How to make a dieline for a box, step by step

Measure the product

Measure the product as it will sit in the box: length, width and height, with the cap, pump or any raised part included. Measure the real thing, not the supplier’s catalogue number. The box size guide goes into inner and outer sizes.

Choose the structure

The structure decides which panels and flaps the sheet has. A tuck-end carton, a mailer, a sleeve and a tray are drawn very differently. Pick the one that suits the product, the channel and your printer’s tooling; box design lists what Grapxo draws, and reading a tuck-end dieline shows the commonest one panel by panel.

Set the inner size and the board thickness

Add the clearance the product needs to the measured size to get the inner size. Board has thickness, and every fold uses a little of it, so the panels of the flat sheet are not simply the inner dimensions. The outer size of the finished box is larger than the inner size by about the board thickness on each side. Your printer or die maker knows the right allowance for their board, which is one more reason to confirm the dieline with them.

Draw the panels and the flaps

Lay the panels out in a row: front, side, back, side. Add the glue flap on one end, then the closures at the top and bottom, such as tuck flaps and dust flaps on a tuck-end box. Draw cut edges as solid lines and folds as dashed lines. The widths of the glue flap and the tuck depth come from the printer’s die, so ask for them instead of guessing.

Add bleed and the safe area

Mark the bleed outside the cut and the safe area inside it. Grapxo’s print-proof guides use 3 mm for both; your printer’s specification may differ, and theirs wins. Artwork runs into the bleed, and type and logos stay inside the safe area and off the folds. See bleed and safe zone.

Separate cut, crease and glue

Put each job on its own layer: one closed cut path, the creases on their own layer, perforations on another if the box has any, and the glue area marked. Work in millimetres at 100% scale. In Grapxo files the layers are named CUT, CREASE and PERF. The layered vector output checklist covers naming.

Check on a white sample

Before any artwork is printed, ask the printer for a blank die-cut sample. Fold it, put the real product in it, and check the fit, the closure and the folds. Adjust the dieline, and only then release the print run. Then run the preflight checklist on the final file.

By hand, from a template, or from a brief

There are three ways to get a dieline, and they suit different jobs.

• From your printer. Many printers supply a template for their standard structures. It matches their die exactly, which makes it the safest start for a standard box.
• By hand. In a vector program you can draw the panels, flaps and layers yourself at true size. It works, but it asks for packaging know-how, and nothing in the program checks that the flaps fit.
• From a brief in Grapxo. You give the structure and the millimetres; the engine draws the dieline and the print surface together, in one coordinate frame, with cut, crease and perforation on separate layers. It exports SVG and DXF for the dieline and a CMYK PDF/X-4 print file. Your printer still confirms the die.