Artwork Guidelines

Artwork Guidelines


Every custom sticker artwork file has three main 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.

Any artwork that goes to the edge of the sticker should extend to the Bleed line. This creates a tolerance that ensures the background doesn’t get 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 machines cut along this path during production. The cutline is setup an 1/8” out from your artwork. Also, the cutline should have rounded corners and no unnecessary nodes.

Vector vs. Raster Artwork File Types

We can print both raster and vector images. Vector images are infinitely scalable graphics made up of geometrical 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 300dpi at print size for high quality printing. We want your stickers to print with the best possible quality. If possible send us your artwork in vector format or raster format at 300dpi in one of these file formats: .ai, .pdf, .eps, .svg, .psd, .jpg, .png, .tiff. Not sure? Have a different file format? No problem. Our Art Department is standing by to help advise you or to fix up your artwork for print.

Color


Our stickers are printed with a 9-Color Printing Process. With this process we offer incredible print and color quality and can match most pantone colors. Because of this we can accept CMYK, RGB and Pantone colors for your artwork. If you have specific color matching needs, vector file formats with Pantone colors will yield the best results. Otherwise, just send us what you have and we will take care of the rest! Here is a link to the Pantone Color Chart.

Cut Lines

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 .05”.

Sticker Sheets

Sticker Sheets can be produced with multiple stickers on one sheet. Follow these guidelines for 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 1/2” margin between Sheet Cut Line and Sticker Cut Line
  • The two longer sides of the sheet must have 1/4” margin between Sheet Cut Line and Sticker Cut Line
  • Individual stickers must have 1/8” inset between Cut Line and 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 print more than this. Let us know, and we’ll do our best to accommodate your request.