Attatching artwork to the box?

Usually boxes and wraps are produced seperately then the 'wrap' is applied to the box...

Are you talking about the proper way to design the art? which parts should be upside-down, left-facing, rght-facing, etc?

I can send you a .gif or .jpg showing how I do it if you like (with cutlines, etc.)

Ironically enough, I was working on a post detailing exactly this as a follow up to my post about making a set-up box. I have had a good deal of success attaching artwork to boxes and intend to upload pictures showing the full process. Until I get them ready, here's the introduction and sample file showing the layout I use for the artwork.

A quick note about the image: The black boxes show the actual area of the front and sides and inner panels of artwork. The black boxes should not appear in your final artwork. The gray area is the actual boundary of the artwork showing full bleed (see below). Elements in blue are for illustration only and should also not appear in the final artwork. Items in red (crop marks, printers marks, cutting lines showing the flaps) should be in the final artwork and should be set to print in registration color.

The artwork is laid out using the dimensions of the actual boxboard pieces that comprise the box. For example (using the Fantasy Flight Silver Line boxes), the top piece of boxboard (1) is 7.75 x 10.125, so the center artwork would be 7.75 x 10.125. Since the side boards are 1.5" deep, the artwork for the longer sides (2) would be 10.125 x 1.5 and the artwork for the shorter sides (3) would be 7.75 x 1.5.

Allow from 1/16" to 1/8" (.0625" to .125") between the artwork panels so that the artwork will wrap properly around the seams of the box. The artwork above is done with 1/16" gaps between the artwork.

Also remember to allow extra 1/2" for the wrap to fold to the inside of the box. Since I like to have both artwork and white paper on the inside of the wrap, I have included .25" panels (4) outside the long and short sides and another .25" of white space to the crop marks. Note that I have left 1/16" between the inside panel and the side artwork.

The flaps are shown in red (5). After printing, cut just inside these lines so that they aren't visible in the final trimmed wrap. This will leave you sufficient flaps to wrap around the edges of the box. This will cover the boxboard and strengthen your joint.

The shorter side panels are actually trimmed at a very slight angle to alleviate the seam that would otherwise dominate the corner of the box. The angle of the panel gently folds the seam around to the short side of the box while still covering all boxboard. Note in the detail (below) that the crop marks are set .125" to the inside of each corner of the short side artwork panels.

Lastly, remember to bleed the artwork outside the trim area. This ensures that there are no white areas showing at the edges of the wrap once it has been trimmed. Anywhere from 1/8" to 1/4" (.125" to .25") is sufficient. In the example above I used 3/16" (.1875"). Your printer will tell you exactly what their tolerances are and what the bleed should be.

And that's it for setting up the artwork. There are many theories about orientation of side artwork, etc. I agree with Grek Aleknevicus that opposite sides should have the title of the game in horizontal and vertical orientation, so that the title can always be in the correct orientation.

Note that in the example above, the text on each panel shows the orientation for the artwork in that panel. Picture the box as it will appear once the wrap is applied.

Once I get some pictures ready, I'll post specific instructions for applying the artwork to the box.

And the end result could include cues to the alignment of the images within each box.

Remember that doing the artwork layout manually means doing 2 layouts, since the top and the bottom of the box would be slightly different sizes.

A really classy program could even help calculate dimensions for cutting the board for actually making the box based on either the interior dimensions of the box or the exterior dimensions. The user enters:

-the dimensions,
-whether the dimensions are interior or exterior,
-the type of material used for the box (or, alternatively, the gap between the top and bottom box halves),
-the gap between artwork (could be set to a default between .0625" and .125"),
-size of folding tab,
-bleed, and
-orientation of images (portrait or landscape on top and bottom, all sides landscape or 2 sides landscape and 2 sides portrait.

The program would then spit out the templates for both the top and bottom wraps (including visual cues to the orientation of each panel of artwork) and the dimensions of the boxboard to cut to make both the tops and bottoms of the boxes.

Ideally, the program could export the template in either bitmap/TIFF or in PhotoShop format using layers to separate the printing elements (crop marks, printer's marks, and tab trim) from the non-printing elements (boxes showing placement of artwork, orientation cues, bleed boundary).

Whew, that's a pretty tall order!! I'm sure most people would be happy with something a little less complicated (one that just puts the 5 boxes in place with crop marks and the tab trim lines), but if anyone is capable of creating something this complete and functional, then I don't think anyone would turn them down!

Here's a partial follow up of how to actually apply the trimmed artwork to the set-up box. This has worked very well for me, not hard to get the artwork lined up well as long as you plan and prepare carefully.

After you cut out the artwork, lay it face down and put the box onto it as it will be when you apply the glue to the artwork (do this before you spray on the glue). Then align the box where you want it to go and trace a light line in pencil around the box. These lines will help you place the box accurately once the glue is on.

Practice laying the box onto the artwork using the light pencil lines. Put one corner onto the artwork and then another so that you have one edge only on the artwork. This is very tricky to do once you apply glue to the back of the artwork, so practice doing it a few times so you get a feel of how the corner and first edge should lay so that the box lines up with the box. Remember to keep your hands off of the artwork since, once the glue has been applied, you will be unable to put your hands on it to steady yourself.

Once you are comfortable with the act of putting the box onto the artwork accurately, apply the glue to the back of the trimmed artwork. Then put down the first corner and then the second as you practiced. You should be able to reposition slightly to align the box with the light pencil lines. Once that is lined up, carefully lay the box flat into the glue.

Carefully press the box onto the artwork by rubbing it vigorously with your fingers. Then roll the box onto one of the sides with the end flaps that stick out past the box. Roll in one smooth and firm motion to get the artwork as flat as possible. Press this side down and repeat for the opposite side.

On each of these sides (that were just pressed to the box), pull the flap that extends past the edge of the box down into the inside of the box. Press firmly. Getting the corner right will be tricky. Pull the small flap that goes around teh corner down firmly and use your fingernail to crease the glued paper into the corner.

once this is done on both sides that were pressed to the box, you're ready for the final sides. Roll firmly each side and press. Then fold the flaps over to the inside.

Finally, crease the outside edges where the final flaps that were pressed to the box overlap the material underneath them.

I have pictures of the process that I will add to this post in the next week.

Yep, you guessed it, assemble the box first and then apply the artwork. There are some box types that have the artwork printed onto the board and are then assembled (tuck-boxes for example), but those are made from thinner card stock (not boxboard) where the corners are creased, not scored.

Applying the artwork to the assembled box will help reinforce the box construction by holding all the corners tightly together. Applying the artwork first and then trying to fold the sides would put a tremendous strain on the paper of the artwork (there is a gap of over 1/16" between the boards when the sides are folded) and would probably tear it.

Thanks for the kind words! Nice tip about the bestine, I've never heard of it, but I'm going to try and find some.

I'm not sure you need to score or crease the artwork, since the artwork is only printed on paper (are you printing the artwork on something thicker than 20-24# paper?). The gap refers to the gap between the edges of the box when it is assembled.

To apply the artwork, just apply the glue, lay it onto the artwork and turn the box onto each of the two long sides to apply the artwork to them. If you roll the box onto each side in a smooth and firm motion, there would be no need to score or crease the artwork. That should save you time and effort when applying the artwork.

I hope I'm not misunderstanding something you're doing, sorry if I am.