. In simple terms, they operate more like a desktop laser printer (although much bigger and way more expensive). Artwork files are sent directly to the press and the various colors are printed simultaneously. No plates, no special ink stations, minimal waste, and setup. The press operator can print as many (or as few) labels as you need at a time, and if you need to change the design or content then it's just a matter of changing the artwork and re-sending it to the press.
Benefits of Digital Printing
Speed Traditional label companies can take weeks to produce a label job, whereas digital companies can typically turn a job much more quickly. At Clone Print, our normal production time is 4 working days from the time we receive your approval to proceed.
Quality. Improvements in the digital printing process have resulted in photo-like quality with unlimited colors. Most customers are very pleasantly surprised when they see the beautiful results achievable from a digital press, and the absence of plates makes changes to the design a simple and inexpensive option.
Cost Depending on the quantity of labels printed, the traditional flexo approach can produce a lower unit cost per label - but shorter runs are almost always cheaper if produced digitally. Also, it's important to consider the overall cost of the traditional job - you can easily end up buying many more labels than you need immediately (impacting cash flow) or alternatively have to throw out rolls of unused labels if something about your product changes. And regulatory requirements can change with quickly - making your existing label stocks worthless.
Flexibility With digital printing, it's as simple as telling the press how many labels are needed (similar in concept to telling your desktop printer you want 10 copies or 100 copies). If you need more, we just repeat the process and tell the press how many you want this time. Given a digital press needs minimal setup each time, you can print anywhere from very low quantities to very large quantities – you don’t have to predict your needs months in advance.
Ganging On a digital press, we can print numerous variations of the same size at the same time - so you can combine multiple product labels in a single run. This is called "ganging." For example, you can run 1000 Decaf, 2000 Dark Roast and 1500 Light Roast all in the same run - thereby getting a unit price based on the combined quantity of 4500 labels. The colors and designs can be completely different, so long as the labels are the same size and on the same material so they can be combined in the same run.
Inventory Costs When you print 50,000 or 100,000 labels for a single product on a traditional press, the quantity is often driven by the desire to get the unit price down. However, if you don't need all of the labels immediately they need to be stored – taking up valuable space and incurring warehousing costs. If you have many unique products, each of which has large stocks of labels waiting to be used, it's easy to imagine the impact on cash flow and storage. Many customers are realizing that it makes better sense to buy their labels on an "as needed" basis rather than having to order (and pay for) a large quantity up front.
Press Proofs Digital printing offers the ability to print your proofs on the actual production press without the setup associated with traditional printing presses. Although is not a free service and it can cause some production delays, this digital printing press proofs are significantly less expensive than traditional press proofs and can allay any concerns about color or quality before you go to print production.
Speed Traditional label companies can take weeks to produce a label job, whereas digital companies can typically turn a job much more quickly. At Clone Print, our normal production time is 4 working days from the time we receive your approval to proceed.
Quality. Improvements in the digital printing process have resulted in photo-like quality with unlimited colors. Most customers are very pleasantly surprised when they see the beautiful results achievable from a digital press, and the absence of plates makes changes to the design a simple and inexpensive option.
Cost Depending on the quantity of labels printed, the traditional flexo approach can produce a lower unit cost per label - but shorter runs are almost always cheaper if produced digitally. Also, it's important to consider the overall cost of the traditional job - you can easily end up buying many more labels than you need immediately (impacting cash flow) or alternatively have to throw out rolls of unused labels if something about your product changes. And regulatory requirements can change with quickly - making your existing label stocks worthless.
Flexibility With digital printing, it's as simple as telling the press how many labels are needed (similar in concept to telling your desktop printer you want 10 copies or 100 copies). If you need more, we just repeat the process and tell the press how many you want this time. Given a digital press needs minimal setup each time, you can print anywhere from very low quantities to very large quantities – you don’t have to predict your needs months in advance.
Ganging On a digital press, we can print numerous variations of the same size at the same time - so you can combine multiple product labels in a single run. This is called "ganging." For example, you can run 1000 Decaf, 2000 Dark Roast and 1500 Light Roast all in the same run - thereby getting a unit price based on the combined quantity of 4500 labels. The colors and designs can be completely different, so long as the labels are the same size and on the same material so they can be combined in the same run.
Inventory Costs When you print 50,000 or 100,000 labels for a single product on a traditional press, the quantity is often driven by the desire to get the unit price down. However, if you don't need all of the labels immediately they need to be stored – taking up valuable space and incurring warehousing costs. If you have many unique products, each of which has large stocks of labels waiting to be used, it's easy to imagine the impact on cash flow and storage. Many customers are realizing that it makes better sense to buy their labels on an "as needed" basis rather than having to order (and pay for) a large quantity up front.
Press Proofs Digital printing offers the ability to print your proofs on the actual production press without the setup associated with traditional printing presses. Although is not a free service and it can cause some production delays, this digital printing press proofs are significantly less expensive than traditional press proofs and can allay any concerns about color or quality before you go to print production.
CMYK vs RGB
What color mode should be used for designing? The easy answer is – use CMYK!
Our digital presses print using four primary colors: Cyan (“C”), Magenta (“M”), Yellow (“Y”) and Black (“K” – which stands for key). These four colors are mixed in various combinations to give you an unlimited variety of color choices.
