Your software must support spot colors and vector artwork. We recommend these two options:

• Adobe Illustrator (paid)—the industry standard for vector design
• Affinity Designer by Canva (affinity.studio—free)—a capable free alternative that fully supports spot colors

When creating a new document, you need to set two things correctly:

• Color Mode: CMYK
• Artboard Size: Must exactly match the enclosure side you’re printing on (see table below)

Enclosure sides layout with correct orientation for each side. “THIS WAY UP” arrows show the required artboard direction.

All dimensions in millimeters (mm).

Adobe Illustrator Affinity Designer

In Illustrator: File → New → Set width/height in mm, Color Mode to CMYK, Raster Effects to High (300 ppi).

Adobe Illustrator — Set your artboard dimensions, CMYK color mode, and 300 ppi raster effects.

In Affinity: Click + → Set units to mm, enter width/height, Color Format to CMYK/8, DPI to 300.

Affinity Designer — Set page dimensions in mm, CMYK/8 color format, and 300 DPI.

Create a layer named CMYK in your document. All your colored artwork goes in this layer, painted using only CMYK colors (never RGB).

Important: Remove overlapping backgrounds. If two colored objects overlap (like a blue circle on top of a red circle), you need to remove the hidden part of the bottom object. This prevents double-ink buildup and color bleed.

Example: A red circle partially behind a blue circle. The hidden red area must be removed.

Adobe Illustrator Affinity Designer

Select both overlapping objects → Open the Pathfinder panel → Click Merge. This removes the hidden background automatically.

Illustrator — Use Pathfinder → Merge to remove overlapping backgrounds.

Select both overlapping objects → Right-click → Geometry → Divide. This splits the shapes and removes the overlap.

Affinity — Right-click → Geometry → Divide to remove overlapping backgrounds.

CMYK colors don’t include white paint. So if you need white in your print, or if you’re printing on a dark surface and want your colors to show up correctly, you need to create a white undercoat layer using a special spot color.

Why does this matter? Without a white undercoat, your colors will mix with the enclosure’s surface color. A yellow guitar on a red box looks orange. A red guitar on a red box becomes invisible. The white layer acts as a “primer” that lets your colors appear as intended.

Template in the design software — Top row has white undercoat, bottom row does not. Notice the overlapping circles example at the bottom.

Actual print on a red enclosure — Top row (with white undercoat): colors are vivid and true. Bottom row (without): colors are muddy and absorbed into the red surface.

Another example on black enclosures — Left box: no white undercoat (barely visible). Right box: with white undercoat (vibrant colors).

How to create the white layer:

1. Create a new spot color swatch named exactly RDG_WHITE (case-sensitive, all capitals).
2. Set the color type to Spot Color.
3. Create a layer named RDG_WHITE in your document.
4. Place all white-ink objects in this layer, painted with the RDG_WHITE swatch.

Adobe Illustrator Affinity Designer

Open the Swatches panel → Click the menu icon → New Swatch → Name it RDG_WHITE, Color Type: Spot Color, set all CMYK values to 25%.

Illustrator — Open Swatches panel, then click New Swatch from the menu.

Name: RDG_WHITE, Color Type: Spot Color, CMYK values: 25/25/25/25.

Open the Swatches panel → Click the menu (hamburger) → Add Global Color → Name it RDG_WHITE, check the Spot checkbox, set CMYK to 25/25/25/25.

Affinity — Open Swatches panel, then click Add Global Color.

Name: RDG_WHITE, check the Spot box, CMYK: 25/25/25/25.

Optional Add-on: “Print White Layer Twice”—For customers who want an even more opaque white. We print the white data twice, giving a slightly thicker and brighter white. Most users won’t need this.

Additional Paid Service

If you want a gloss, matte, or varnish finish over parts of your print, create a spot color named exactly RDG_GLOSS (case-sensitive), create a layer named RDG_GLOSS, and place copies of the objects you want coated, painted with the RDG_GLOSS swatch. You’ll choose the specific finish type (gloss varnish or gloss matte) when saving your UV template in the Tayda Box Tool dashboard.

Setting up RDG_GLOSS works the same way as RDG_WHITE. Create a new spot color swatch named exactly RDG_GLOSS, with Color Type set to Spot Color:

Adobe Illustrator — Swatch Name: RDG_GLOSS, Color Type: Spot Color, CMYK values: 50/25/25/0.

Any text, fonts, or numbers in your artwork must be converted to shapes (also called “creating outlines” or “converting to curves”). This ensures your text prints crisply regardless of whether the printer has your fonts installed.

Adobe Illustrator Affinity Designer

Select all text → Type menu → Create Outlines (or Shift+Ctrl+O).

Illustrator — Type → Create Outlines converts all text to vector shapes.

Select all text → Right-click → Convert to Curves (or Ctrl+Return).

Affinity — Right-click → Convert to Curves converts all text to vector shapes.

The “print mode” determines the order the printer lays down each ink layer. Getting this right is essential for your colors to appear correctly.

Default Mode: White → CMYK → Gloss
The printer puts down white ink first (if your file has an RDG_WHITE layer), then your CMYK colors on top, then gloss/varnish last (if your file has an RDG_GLOSS layer and you purchased the service). This is the most common mode and works for most designs.

Alternate Mode: CMYK → White → Gloss Coming Soon — Not Available Yet
The printer puts CMYK colors down first, then white on top. Useful for special effects. Specify this mode when creating your printing job in the Tayda Box Tool.

Advanced Mode: White → CMYK → White → Gloss Coming Soon — Not Available Yet
Additional Paid Service  White is printed both before and after CMYK. For this mode, name your first white layer RDG_WHITE (printed before CMYK) and your second white layer RDG_WHITE_2 (printed after CMYK). Most users won’t need this.