Considerations for Imposition in Packaging Box Printing

1. Single-Page Printed Materials

When imposing single-page prints, leave a 6 mm bleed at the center joining area (vertical center line).
This means each page should have a 3 mm bleed on all four sides (requires two cutting passes).
Note:
If your print material does not contain full-bleed images, backgrounds, or patterned areas, or if it uses a single solid color background, you may impose the pages as described above and only need to cut once along the center.

2. Imposition for Folder Covers (with Flaps)

Common practice is to impose the cover and the flap together.
This method may waste some paper but maintains better visual continuity of the design.

Another method is to impose the cover section and the flap separately, which saves paper.
However, it requires one extra gluing step during finishing, as the flap must be glued (or attached with double-sided tape) separately during assembly.

Considerations for Imposition in Packaging Box Printing

3. Imposition for Packaging Boxes

Large packaging boxes (larger than 8K size) typically do not require imposition and are printed directly on large-format sheets.

For smaller boxes:

Ensure the layout is as compact as possible while still fitting within the same print sheet.
Packaging boxes involve extensive finishing processes, especially die-cutting (cutting edges and scoring fold lines).
Leave at least 3 mm spacing between adjacent dieline edges; insufficient spacing may cause issues during die-cut plate making or affect product quality.

After completing the imposition (and obtaining client approval), it is best to provide a full-size dieline film to the printing plant to assist with accurate die-cutting.

4. Business Cards

Those who make business cards using digital printing or copying often impose 8 cards per sheet and then trim with a card cutter.
However, this wastes material.

Based on experience, one sheet can fit 10 business cards.

For small quantities, trimming can be done manually with a ruler and knife.
For large quantities, use the print shop’s cutting machine for efficiency and precision.

If you only need 1–2 boxes of business cards and have extra blank space on another print job (such as a folder), you can make use of that space to impose the cards.

5. Hang Tags, Labels, and Stickers

These items can be tedious but are not difficult as long as measurements are calculated accurately. They generally fall into four categories:

Single-cut (no bleed) – similar to business cards; only the outer border requires bleed.
Double-cut (with bleed).
Die-cut, hole punching, or rounded corners – requires a die-cut plate; imposed in the same manner as folder covers.
Mixed imposition – when different items are required in proportional quantities, they may be mixed within the same print sheet.

6. Recommended Method for Drawing Corner Marks (For CorelDRAW Beginners)

A simple and useful method for creating crop marks:

Use the Freehand Tool; hold Ctrl and draw a vertical “hairline” at the top-left of the page, then set its length to 3 mm.
Select all (Ctrl+A) → Align: Distribute and Top, then Left.
Set the x-coordinate to 3, then press the numeric keypad + to duplicate.
Set the second line’s x-coordinate to 6, then group both lines.
Duplicate again (+) and rotate 90°.
Adjust the x and y values by −3 to align them; one set of corner marks is now complete. Group and duplicate, then mirror horizontally.
Select all (Ctrl+A) → Align: Distribute and Right.
Select all, duplicate (+), then mirror vertically.
Align bottom: Ctrl+A → Distribute → Bottom. All corner marks are completed.
Don’t forget to add CMYK color bars for printing control.

Posted on 2025-11-19 by ZXC Print