Dielines, cutter guides, die cuts

Dielines (also referred to as cutter guides or die cuts), are lines created in InDesign or Illustrator that indicate perforation, cutting, and folding marks which will be used by the printer as part of the die cutting process.

The dielines (as they shall be referred to here on) should be set up in the following way:

• A spot colour called Dielines should be set up in InDesign/Illustrator.
• They should be drawn as paths using either the Pen or Frame tools.
• The stroke should always be coloured a 100% tint of the Dielines spot colour and set to overprint.
• The recommended stroke weight is 1pt and the minimum is 0.3pt.
• Printed areas that are die cut should always bleed off by at least 3mm.
• Keep in mind that die cutting is not laser accurate so movement does occur on press by anywhere up to 3mm (1.5mm in any direction).
• Sharp angles and intricate shapes cannot be maintained with a die cutting tool. These types of shapes should have a minimum corner radius of 3mm.
• Allow at least 3mm distance between die cut shapes to avoid paper breakage and cutter jamming issues.

Here are examples where you will need to set up dielines:

• Sticker books
• Flash cards
• When supplied with a printer template and you need to recreate the dielines in InDesign.