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Web-to-Print Platform

Inspired by our client’s vision to enhance their business model, we designed and developed a content-rich web-to-print platform that allows customers to create their own packaging artwork — safely, accurately, and at scale.
Built around real product data, the platform produces print-ready PDFs with precise colour handling, while keeping templates, approvals and pricing aligned behind the scenes.

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Web-to-Print

Self-service artwork creation, without losing control

Before this platform, artwork was handled via phone and email — with back-and-forth iterations, manual checks, and significant internal time spent getting designs into a print-ready state.

The goal wasn’t a novelty tool. It needed to behave like production software: customers create artwork safely, outputs match the print specification, and the back office stays aligned on rules, pricing, and approvals.

✔ Pixel-precise design canvases and predictable output
✔ Print-ready PDF generation with technical colour handling
✔ Server-side templates, storage, reviews and approval flow
✔ Product + pricing hooks including customer and matrix pricing

Template and layout views (illustrative)

What made it hard

This wasn’t just a web app. The platform had to sit between creative freedom and production constraints — and generate output that print teams could trust.

Print-ready output

PDF generation needed to be predictable and technically correct — including colour conversions and support for specialist inks used in die-lines and foils, so the output matched the print specification.

Pixel-perfect canvases

Building an online design surface meant controlling layout, scaling and rendering precisely — so what the customer sees is what production receives.

Rules driven by data

Templates weren’t “static artwork”. They were driven by product definitions, pricing rules, customer pricing and matrix pricing — with guardrails to stop invalid combinations.

How the platform worked

The customer experience was kept simple, while the system behind it handled the heavy lifting: templates, validation, review steps, storage, and back-office alignment.

Template catalogue. Server-side storage of templates and variants, tied to real product structures.
Artwork creation. Guided editing with constraints that protect the print outcome and brand rules.
Review flow. Designs can be submitted for review/approval before becoming production-ready.
Back-office hooks. Product definitions, pricing and order data stay aligned with ERP processes.

Before and after

Before

Artwork requests were handled through calls and email threads, with manual checks and repeated iterations. Turnaround time depended heavily on internal availability.

After

Customers could produce designs 24/7 using a controlled tool that outputs print-ready PDFs, while the business stays aligned on templates, pricing and process.

Reality

This was delivered a few years ago, so we can’t claim how it’s used today. What we can stand behind is the build approach: practical constraints, reliable output, and tight alignment with product data.

Tech notes

The technical choices were made around maintainability and correctness: predictable rendering, robust storage and review flows, and integrations that align with how orders move through the back office.

Stack

ASP.NET (VB.NET), MySQL, HTML/JS UI, server-side generation pipelines.

Output

Print-ready PDFs with technical colour handling and production-friendly constraints.

Integration

Hooks into product definitions and pricing, including customer and matrix pricing models.

Working on something with constraints like this?

If you’re balancing user freedom with technical or operational constraints, we can help you shape the right approach — and deliver it in sensible steps.

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