Sticker Design Essentials

Sticker design can be fun, yet challenging, for even the best designers. The quickest route to an amazing sticker design is through careful planning. Before you even begin to thumbnail your sticker designs, consider the following sticker design tips:

Keep it simple

Your sticker design should be simple and easy to read. Don't overcrowd it with graphics, images or text. Make sure there's plenty of white space between your graphic and text elements. Don't add more just because a sticker is larger - simply make your design larger. Stickers are often seen on the go, so you don't have much time to make an impression. Find the simplest way to show your message, and you have your sticker design concept.

Understand your goals

What is your sticker supposed to do? Is it part of a brand awareness campaign or a direct-response campaign? What should viewers feel or do when they see your sticker? With the answers to these questions, you can design a sticker with purpose, one that grabs immediate attention and motivates people to think or feel a certain way or take a specific action.

Go full color

Full-color sticker design is the best way to capture your audience's imagination. Bright, vivid full-color designs grab attention, inspire response and serve as an attractive fixture on just about any surface. If you know the color of the surface your stickers will be affixed to, design with contrasting colors to command attention.

Get it die cut

Die-cut stickers have more appeal than standard rectangular stickers. From circles to dogs to anything else, you can create compelling designs with color and shape by having your stickers die cut. Go for a shape that ties into the theme of your sticker. You can choose from ready-made die-cut templates or have a custom template created for you.

Use a template

Whether you're designing a standard rectangular sticker or a multi-sided die-cut sticker, make sure you use a template with clearly drawn bleed lines, cutlines and safety area. A pre-formatted template also ensures you're designing in the right color mode (CMYK) and the proper resolution (at least 300 dpi). Sticker design offers unlimited potential for creativity. Still, the need to get attention and motivate response, often in a small space, forces the designer to keep sticker design within certain limitations. These sticker design essentials will streamline your design process for efficiency and creativity.