What is a dieline?
A dieline is the flat, unfolded outline of a package — every cut line, fold, glue tab, and tuck point shown as a 2D drawing. Printers and packaging manufacturers use it to place your artwork on the right panels and to cut and crease each box on the production line. You'll also see the same idea called a die line, die-line, keyline, box net, flat-pack template, or simply a packaging blueprint or structural design.
Dielines are usually delivered as PDF or Adobe Illustrator (AI) files, sometimes SVG. Cut lines are typically magenta, fold lines a different color, and bleed margins are included so artwork doesn't show a white edge after trimming.
Where do dielines come from?
If you're sourcing custom packaging, the manufacturer normally sends one. This is true whether you're working with a small local print shop, a custom packaging service like Packlane or Lumi, or an overseas supplier on Alibaba or IndiaMart. The supplier picks a stock structural design that fits your product and gives you a dieline you fill with artwork.
You can also pull free dielines from sites like Packmage, Packlane's template gallery, or Adobe Stock — but you still need a way to design on them.
Open a dieline in Pack AI
Drop your PDF, AI, or SVG dieline onto the editor. Pack AI parses the vector paths and detects each panel automatically — front face, back, side walls, dust flaps, and glue tabs — so you can design each one independently.
- Detect every panel on your dieline automatically
- Add text, logos, images, and shapes per panel
- Apply background colors panel-by-panel or to all at once
- Read the printed dimensions ("75×75×25 mm") off the source label
- Generate a typographic first draft from a short brief — see AI packaging design
Export back in your printer's format
When you're done designing, export to SVG, PDF, AI, PNG, or JPEG at 300 DPI — print-ready by default. See export formats for which file your printer expects.
Drop in a dieline — see it work