WEBS4CD Tech News, Ideas & Help Files

How to Create Vinyl Style CD Artwork

WEBS4CD have been selling the popular vinyl style disc, since 2003 and continue to service bands and dj's all throughout the UK and Europe with growing numbers in the US. The purpose of this blog post is to help customers create artwork which can be submitted to us for on-body printing. Tools you will need

1. PC or MAC or Linux Computer
2. Graphic Design Package (We are using Illustrator CS4 but you can use Photoshop, Fireworks, Gimp, Corel Draw or any other design package)
3. Patience

Objective A vinyl disc is a standard 120mm disc but with a vinyl groove from 70mm to the 120mm edge of the disc. The printable area is broken up into two zones and these are 24mm - 31mm and then 36mm - 70mm. The objective of this page is to show you these two zones and assist you in the creation of artwork ready for printing. Final Look (What we are aiming towards) As you can see below, these discs can look really smart and your artwork must be provided properly to make the finished product look as good as possible.

Printable Zones

• Zone 1: 24mm - 31mm (Printable)
• Zone 2: 36mm - 70mm (Printable)

Non Printable Zones

• 15mm - 24mm (Non Printable)
• 31mm - 36mm  (Non Printable)
• 70mm - 120mm (Non Printable ~ Vinyl Grooves Area)

Download Illustrator Template

If you are using Illustrator CS4 or above, the easiest thing is to open the template that we have supplied for you. You can download this here. Inside the Template One you have opened Illustrator and the template above, you should see the following layout. There are three layers provided as follows

1. Printable Area
2. Vinyl Area
3. Your Artwork

Both Printable Area and Vinyl Area should be locked and Your Artwork should be unlocked and selected in order to work within this layer. The reason being, any artwork that you apply within this layer will be positioned in a way that allows you to easily see what space you have to work with and quickly spot any issues, such as text being chopped out by unprintable areas. At this stage, check that Your Artwork layer is unlocked and selected (as shown in the image below)

At this stage, you can either choose to add a block colour or pattern / gradient using the tools within Illustrator or insert a photograph as your background. To insert a photo, simply use File, Open and locate the photo to be used within your document. This opens a newtab within Illustrator, but using copy (CTRL C) and paste (CTRL V) it's easy enough to move your image into the template. Once inside the template, re-size the image as required so that it appears within the guides shown. The guides are set at 71mm and allow for 1mm bleed around the actual printable area of 70mm. You should see something similar to the image below, if you have inserted your image correctly.

Inserting Text
Now that your image is inserted into the template properly, it is easy to add text as you can see the non printable stacking rings clearly. This allows you to ensure that text is positioned within the template, avoiding any unprintable areas. An example of incorrect insertion of text is shown below.

Incorrectly Inserted Text
As you can see from the example below, the text has been inserted without considering the non printable zones between 31mm - 36mm. The text must be re-positioned to avoid being chipped out and this is simple to resolve by adjusting the font size or splitting the text over two lines, or maybe using curved text.

Correctly Inserted Text

The example below shows how the text appears within the printables areas and does not cross any unprintable stacking rings, resulting in chopped out text.

Exporting Artwork

Once you have completed your artwork, please note the following before sending us your file

1. Ensure your artwork is CMYK (File > Document Colour Mode > CMYK)
2. Ensure all fonts are converted to outlines / vector (Hole CTRL A to highlight all text on screen and then go to Type > Create Outlines option in Illustrator)
3. Save your file as Illustrator Format CS4 (File > Save As > Abobe Illustrator and follow instructions on screen)
4. Upload your file to us via our drop box

If you are not using Illustrator, you will need to set your document up as follows

1. Create a new blank document in your chosen graphics package
2. Configure the dpi to be 300 dpi (this is the size/quality of the document that you will work on e.g 72dpi for website artwork and 300dpi for print based artwork = high resolution)
3. Specify the size as 71mm x 71mm (allowing for 1 mm bleed)
4. Set up a layer for your artwork and a seperate layer for your guides
5. Using the GUIDE layer, add a 24mm circle, 31mm circle, 36mm circle and 70mm circle (ensuring that each is CENTERED perfectly)
6. Using the ARTWORK layer, you can begin adding your photo or colour blocks as per the example below
7. Insert your image or colour blocks into the artwork layer
8. Insert your text into the artwork layer, ensuring it positions correctly within the printable area
9. Once it's finished, HIDE ALL LAYERS so it's artwork only
10. Export your artwork as high resolution TIFF or JPEG file
11. Upload your file to us via our drop box

If you have any questions, let us know. Any feedback welcome and we will expand on this document as we feel necessary to further help our customers in preparing artwork for vinyl cd media.