System and method for designing and creating a printing plate

A method for designing a printing plate having a plate width defined between lateral edges and a nominal plate length defined between top and bottom edges, the printing plate configured for mounting on a printing cylinder having a cylinder width and a cylinder circumference, the nominal plate length dimension corresponding to the cylinder circumference, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) preparing an initial digital graphic file comprising artwork;
• (b) defining an optimal lateral seam path between the opposite lateral edges of the printing plate by applying a minimal energy-path finding algorithm comprising an energy minimization function;
• (c) defining a top edge and bottom edge of the plate in conformance with a geometry of the optimal lateral seam path;
• (d) unwrapping the bottom edge from the top edge to define a closed plate cutting path including the top edge, the bottom edge, and opposite side edges connecting the top and bottom edges of the plate, the closed plate cutting path defining an area;
• (e) wrapping the area defined by the closed plate cutting path with artwork or portions thereof;
• and
• (f) storing an updated digital graphics file.