Build a Shipping Label — Guides — Documents

Overview

Shipping labels are compact, information-dense documents designed for printing at 4×6 inches (thermal label printers) or on A4/Letter paper with crop marks.

Page Setup

Size: 288 × 432px (4 × 6 inches at 72 DPI)
Orientation: Portrait
Margins: 10px all sides
Background: White with a 2px black border

For standard label printers (Zebra, DYMO), use 4×6 inch dimensions. For desktop printing, use A4 size with the label area centered.

Sender (From) Section

Top third of the label:

Label text "FROM:" — 8px, bold, uppercase
senderName — 10px, bold
senderAddress — 9px, regular
senderCity, senderState, senderZip

Recipient (To) Section

Middle section, larger text for readability:

Label text "TO:" — 10px, bold, uppercase
recipientName — 14px, bold
recipientAddress — 12px, regular
recipientCity, recipientState, recipientZip
recipientCountry — 12px, bold (for international)

Tracking & Barcode Section

Bottom section:

trackingNumber — 10px, monospace font
barcodeImage — Dynamic image field for barcode (generated externally)
shippingMethod — e.g., "Priority", "Express", "Standard"
weight — Package weight

Barcode Generation

Generate barcodes in your backend using a library like bwip-js (Node) or python-barcode, then pass the image URL via the barcodeImage field.

Layout Tips

Use line elements to separate sender and recipient sections
Keep fonts large enough to be readable at arm's length
Use bold for important fields (name, city, tracking)
Leave adequate white space around the barcode for scanners

Sample API Data

Generate Request Data

{
  "templateId": "tmpl_shipping_label",
  "data": {
    "senderName": "Acme Store",
    "senderAddress": "456 Commerce Ave",
    "senderCity": "San Francisco",
    "senderState": "CA",
    "senderZip": "94102",
    "recipientName": "Alice Johnson",
    "recipientAddress": "123 Main Street, Apt 4B",
    "recipientCity": "New York",
    "recipientState": "NY",
    "recipientZip": "10001",
    "recipientCountry": "USA",
    "trackingNumber": "1Z999AA10123456784",
    "shippingMethod": "Priority",
    "weight": "2.4 lbs",
    "barcodeImage": "https://example.com/barcode/1Z999AA10123456784.png"
  }
}

Next Steps

Packing Slip Template — Include with shipments
Dynamic Images — Barcode and image fields
Batch Generation — Print labels in bulk

Building a Shipping Label Template