DVD Label Part 2 : The Foundations

In this second post regarding the DVD Label, we will be examining the dimensions of the label, and eventually creating a template for use on further design(s), within Illustrator™.

Establishing the dimension of a DVD Label.

 Just as with the inlay, we must first establish which elements are to be contained on the label. Again, much as with the inlay, the label should come complete with outer bleed and safety areas.
And of course there will be the main label, or graphic itself. This leaves the center of the disc, comprising of the hub, and the stacking ring.
The hub is the whole in the center of the disc, which allows it to physically function inside drives, and remain seated in DVD cases.
The stacking ring, is a raised area, usually but not always present, which allows you to stack DVDs on a spindle, or inside a Multi-Disc case without them scratching each other.

Thus the list of required dimensions can be illustrated by the following sketch :

Dimension sketch

For the bleed and safety sizes, we can re-use the ones from the DVD inlay, which is 1/8" or 3.175mm each. The diameter of the disc is common knowledge and 120mm. Which just leaves the hub and stacking ring sizes. After some research on www.wizbit.net we can  find these relatively easily.
The hub is detailed as 8.7mm diameter and the stacking ring as 16.7mm diameter.
In summary we have the following dimensions :
- Diameter : 120mm
- Safety and Bleed : 1/8"(3.175mm) each
- Hub : 8.7mm diameter
- Stacking ring : 16.7mm diameter
Total Size(all inclusive) : 126.35mm diameter, although it will be created, at least initially, as a square of this width/height.

Establishing the image attributes

In order to proceed with the creation of the template within Illustrator™ we must first establish the best attributes to use when doing so. The first step in achieving this is to create a new image in Illustrator™ to obtain the list of attributes it requests. The options requested are as follows :
- Number of artboards : This essentially represents the number of workspaces to operate on simultaneously, we will only require one.
- Height and Width : These we covered in the previous section.
- Bleed : Illustrator™ has an option to add a bleed directly to the circumference of the artboard. But as we want to work with a disc, rather than a rectangular item, we will ignore this option and create our own bleed guide later on.
- Colour Mode : Our previous post, on creating the foundations of the DVD inlay extensively covered what the different modes represent. Illustrator™ recommends CMYK, which we have no reason to change since the final product will be destined for print, and thus would need to be in CMYK eventually anyway.
- Raster Effects : This is equivalent to the DPI setting in PhotoShop™. The reason it has a different name, is because Illustrator™ works with vector images, rather than bitmap images, and vector images by nature have no resolution, therefore DPI would be an incorrect term. However one may want to insert bitmap items into the vector image, this is where the raster effect setting comes in, by simulating the DPI for the purposes of said combinations. Therefore we will set this to the same as we set DPI in PhotoShop™ for the inlay; 300.

But what are bitmap and vector images?
Bitmap images are a matrix of individual pixels, all stored within a data table, every single pixel has information stored for each color channel. This means that uncompressed bitmaps of the same bit depth and size will always require the same amount of storage space. Storing information on every single point, or pixel, makes for crisp complex images, such as photos, however they do not resize well, which should be taken into account when manipulating them.
Vector images are made up of vertices and store the image via series of calculations and algorithms. They store the data for each node, and how each not interconnects, along with colour information. Since they are calculating the displayed image, they can be resized easily with no loss of data, and they are take up much less storage space, only needing to store key points rather than the entire image. However, the un-manageable complexity that would be required to store details pictures, makes them un-suitable for photograph storage.

Creating the Illustrator™ template

Now that we have researched all the required information, we can proceed with creating a template which will serve as a basis for further creation of the DVD label.

Stage 1 : Creating the blank image.
From within Illustrator™ we start by creating a new image using the previously determined settings as follows :
- Artboards : 1
- Width : 126.35mm
- Height : 126.35mm
- Bleed : 0mm
- Colour Mode : CMYK
- Raster Effects : 300DPI 

Stage 2 : Adding guides.
 In this stage we will be adding guides, which will help us place items suitably, and see at a glance the relative layout. This works slightly differently that in PhotoShop™. In Illustrator™ we sill simply create shapes, and later convert them to guides. This is very practical, since it avoids being restricted to vertical and horizontal lines, useful for the round shapes of the disc.
 For these guides we will be using the ellipse tool. Clicking on the artboard with this tool selected will prompt for the size of the ellipse. Let's start with the main disc diameter, and set 120mm by 120mm. Once created it is a simple case to drag it to the centre of the artboard, it should snap-to the centre. If it does not, check the option is enabled, under View > Snap to Point.
Repeat this process for these different areas :
- Hub : 8.7mm diameter
- Stacking ring : 16.7mm diameter
- Bleed : 126.35mm diameter
- Safety : 113.65(120-(3.175x2))mm diameter

Once the circles are created, selecting them all and using the context menu, and selecting make guides will convert them to guides.

DVD label template

References :

Wizbit, 2014. 12cm DVD artwork templates and design specifications. [online] Available at: <http://www.wizbit.net/12cm_dvd_duplication_template.htm> [Accessed 4 March 2014].