How to set a dieline (Keyline, die-cut) to spot colour?
HOW DO I MAKE IT?
Illustrator: Make a swatch of the color you'd like to become a spot color; and in the swatches window, double click on your swatch. When the swatch options window appears, change "Process Color" to "Spot Color" in the Color Type drop down menu.
Indesign: Make a swatch of the color you'd like to become a spot color; and in the swatches window, double click on your swatch. When the swatch options window appears, change "Process" to "Spot" in the Color Type drop down menu.
TRIM
WHAT IS IT?
Simply put, the trim is the line where the physical cutting is done. Anything beyond the trim is cut off and discarded.
HOW DO I MAKE IT?
Illustrator and Indesign: Assuming your document is simple, like a letter head; it would be made when you setup your document. It's found under the width and height.
BLEED
WHAT IS IT?
Bleed, which is almost always 0.125 inches, is the extra design space beyond the trim which will be printed, cut off and discarded.
WHAT PURPOSE DOES IT SERVE?
If the blades (which are cutting the trim) happen to be misaligned by even a tiny amount, the packaging/design would be left with a sliver of stark white (paper) on the edge of your design and will be noticeable to the naked eye. Bleed exists to help hide this otherwise unavoidable problem.
HOW DO I MAKE IT?
Illustrator and Indesign: When you are setting up your document you would simply type in 0.125 into the bleed area(s).
FOLD/SCORE LINES
Fold/Score lines are 0.25 pt or 0.5 pt red (spot color) dashed lines by industry standard.
WHAT ARE THEY?
Fold/Score lines are dashed lines which indicate where the material will be folded.
HOW DO I MAKE THEM?
Illustrator Make your vector path however you prefer, and change the stroke to dashed in the stroke window under the "Dashed Line" check box.
Indesign: Make your vector path however you prefer, and change the stroke to dashed in the stroke window under the "type" drop-down menu.
Make sure that the fold lines are colored in a red or contrastingspot color to your artwork and that it is on a separate layer titled "dieline".
DIELINES
Dielines are 0.25 pt or 0.5 pt red (spot color) solid lines by industry standard.
WHAT ARE THEY?
A dieline is a guide for assisting in the proper layout of a document. It is usually isolated on a separate layer and is usually not meant to be printed on the final piece but is used to specify a shapely/specific trim.
HOW DO I MAKE IT?
Illustrator: Create a solid line and edit the stroke width to become 0.25 pt or 0.5 pt in the stroke panel.
Indesign: Create a solid line with 0.25 pt or 0.5 pt for the stroke width.
Make sure that the fold lines are colored in a red or contrasting spot color to your artwork and that it is on a separate layer titled "dieline".
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Some other websites that I thought would be helpful or interesting.