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How To Set Up Sticker Artwork

Raghav Saxena At StickerGiant, we touch every artwork submitted to be turned into custom stickers and labels. In doing so, we offer a Free Artwork Setup, so all you have to do is send us an image. We get a lot of questions about how to set up artwork, though, and below are a few guidelines on how we get stickers ready to print.

How do you set up artwork files for custom stickers?

Anatomy of Designing Your Custom Sticker with Bleed Lines – Safe Area- and Cut Lines

Every custom sticker artwork file has three attributes: Safe Area, Cut Line, and Bleed. All essential information on a sticker, like text or logos, should stay inside the safe area. The area outside the safety zone is for background color and bleed. Generally, the safe area begins 1/8″ inside the cut line, but this can be as narrow as 1/16″; just let us know.

Any artwork that goes to the edge of the sticker should extend to the Bleed line. This creates a tolerance that ensures the background is not cut off in production. The bleed extends 1/8” out from the Cut Line.

The Cut Line is the edge of your finished sticker. Our lasers cut along this path during production. The cutline is generally set up 1/8” out from your artwork, which can be set up to 1/16″ out from your artwork. It mostly depends on the size of your sticker or label. For stickers and labels over 1″ x 1″ in size, it is possible to make the safe zone smaller and have this be 1/16″. For smaller stickers and labels under 1″ x 1″, a cut line of 1/8″ from your design will always be needed due to our finishing process. Cut Lines should also always have rounded corners.

Raster vs. Vector

We can print both raster and vector images. Vector images are infinitely scalable graphics of paths, lines, and shapes. Vector graphics are commonly made in Adobe Illustrator and have file extensions .ai, .eps and .svg. Raster images are made up of pixels and are commonly photographic. Raster images need to be 300 dpi at print size for high-quality printing.

File Types

We want your stickers to be printed with the best possible quality. Send us your artwork in vector or raster format at 300dpi CMYK color mode in one of these file formats if possible. Not sure? Have a different file format? No problem. Our Art Department is standing by to help advise you or fix your artwork for print.

Color

Most of our stickers are printed using the CMYK process of color printing. That means the colors are Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black, like the four colors you see in the lightbulbs below. Our Silkscreen Stickers are printed using spot color printing. I’m not sure what we mean by CMYK or spot color. Learn more about the difference between CMYK vs. Spot Color here.

Cut Lines

StickerGiant’s stickers are cut with lasers following a path around the artwork. To properly set up a cut path, use a vector shape with a .5 pt stroke in 100% magenta. The cut path can have no sharp corners. Our standard corner radius is 1/8”. The minimum corner radius is .04”.

Clear Stickers

Clear Stickers should be set up in layers. The artwork should be on one layer. A white vector layer should back up any color areas. A third layer should indicate any clear areas. Clear stickers should be submitted as vector graphics with no transparency.

Sticker Sheets

StickerGiant can produce sticker sheets with multiple stickers on one sheet. Follow these guidelines for perfect sticker sheet setup:

  • Extend bleed 1/8” out from any Cut Line, and some margins may vary based on the size of your Sticker Sheets and individual sticker peels.
  • The two shorter sides of the sheet must have a 1/2” margin between the Sheet.
  • Cut Line and Sticker Cut Line
  • The two longer sides of the sheet must have a 1/4” margin between the Sheet Cut Line and the Sticker Cut Line
  • Individual stickers must have a 1/8” inset between the Cut Line and the artwork
  • 1/16” minimum between Cut Lines
  • Round corners on all Cut Lines
  • In general, we can print up to 30 designs on a sticker sheet, but depending on your artwork, we may be able to print more than this. Let us know, and we’ll do our best to accommodate your request.
    sticker sheets

Learn more about some of our artwork guidelines

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