One file, six plates

Most design tools export a picture of your artwork. A printer needs something else: a set of plates, one per ink, with the colour already converted and the cutting path kept separate from the art.

A sticker leaving Popcorn carries six of them. Four process inks. One spot ink, set to overprint, because the brand green is a real ink and not a mix. And a die line on its own separation, so the cutter knows where to cut without anybody explaining it over the phone.

None of that is new to the print trade. What is new is that it comes out of a browser tab, and that the person who drew the sticker never had to know any of it.

The work behind it is unglamorous and it is most of the product. Colour conversion that respects an output intent. Overprint that survives the export. A contour that stays a contour. When those are right, a file leaves the studio once and nothing comes back to be fixed.