FoodFlo International provides the option for companies to apply their branded message to small bags of confectionery. As part of the bagging process for our popular 40g & 70g sizes, an on bag print is used to give your finished product a custom message.
The custom bagging printing process uses electricity to “screen print” the design onto the bag, from a white or black roll of design film. The process is similar to the Dry or Rub-On Transfers that you may have had as a child, but rather than a wooden stick to apply the likeness of your favourite character, a print head electrically fuses the white or black coloured film to the bag in the shape and design of the customer artwork.
In addition to the customer artwork, the other required information such as allergens, ingredients and nutritional facts are printed onto the bags in the same process.
As part of the process of setting up artwork designs for our customer, we have made some recommendations to ensure you get the best quality, crisp artwork.
When preparing your artwork, we set up the layout in Adobe Illustrator to the specifications of the printer, and export the design in a format that meets the requirements for quality printing and ease loading to the printing module.
To help make it easy for marketing departments and brand managers that are looking to control the look and feel of the final branding message, we have supplied some results for your reference.
Question: What are the various gradient outputs of common artwork colours?
Experiment: Create artwork setups with consistent shape and size in various colours. Print these designs in both black and white processes and analyse results with both plain film and in an on bag situation.
Setup: After securing a trial window with the production team, a selection of artworks have been prepared, and the following artwork was loaded with reference names below. 100% Black was included on every slide as a control.
The Range Of Colours, Shades and Opacities  – Artwork Slides Used In Experiment – 6 panels
Click on the image thumbnail to open larger web optimised image.
Red orange Yellow originalMagenta, purple, navy originalRed orange yellow at 50% original
Red Orange Yellow ArtworkCyan Blue Magenta Artwork50% Opacity Red Orange Yellow Artwork
Magenta, purple and navy @50% opacityOdd Opacities OriginalEven Opacities Original
50% Opacity Cyan Blue Magenta ArtworkOdd Value Opacity ArtworkEven Value Opacity Artwork
Design/Process: All the artwork was printed with a White on-bag print ribbon and then again with a black. At least four impressions of each design were made before moving on to the next artwork.
  • No changes were made to the setup of the printing operation other than the artwork itself.
  • Once the white examples were printed, the ribbon was changed to black for a black on bag print, and the process was repeated, replacing the artwork through the process with no other changes to the print setup or procedure.
  • The bag film remained the same for the entire experiment.
  • The print ribbon is from standard factory stock used in the promo printing process.
  • An example of each printed bag design was Cut flat, and scanned in both against a high contrast background and using the same process as a customer artwork proof.
Results: As expected, there was not a straight line correlation to saturation or opacity in various colours and shades.
Some colours produced interesting print patterns and some of the lighter grey shades were visible on initial high contrast inspection but faded out of visibility when in the final application.
There is NOT a straight line correlation to opacity or the saturation value of a colour and the resulting print pattern or intensity.
Clear, crisp results are best achieved through a solid black colour on a white background (no transparency) as other shades may have variations in print output.
Actual results available below, grouped by design. Click on the image thumbnail to open larger web optimised image.
Red Orange Yellow Artwork Results
black print, Red Orange Yellow, white backgroundWhite Print, Red Orange Yellow on BlackWhite Print, Red Orange YellowBlack Print, Red Orange Yellow
Black Print on a high contrast background White Print on a high contrast backgroundWhite Print as an artwork proofBlack Print as an artwork proof
Cyan Blue Magenta Artwork Results
Black Print, magenta purple navy on white bgWhite Print, Blue Magenta Purple Navy on Blackwhite print, magenta, purple, navy as proofBlack Print, Blue Magenta Purple Navy
Black Print on a high contrast background White Print on a high contrast backgroundWhite Print as an artwork proofBlack Print as an artwork proof
50% Opacity Red Orange Yellow Artwork Results
Black print, red orange yellow, on white with black printWhite Print, Red Orange Yellow @ 50% opacityWhite Print, Red Orange Yellow @ 50% opacityBlack Print, Red Orange Yellow @ 50% opacity
Black Print on a high contrast background White Print on a high contrast backgroundWhite Print as an artwork proofBlack Print as an artwork proof
 
50% Opacity Cyan Blue Magenta Artwork Results
black print, magenta purple navy, white background @50% opacityWhite Print, Blue Magenta Purple Navy @ 50% opacity on BlackWhite Print, Blue Magenta Purple Navy @ 50% opacityBlack Print, Blue Magenta Purple Navy @ 50% opacity
Black Print on a high contrast background White Print on a high contrast backgroundWhite Print as an artwork proofBlack Print as an artwork proof
Odd Value Opacity Artwork Results
black print, odd opacities, white backgroundWhite Print, odd value opacities on blackWhite Print, Gradient, Odd ValuesBlack Print, Odd value opacities
Black Print on a high contrast background White Print on a high contrast backgroundWhite Print as an artwork proofBlack Print as an artwork proof
Even Value Opacity Artwork Results
black print, even opacities, white backgroundWhite Print, even value opacities on blackwhite print, even opacities as proofBlack Print, Even value opacities
Black Print on a high contrast background White Print on a high contrast backgroundWhite Print as an artwork proofBlack Print as an artwork proof
For questions related to this experiment, please contact us. The original colour details used in this experiment are available on request to those looking to replicate some of these results in their artwork designs, and it is best to advise us of this desired result at the artwork proof stage to ensure best results.
As always, there is no charge for artwork setup or changes with our custom branded promo products.