Behind every label there’s a complex set of regulations that dictate how information is presented. Whether it’s food labelling, ingredient listings, recycling symbols or legal text. Regulatory packaging requirements are necessary for legal compliance across markets, particularly including food and medicines.

In this blog, we’re going to discuss professional artworking and its role in regulatory packaging requirements, including how designs can act as a bridge to print-ready packaging.

How artworking supports legal compliance

Artworking is the process of taking designs from conceptualisation to being print-ready. This involves adapting designs to different packaging formats, incorporating mandatory information, and ensuring brand consistency across a product range.

Artworking plays a significant, often undermined, role in supporting regulatory packaging requirements.

Compliance should be embedded from the beginning of the design process, as opposed to being retrofitted at the end. This allows brands to avoid any visual design mishaps, print reproductions and loss of brand integrity through legal issues.

Examples of regulatory packaging requirements that can be handled with artworking

Chemical labelling (CLP & GHS)

For products like cleaning agents, paints and industrial chemicals, artwork must comply with CLP (Classification, Labelling and Packaging) regulations within the EU and GHS (Globally Harmonised System) internationally. These regulations mandate the use of:

• Hazard pictograms
• Signal words (“danger”, “warning”)
• Hazards and precautionary statements
• Supplier identification

The artworking process ensures legal compliance with the above, particularly in consideration of the sizing and placement across all packaging formats.

A misaligned or missing symbol is not just a visual issue but a legal violation and could lead to product recalls.

Food Labelling

Everyday consumables, including food and drinks, must comply with a host of regulations covering nutritional information, allergen declarations, ingredients lists and country-of-origin statements. Depending on the market, the requirements differ – for example, FIC Regulation in the EU, Food Information Regulations in the UK, and the FDA in the US – so it’s especially important to comply with the regulatory packaging requirements if you’re selling to global markets.

Artworking can support food labelling requirements by:

• Ensuring all text is legible and in the correct language
• Ensuring font size meets minimum requirements for the market
• Providing allergen information in the correct format and emphasised appropriately (bold or underlined)
• Displaying nutritional labels in the correct format

Precision matters in packaging. A missing allergen warning could be life threatening to the consumer, and incorrect labels can invite regulatory scrutiny. Artworking plays a significant role in safeguarding public health as well as maintaining legal compliance.

Recycling and sustainability

Sustainability is now a core consumer concern, and regulations increasingly mandate transparency surrounding recyclability and disposal. Artwork is responsible for placing and sizing recycling symbols such as:

• Mobius loop
• Green dot
• Resin identification codes
• Localised recycling logos (OPRL in the UK)

Additionally, claims such as “100% recyclable” and “Made from recycled materials” must be accurate and supported by evidence. Regulatory bodies can penalise greenwashing, so the artwork must reflect verified claims without embellishments.

Legal text and disclaimers

From trademark symbols to legal disclaimers, regulatory packaging requirements often hinge on the smallest font on labels. Artworkers must ensure that:

• Mandatory text is always included
• Wording is accurate and up to date
• Translations are correctly placed for multi-language packaging
• Trademark and copyright symbols are used appropriately

Incorrect legal copy can be grounds for delisting by retailers and can pose legal challenges, so ensuring it is right from the beginning is crucial.

Ensuring regulatory packaging requirements are consistent across formats

Modern consumer goods are rarely packaged in a single format. A cosmetics brand, for example, may sell a product range in different sizes, including 50ml travel bottles, 250ml shelf products and 1-litre refill packs. Each individual product requires its own packaging layout whilst maintaining brand consistency and compliance. We worked with Sabel Cosmetics to create a selection of 15 artworks for their CBD range across different formats.

So, how do you ensure that different packaging formats carry the appropriate statements, logos, ingredients and legal texts, without errors? The answer: professional artworking systems.

The Springfield Solutions artwork and production team are skilled in carefully considering visual appeal and regulatory packaging requirements so that your final product speaks to your audience, globally.

Our artwork files are technically correct and ready for pre-press, meeting brand guidelines and market requirements. We collaborate with regulatory affairs, marketing teams and translators to take the stress out of compliance.

Compliance as part of the creative discipline

It’s easy to think of regulatory packaging requirements as the monotonous side of packaging, slowing down the creative process. However, precision and detail are just as important as aesthetics. Compliance begins in the studio.

Professional artworking ensures that packaging is legally sound and consumer-safe, enabling companies to sell in the appropriate markets. Legal requirements should be embedded in the production process to protect brands and build trust.

Get in touch with us here at Springfield Solutions to collaborate with our artworking team. With over 50 years of experience, our teams take the guess work out of compliance and make sure your products not only look great but comply with regulatory packaging requirements, globally.