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Design & printing · Your artwork, on every side

Custom box printing, outside and in.

We print your artwork on your boxes - full-colour designs, exact brand colours and white ink on kraft - on the outside, and on the inside too if you want a reveal when the lid opens.

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Three mailer boxes in one circle pattern, printed in orange and pink, green and teal, and lilac
01

Full-colour CMYK

Any design in full colour: photos, illustrations, gradients and patterns.

CMYK builds every colour from four inks - cyan, magenta, yellow and black - laid down in fine dots. It is the way to print photographs, illustrations and busy, many-coloured designs, and it is the most common print for custom boxes.

Because each colour is mixed from four inks, a brand colour can shift slightly from run to run and from board to board. If one exact colour matters most, a Pantone colour holds it more steadily.

  • Photos, illustrations and patterns
  • Unlimited colours in one design
  • The most common box print
02

Pantone spot colours

Your exact brand colour, mixed to its recipe so it matches every time.

A Pantone (spot) colour is mixed as one ink to a set recipe before printing, rather than built from four. That keeps a brand colour consistent across runs and across your other print, and gives clean, solid areas of colour.

Spot colours suit logos and bold, flat designs. Each one is its own ink, so a design with many spot colours costs more to set up than the same design in CMYK - often the best answer is one or two spot colours alongside full colour.

  • Exact, repeatable brand colour
  • Clean, solid colour areas
  • Best for logos and flat designs
03

White ink

Bright white on kraft and coloured boards - the one colour those boards can't show on their own.

Kraft and coloured boards are not white, so every ink printed on them takes on the board's colour, and white cannot be printed with ordinary inks at all. A white ink fixes both: printed on its own it gives crisp white type and logos, and printed underneath other colours it keeps them bright.

It is how a natural kraft box gets a clean white logo, or a bright colour that would otherwise print dull and brown.

  • White logos on kraft
  • A base that keeps colours bright
  • For coloured and dark boards
Open sage green mailer with a watercolour botanical print, a blush pink lining and a moulded pulp tray
04

Inside printing

A colour, pattern or message on the inside, revealed when the box opens.

Printing inside turns opening the box into a moment: a full colour or pattern behind the product, a thank-you line on the inside of the lid, or simple instructions where they are needed. It is printed on the same sheet as the outside, before the box is cut and folded.

Pair it with a printed insert in the same design and the whole inside reads as one piece.

  • Colour, pattern or a message
  • Printed with the outside
  • Matches printed inserts

Printing, in detail

How are custom boxes printed?

Most custom boxes are printed digitally or by offset (litho) printing - and which suits you mostly depends on how many you need.

Digital printing needs no printing plates, so it suits smaller runs, many designs in one order, and artwork that changes often. Offset printing uses plates made for your design: the set-up costs more, but each box then costs less, so it suits larger runs and gives very sharp detail and steady colour.

Large corrugated shipping boxes are often printed by flexographic printing, which suits simple, bold designs in one or two colours. We recommend the method for your order when we quote.

  • Digital: small runs, many designs
  • Offset: larger runs, sharpest detail
  • Flexo: simple prints on shipping boxes

What changes the cost of printing?

How much of the box is printed, how many colours, and which sides.

A logo on the lid costs less than ink across every panel, and printing the outside only costs less than printing inside and out. Each Pantone colour and a white ink layer adds a little, and so does printing several different designs in one order.

If you are working to a budget, a strong one-colour design on a kraft box often looks more considered than a full-colour design squeezed onto a cheaper board.

Will the colour match my screen?

Screens glow and boxes don't, so printed colour always looks a little different - which is why you approve a proof first.

A screen mixes light, while print mixes ink on board, and the board itself changes the result: colours print darker and softer on kraft than on white. Send your artwork in CMYK with any Pantone colours named, and we check it against your dieline before you approve the digital proof.

  • Artwork in CMYK, Pantone colours named
  • Board colour changes the result
  • Approve a digital proof first

Printing on kraft or on white board?

White board shows colours bright and true; kraft gives a natural look that darkens and softens them.

On kraft, dark colours - black, deep green, navy - print crisp, while pale colours almost disappear unless white ink goes underneath. Design for the board you choose, not against it, and the result looks deliberate rather than faded.

Finishing the print

Print can be finished with a coating for protection and feel, and with foil, embossing or spot UV for detail.

Those are finishes rather than printing - see foiling (holographic too), embossing and debossing and UV printing under packaging add-ons, and lamination and varnish under coatings.

With every order

  • Full colour, Pantone or both
  • White ink for kraft and coloured boards
  • Outside and inside printing
  • Artwork checked against your dieline
  • Digital proof before production

Popular for

  • Brand colours and logos
  • Patterns and illustrations
  • Inside-the-box messages
  • Kraft and coloured boards

How to order

Request a quote for your box and tell us in your message how you want it printed - outside, inside, or both - and any Pantone colours. Send your artwork and we will check it and mark the print on your proof.

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Goes with

Finish the print

Gold, Silver & Rose Gold FoilingGold, silver, rose gold and holographic foil stamped onto your boxes for a premium, metallic finish.Embossing & DebossingRaised or pressed-in designs that add touch and depth to your packaging.UV PrintingSpot UV and blind UV: glossy, raised coatings that make parts of your box catch the light.Holographic FoilingHolographic, rainbow-shifting finishes that make packaging impossible to miss.LaminationA thin film over your print - matte, gloss or soft-touch - that protects the box and changes how it looks and feels.VarnishA clear liquid coating - matte, gloss or semi-gloss - that finishes and protects the print at a lower cost than lamination.