Print and Design Guidelines to Get the Best in Custom Vinyl Stickers Melbourne

It is nice to know that you can design your artwork and have custom vinyl stickers delivered to you. You go about creating a design and upload it only to receive a message that your design does not conform to their requirements and that you should change it. This can be frustrating especially when you are rushed for time and want the sticker on an urgent basis. Here are a few guidelines on creating designs for custom vinyl stickers Melbourne sticker manufacturer. 

Use professional design package

Use graphics software like Coreldraw, Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop to create your design. You have fine control overall design and layout aspects and even in the use of color. 

Colour

Graphics design packages permit you to make use of the RGB or CMYK model. Since print technology mainly uses the CMYK process it is best to create designs in this color space instead of RGB. When RGB is converted to CMYK later on the colors will look different so it is best to start with CMYK colors. 

Size

Create your artwork at actual print size. Design software usually has tools that let you specify dimensions and measure your artwork. When you choose a size for your artwork also keep in mind the number of stickers you need and the sheet size in which you will layout the artwork. If you choose the A4 size of the sticker sheet then you can put multiple copies across the sheet. Adjusting the artwork size will let you fit in more per sheet and thus save on cost. Another thing to keep in mind is cuts. 

Cuts

Stickers are supplied with die-cut or kiss-cut options. If you want your sticker to die cut then create a bleed that extends at least 3 mm beyond the actual dimension of the sticker. The important parts of the artwork should have at least 2 mm space around them to ensure that the die-cut process does not trim off essential portions. The graphic design software usually allows you to create layers. It is advisable to create a layer above the base layer and specify the die-cut outline on this layer. If the cut is to follow contours of the design, create a path that extends at least 3 mm around the original artwork. 

Fonts and outlines

 You will use fonts in your design. Make sure to use sans serif for clarity, especially in small sizes. In any case, restrict the size to 8pt and bigger. As for outlines, if you do outline fonts, vector art or graphics, the thickness of the line should be minimum 0.5mm. 

Resolution

The usual resolution for high-quality CMYK print is 300 dpi. Most custom vinyl stickers Melbourne based makers will accept TIFF or jpegs so you can convert vector to bitmap by exporting at 1:1 size. Some sticker makers may accept vector art in CorelDraw or adobe illustrator format. A good compromise is to export to PDF and convert fonts to outlines. Find out beforehand and avoid unnecessary rework and delay due to compatibility issues. In any case, check the file size. It should not exceed 50 Mb. 

Create your custom sticker file and upload it to Sticker n Things to receive the printed sticker in just a couple of days.