Artwork & Pre-Press · Quick guide
What Is a Dieline?
Published Reviewed
A dieline is the flat, to-scale drawing of a box before it is cut, creased and folded. In the UK it is also called a cutter guide, and it shows every cut line, crease line, glue area and panel, so that artwork placed on it lands exactly where it should on the finished box.
Every custom box starts as a dieline. Understanding how to read one is the single most useful skill for anyone preparing packaging artwork.
What a dieline is, and why every box has its own
A dieline is a technical drawing, usually supplied as a vector PDF or Adobe Illustrator file. It is used twice: first as the template your designer places artwork on, and then to make the cutting die, a steel-rule tool that cuts and creases the printed sheet in a single pass. That is where the name comes from.
Because it is drawn from your box's dimensions, construction and board, no two dielines are quite the same. A 300 GSM folding carton and an E flute mailer with identical internal dimensions have different panel sizes, because the board thickness changes how much each fold takes up. This is also why the dimensions you give us should be the internal size of the box; our guides on how to measure a box and internal vs external dimensions explain why.
No Die Charges are standard on every order, so the cutting die made from your dieline is not a separate line on your quotation.
The lines on a dieline
A dieline uses different line styles to show what happens at each point. Conventions vary between suppliers and design software, so always read the key on the drawing rather than assuming, but the common line types are these:
| Line or area | What it means | How it is usually drawn | What it means for your artwork |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cut line | The board is cut through | Solid line | Artwork must extend past it into the bleed |
| Crease (fold) line | The board is pressed to fold | Dashed line | Keep text and fine detail off it |
| Perforation | A line of small cuts for tearing | Dash-dot or dotted line | Avoid barcodes and key text across it |
| Partial cut | Cut through the top layer only, to help a fold | Distinct dashed line or colour | Treat as a fold |
| Bleed line | How far artwork must extend beyond the cut | Thin line outside the cut | Fill to this line with background colour |
| Safe-area line | The limit for important content | Thin line inside the cut | Keep text, logos and barcodes inside it |
| Glue area | Where adhesive is applied | Hatched or shaded panel | Usually left free of ink and lamination |
Cut lines
Cut lines mark the outer profile of the box and any shapes cut from inside it: a window aperture, a thumb notch, a hang hole or a handle. Die cutting is precise, but the printed sheet and the cutting tool cannot be registered perfectly every time. The cut can move slightly, often by up to a millimetre or so, which is why background artwork must run past the cut line into the bleed. Our guide to bleed, trim and safe areas gives typical values.
Internal cut-outs follow the same rule. If your carton has a window, the print should run slightly into the aperture so no unprinted edge shows around it. We mark the window on the dieline for window boxes.
Crease lines
Crease lines show where the board is pressed so it folds cleanly. They define the edges of each panel once the box is made up. Folding is less precise than cutting, and thicker board moves more, so a crease behaves like an edge for design purposes: keep text, logos and fine lines back from it.
Two artwork points matter at creases:
- Wrapping artwork. Colour and images that continue around a corner should flow across the crease without a hard border exactly on the fold. A thin border sitting on a crease will look uneven if the fold moves slightly.
- Cracking. On some boards, dark solid colours folded across a crease can show a fine line of white fibre. Lamination reduces this, and board choice matters; see our folding boxboard page.
Glue areas
Glue areas show where the box is bonded. On a folding carton the main one is the glue flap, also called the manufacturer's joint, which joins the side panels into a tube. A crash lock bottom has further glued points on the base panels so the bottom springs into place when the carton is opened out.
Adhesive bonds best to clean board. Ink and especially lamination on a glue area can weaken the joint, so glue areas are usually left clear. Follow what the dieline shows. Many mailer boxes, such as the roll-end tuck front, use folded locking tabs instead of glue.
How to read a dieline, step by step
- Find the key. Identify which line style means cut, crease, perforation, bleed and safe area on this drawing.
- Find the front panel. Locate the panel the customer sees first, often labelled. Everything else is planned around it.
- Check the dimensions. Confirm the length, width and depth match your specification, in millimetres.
- Locate the glue areas and flaps. Note where artwork must stop and which panels tuck inside others.
- Work out orientation. Tuck flaps and some mailer panels appear upside down or sideways on the flat. Mark "top" on each.
- Mark bleed and safe areas. Know where backgrounds must reach and where content must stop.
- Make a paper mock-up. Print the dieline at 100%, cut it out and fold it. This catches orientation and position problems before they cost time.
Dielines by box type
The principles are the same across constructions, but what you see on the drawing differs:
| Box type | What the dieline shows | Main thing to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Folding carton | One blank with panels, tucks, dust flaps and a glue flap | Reversed tuck flaps and clear glue flap |
| Mailer box | One corrugated blank with folded walls and locking tabs | Inside panels printed upside down on the flat |
| Rigid box | Separate drawings for the greyboard and the printed paper wrap | The wrap's turn-in over the board edge and folded corners |
| Sleeve | A band with a glued seam | Artwork alignment across the seam |
Working with the dieline in your file
- Place the dieline on its own top layer, locked, at 100% scale.
- Keep it as a named spot colour set not to print.
- Never move, resize, redraw or simplify it.
- Put all artwork on layers underneath it.
- Supply the finished file with the dieline still in place, so the position can be checked.
Our guide to preparing print-ready artwork covers the rest of the file set-up, and the packaging artwork guide covers the full route from brief to proof.
Common mistakes
Designing on a template from elsewhere. Downloaded templates rarely match your board or construction. Always use the dieline drawn for your job.
Editing the dieline. Nudging a line to fit the design changes the box. Ask us to amend the drawing instead.
Stopping artwork at the cut line. Without bleed, small movements in cutting leave white slivers at the edges.
Putting text on a crease. A fold that shifts slightly will split or distort it. Keep it inside the safe area.
Printing the dieline. A dieline merged into the artwork will print as a visible outline on every box.
Ignoring panel orientation. Upside-down flaps and back panels are easy to miss on screen and obvious on the box.