How to add a barcode to packaging artwork

Packaging artwork usually needs a barcode, and in Layout by Zaweba you add one with Object > Insert > Barcode. It supports Code 128, EAN-13, ITF-14, Code 39, EAN-8, UPC-A, Code 93 and Codabar, and draws the bars as vector art in the frame's fill colour. The result prints with clean edges at any size and can sit on any ink in your job.

Most people end up pasting in a barcode picture from somewhere else, and that's where the trouble starts. A bitmap barcode that has been scaled can blur the edges of the bars, and blurred bars are what scanners dislike. Drawn as vectors inside the artwork, the barcode stays exact.

Choosing the right type

The type depends on where the pack will be sold and scanned. EAN-13 is the familiar retail barcode on most products sold in the UK and Europe, and UPC-A is its North American counterpart. EAN-8 is a shorter form for very small packs. ITF-14 is used on outer cartons and cases that move through warehouses. Code 128, Code 39, Code 93 and Codabar are general purpose codes often used for internal labels, stock numbers and shipping.

The number itself comes from whoever manages your product codes. Layout draws the barcode you ask for; it doesn't issue retail numbers, so have the correct one to hand before you start.

Adding the barcode

Open the packaging document, usually a flat net or a label laid out with the right bleed. Choose Object > Insert > Barcode, pick the type and enter the number. The barcode lands in a frame that you can move, scale and rotate like any other.

Colour it by selecting the frame and choosing a swatch. Black on white is the most reliable, and a dark ink on a light background is a sensible fallback when the design calls for it. Because the bars take the frame's fill colour, a pack printed with a single spot ink can carry its barcode on that plate without any process black at all.

If the number needs to change, perhaps because a new variant has been added, double-click the barcode to edit it. Everything around it stays put.

Placing it on the pack

Put the barcode on a flat face that a scanner can see easily, away from folds, seams and the edges of the die line. Leave a plain margin either side of the bars, sometimes called the quiet zone, and avoid laying it over a pattern or a photograph. Bleed is set per edge in Layout, so keep the barcode well inside the trim and clear of any area that wraps round a corner.

For round containers, think about which way the bars run. Bars that run around a curve can distort when scanned, so check with your printer which way is preferred for the shape you're printing.

Proofing before print

A barcode that looks right on screen can still fail if it's too small or too pale. Print a proof at actual size and test it with a scanner or a phone app. Check the human readable numbers beneath it against your product record. If the colours are close to a background tint, use the separations preview to see how each ink will print on its own.

When you're happy, export a PDF with a press preset. Spot inks are kept, crop and bleed marks are added, and live preflight will already have flagged problems such as missing fonts or pictures elsewhere on the artwork.

When there are lots of them

A range of products often means a range of barcodes on otherwise identical labels. Layout's data merge can take barcode and QR fields from a spreadsheet or CSV file, placing one record or several per page, and update when the file changes. For a single pack you won't need it, but for a whole product line it saves typing every number by hand.

Done this way, the barcode is part of the artwork from the start rather than a picture dropped in at the end, and it prints as sharply as the type around it.