#press proof

Ulrich Mack. Self Portrait with Press Proof. 1963

Deciding on a final product label design can be difficult. Every business owner wants to adorn their product with the most eye-catching, informative, and effective product label possible. Even after putting in hours of brain power and tinkering with the label design, some customers want to be able to see and touch a physical sample (or a few variations) of their product label before having the order printed and shipped out.

Trying to visualize how a label design will look after it has been printed is not always as simple as looking at the design on a computer screen and assuming that the printed result will look identical - indeed, colors often vary significantly between computer monitors and printers of all kinds. For every label order that we receive, we always create an electronic proof of the order - which confirms the chosen versions, order quantities, etc. These electronic proofs are provided at no charge to you and they are a critical piece of the ordering process, as they provide a check-point for you to make sure we've correctly interpreted your order and selected the correct art files.

However, in some cases you may wish to see an actual press-printed proof (or even several variations of the design) before committing to a final production run.  This is why we offer the option for you to order a 'Concept Proof' before your order goes into production, so you can see what the final labels will look like - and even experiment with different design treatments.

Note - there are some points to take into consideration before assuming that you should order Concept Proofs:

There is a flat $95 fee for us to print an agreed selection of your artwork files (including overnight delivery to you via UPS after the proofs have been printed). Concept Proofs are printed on the same presses we use for normal jobs, but they do not have the same high priority as production orders - so there may be a delay of a day or two before they ship. We'll do our best to squeeze them in between jobs in the least wasteful way, but getting production orders out to customers is always our top priority.

If you're uncertain about specific color mixes or design approaches, you can even send us some alternative files to print side-by-side on the press and make your final design decisions based on the results

    - Concept Proofs are limited to one set per production order - we cannot devote resources to multiple rounds of artwork adjustments, so make sure you prepare your selected files with that in mind.

  - You will need to have a customer profile already set up on our website, and you'll need to have placed a production order. If for any reason you subsequently decide not to proceed with the order, we can easily cancel it and you'll only be charged for the proofs.