Printing on ALUMINUM CAN

[domenicocat]

Hey community, I have to deliver a design that has to be printed on a 250ml sleek aluminum can.

Anyone with experience in this filed? 

How would like to know how to set the final file how to indicate the coating and substrate and any other tips you can share!

Thanks!

[Monika Gause]

Talk to the printing folks about how to set it up. They are the ones to know. Depending on how exactly this will be produced there will be different rules to follow. And if this is an online print provider they might even have easy to follow guidelines as a download.

And yes, you might even need to admit to them that you're doing this for the first time.

And maybe it would be a good idea to watch one of these LinkedIn Learning Trainings (or maybe even all of them). They teach you the workflow from the ground up (those are not for free of course):

Learning Print Production

Print Production: Packaging

Print Production: Spot Colors and Varnish

In order to get help here that helps you and doesn't further irritate you, you will need to tell us exactly how your design will look like and where exactly you want your white undercoat to be. Also we need to know how exactly this will be printed and where. But even then: without having their file specifications, nobody will be able to tell you anything specific. And your file then won't meet the requirements. You definitely want to contact the printing folks.

[domenicocat]

First of all thanks for your answer.
I've been trying to be in touch with the printing folks but they reply very rarely, therefore I'm trying to create a file as close as possible...It's the only/best option I have right now. We're a new small company with limited resources and I'm trying to speed up few processes

This is what I've made so far based on what I could research. The printing would be directly on the aluminum of the can, therefore, I have to indicate the color in "spot" which I'm assuming means Pantone (please correct me).

Also, since it's printed on aluminum I would need a white substrate, now my questions  are:

how do I indicate the white color related to the content (not the substrate)?

Is there a specific Pantone library that corresponds to Spot?

Any kind of feedback is much appreciated.

[Monika Gause]

Spot color means, the colors are mixed and then put into the machine. As opposed to process color, where there are C,M,Y and K that through rasterization and printing on top of each other produce the impression of all other colors.

But "Full body white vinyl PE" to me sounds like they will print on a sleeve that is then shrunk onto the can. The sleeve is white, so you don't have to print white, but just knock out those areas. You will need to ask them if you just misunderstood them or if they handed you the wrong template.

Really: having not enough money, no experience and no time is not a good combination.

[jdanek]

"This is what I've made so far based on what I could research. The printing would be directly on the aluminum of the can, therefore, I have to indicate the color in "spot" which I'm assuming means Pantone (please correct me).

Also, since it's printed on aluminum I would need a white substrate, now my questions  are:

how do I indicate the white color related to the content (not the substrate)?

Is there a specific Pantone library that corresponds to Spot?"

Monika is giving you good information.  My concern is the lack of communication with the can print vendor.  Communication early on can save you a lot of money.  Another concern is you mentioned printing direct on the can which is different than printing a shrink label.  There are can manufacturers that print direct onto the aluminum then form the can later in the process.  But, having communication early helps you determine the file type and prepress prelim proofs.  Pantone is one of a few spot color vendors.  There are others such as Toyo, TRUMATCH, FOCOLTONE, etc.  You should be able to find them in Window > Swatch Libraries > Color Books.  A White ink would be indicated as another less known spot color and renamed as White so that it can be output on its own plate separate from the other colors. Vendors that I have worked with ask for White as 100% Process Magenta where no other process colors are used.  You might also put all of your white elements on their own Layer ( but that depends on the vendor requirements ).

"...Is there a specific Pantone library that corresponds to Spot?"

Check with your print vendor, most likely they would accept "Solid Coated" library.

[domenicocat]

Thanks to all for sharing your experience. The communication with the printer isnìt going smoothly but of course, I will not go further without instruction from them.

We want to be ready for the summer, therefore, anything that can save time is helpful.

@Monika Gause

Thanks for the Lynda links, the one about spot colors has been very helpful.

I might have the wrong template since the original plan was printing on the sleeve, that would explain the "Full body white vinyl PE"

@jdanek

Yes, I now know more about spot colors and I'm currently using PANTONE + Solid Coated,

In your experience, is there any information I have to provide about the barcode?

Is it placed in the actual artwork or provided separately?

PS

the truth is:

The company has been working with a bunch of people that delivered messy files (confusing layers, missing fonts and more) for the past 6 months. I just joined the team in what actually is a rush time, that is why I'm asking around and trying my best to pull something out of this mess. Hope that my position is more understandable now

[Monika Gause]

domenicocat  schrieb

In your experience, is there any information I have to provide about the barcode?

Is it placed in the actual artwork or provided separately?

That completely depends on the production.

You have to ask the printing company.

And if you are using the wrong template, that will be an issue as well.

[jdanek]

The barcode is in the file. There are good bar code providers that will give you an EPS file to be used in the file. If you need a vendor, I can give you one. Barcode vendors have to be legitimate and good. Not all of them are.

Sent from my iPhone

[q3player]

This might give you some more informatiion:

First of all printing on aluminium cans is a whole lot different from printing on other materials like paper, plastic foil, tin foil because you are not printing on flat material. The printing will be done on a 3-dimensional body. Therefore the prinitng process is letterset. This means all colors will be applied to the can at once. Sounds easy. But it's not!

If you're used to offset printing you'll know that your sheet of paper goes past every printing unit and there one single color is applied. In letterset there's a rubber mat where ALL colors are put on and than applied at once to the can. And here is the problem: these colors are wet. If you start to mix the wet colors there will always be some part of the first color get into the color dispenser of the second color and so on and the color dispensers get contaminated.

Therefore in letterset there's no overprint. Even if you look at the barcodes on aluminium cans the black strokes are not overprinting the white area. Here you see a close up of black text on a pink colored background:

I have found a small video of a letterpress (seems to be placed in asia). There you will see the process:

- all colors will be transferred from the printing form to the rubbermat (like in offset printing)

- after all colors are applied they will bet printed on the cup (or the can in your case)

http://transfer.can-do-design.de/Diverses/letterset-2.mov

[SJRiegel]

domenicocat  wrote

In your experience, is there any information I have to provide about the barcode?

Is it placed in the actual artwork or provided separately?

I do a lot of package design (though none of it on aluminum). Our standard practice for all bar codes is to provide the printer with the number and have the printer generate and insert the bar code.

There are settings in creating the bar code graphic that are dependent on properties of the press being used to print the final product. We have found that the best way to get a bar code that reads properly is to leave that task to the printer (and to specify that it needs to scan "A"). 

[Mike_Gondek]

To avoid ink contamination, you want to design with the stayaway (aka: keep away, negative trap, aluminum color). Ofcourse this is a limitation to how you must design, Try to use this as an  advantage, as the aluminum is a beautiful clean color, think of this as a metallic ink you can get for free. Grab some aluminum cans in your fridge and look for the stayaways.

http://www.cask.com/wp-content/uploads/Aluminum-Can-Specs-Template.pdf

You also have a choice of choosing transparent or opaque inks. No ink will give you aluminum metallic color, and a transparent ink will give you a metallic look. You also have flourescent, irridescent pearlescent and tactile inks, but I would not worry about that until you get the basics down. Designing for aluminum cans and press checks is a really specialized process, and  usually goes someone with experience in this.

Will Ball canning be the printer?