RGB (Red, Green, and Blue) is a three-color combination used by computer monitors and TV screens. Since our digital presses use CMYK mode, printing a product label that's designed in RGB mode can result in significant color distortion. Therefore, it is critical to create your artwork files in CMYK mode to maintain accurate colors for your product label.
Because of the difference between color on your monitor (RGB) and a digital press (CMYK) NEVER assume the color on a computer monitor will look the same when printed. Adjusting a design on-screen to achieve a particular color result is asking for trouble when you print the design. And remember that a test print on your own desktop printer will look different than a print on our digital press. All printers produce slightly different results even if they are the same make and model.
What color mode should be used for designing? The easy answer is – use CMYK!
Our digital presses print using four primary colors: Cyan (“C”), Magenta (“M”), Yellow (“Y”) and Black (“K” – which stands for key). These four colors are mixed in various combinations to give you an unlimited variety of color choices.
RGB (Red, Green, and Blue) is a three-color combination used by computer monitors and TV screens. Since our digital presses use CMYK mode, printing a product label that's designed in RGB mode can result in significant color distortion. Therefore, it is critical to create your artwork files in CMYK mode to maintain accurate colors for your product label.
Because of the difference between color on your monitor (RGB) and a digital press (CMYK) NEVER assume the color on a computer monitor will look the same when printed. Adjusting a design on-screen to achieve a particular color result is asking for trouble when you print the design. And remember that a test print on your own desktop printer will look different than a print on our digital press. All printers produce slightly different results even if they are the same make and model.
What Is the Minimum Quantity of Labels I Can Order?
Due to the nature of a digital label press, there are some practical limitations which impact the amount of waste involved in printing very small quantities. To minimize this waste (and the effect on the environment), we require the minimum quantity for each label to be 250 labels and each version within a ganged order to be at least 250 labels.
Due to the nature of a digital label press, there are some practical limitations which impact the amount of waste involved in printing very small quantities. To minimize this waste (and the effect on the environment), we require the minimum quantity for each label to be 250 labels and each version within a ganged order to be at least 250 labels.
Proofs
Clone Print offers two kinds of proofs – PDF proof and press proof.
PDF Proofs All orders receive emailed PDF proof at no extra charge. We will not go into production unless you have specifically approved the emailed proof - this is our way of making sure we have correctly understood your instructions and your artwork is correct. It is CRITICAL that you check PDF proof carefully - we cannot take responsibility for errors that you did not pick up in the proofing process.
Please note: PDF proofs are only for you to verify content and should not be considered a reliable way to check colors. Computer screens can display colors differently than our digital presses.
Press Proofs If you must see a physical proof of your order before we go into production, you can ask for a physical press proof for an additional $95 fee. We charge for a press proof because they consume time, material, and waste to produce and cause delays in production. Press proofs are printed on the same digital press as your order, so they are the most accurate representation of what your finished labels will look like. Remember, though, press proofs will cause a delay in production of you labels.
Please note Physical proofs do not have the same high priority as production orders, so there can be a delay before they ship. We do our best to squeeze them in, but production always comes first.
Clone Print offers two kinds of proofs – PDF proof and press proof.
PDF Proofs All orders receive emailed PDF proof at no extra charge. We will not go into production unless you have specifically approved the emailed proof - this is our way of making sure we have correctly understood your instructions and your artwork is correct. It is CRITICAL that you check PDF proof carefully - we cannot take responsibility for errors that you did not pick up in the proofing process.
Please note: PDF proofs are only for you to verify content and should not be considered a reliable way to check colors. Computer screens can display colors differently than our digital presses.
Press Proofs If you must see a physical proof of your order before we go into production, you can ask for a physical press proof for an additional $95 fee. We charge for a press proof because they consume time, material, and waste to produce and cause delays in production. Press proofs are printed on the same digital press as your order, so they are the most accurate representation of what your finished labels will look like. Remember, though, press proofs will cause a delay in production of you labels.
Please note Physical proofs do not have the same high priority as production orders, so there can be a delay before they ship. We do our best to squeeze them in, but production always comes first.
What is a Bleed?
A bleed is the extension of a background color/pattern/picture beyond the edge of the label. A bleed ensures that any portion of the design is not accidently cut off during the die-cutting process.
We require 1/16" (0.0625") of bleed on ALL sides of your label. This includes circles, ovals, and unique shapes. See the below picture for an example of a bleed.
A bleed is the extension of a background color/pattern/picture beyond the edge of the label. A bleed ensures that any portion of the design is not accidently cut off during the die-cutting process.
We require 1/16" (0.0625") of bleed on ALL sides of your label. This includes circles, ovals, and unique shapes. See the below picture for an example of a bleed.
Rewind Direction
Rewind Direction (or Wind Direction) refers to the orientation of the labels as they come off the roll. The label industry has standard descriptions for the various rewind directions to avoid confusion. For example, Rewind Direction #1 (Top Side Off First) indicates that the top of the label will be the leading edge when the roll is unwound. Rewind direction is not very important if your labels are hand-applied, but is critical if your labels are applied by machine.
Here is a picture showing the most common rewind directions:
Rewind Direction (or Wind Direction) refers to the orientation of the labels as they come off the roll. The label industry has standard descriptions for the various rewind directions to avoid confusion. For example, Rewind Direction #1 (Top Side Off First) indicates that the top of the label will be the leading edge when the roll is unwound. Rewind direction is not very important if your labels are hand-applied, but is critical if your labels are applied by machine.
Here is a picture showing the most common rewind directions:
