13 Oct
Shrink Sleeves, Taurus Packaging

The Why and How of Artwork Pre-Distortion for Shrink Sleeves

Branding without shrink sleeves has become unimaginable. A well-designed and properly executed shrink sleeve application promises enhanced brand recognition, recall and visibility for your products on cluttered shop shelves.

However, it is crucial to understand the possible and often staggering setbacks you could face if you do not consider the effects of shrink distortion on your artwork design.

 

The Dilemma of 2D VS 3D

The shrink sleeve making process is pretty straightforward. It starts with designing the artwork and transferring it to the film via printing. The film is joined together and placed over the destination container or bottle. Next, it is time for the heat tunnel where the sleeve gets shrunk to fit around and onto the bottle.

 

What could go wrong?

Since the printed artwork is 2D and its execution is in 3D, there are high chances of the artwork becoming distorted and looking different from the intention. Hence, the need for pre-distortion of graphics comes up.

 

Pre-distortion to The Rescue

During the graphic pre-distortion stage, keep in mind the shape of the container and how much shrinkage is typical for the chosen material.

Until recently, pre-distortion was primarily a manual and experimental task that required multiple rounds of revisions, causing massive delays.

Thankfully, massive R&D in this field has brought about state-of-the-art 3D rendering technology to visualise the expected shrinkage.A good case in point is the advanced Distortion Prediction Technology™ we use at Taurus Packaging.

It allows us to visualise the container in 3D and how the graphic will appear after the expected shrinkage. Once everything is checked, the pre-distortion gets done.Next, the rendered ARC™3D image of your sleeved container shows how the sleeves would appear in real-time.If everything is on point, the design is ready to be printed.

 

Closing Thoughts

Artwork pre-distortion is a crucial step that must get incorporated into your shrink sleeve development process. Distortion prediction allows graphics and text to appear flawlessly on products so you can make good branding decisions before going for commercial approvals.

 

Do you require R&D guidance and expert technical support to eliminate glitches in your shrink sleeve development and design processes? Book a discovery call with me at www.chetan-jain.com