A year ago or so I started creating custom covers and boxes for my favorite video games. Since then I went through a lot of trial and error and achieved some quite satisfactory results (for examples see this, this or this thread)

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My standard process goes as follows:

• I build a box out of cardboard
• I create a design in phoshop
• I print my design to self-adhesive glossy vinyl paper (using a canon pixma inkjet)
• I glue the designon the box

I'm almost satisfied with the result. However there are two main issues:

First: the surface of my printing allways feels sticky. No matter what (glossy) paper I use, if I stroke over the surface with my hand, it does not feel smooth like it does when I e.g. touch the surface of a retail box or a book cover, it feels sticky. The only way to get a good feeling is to use matte vinyl, but the printing quality on this is terrible, not suitable for artwork/photos at all!

Second: my covers start to fade/bleach after a few weeks. I think this has to do with sunlight and/or oxygen but I dont know if there is a way to stop that process.

Home come that my over 20 year old Diablo 2 big box still looks as new but my self made boxes fade after two weeks?

What printing process is used for retail boxes?

If there is anybody here who successfully creates his own custom boxes, please share your wisdom with me :)