Are you attempting to sell your own products or helping your clients to increase their product sales by providing great designs? Whatever the needs may be, learning to design a sticker that will make products stand out is a critical skill for you as a graphic designer.
These are some of the most important things that you should be kept in mind while trying to design your own sticker. The sticker design of your product must be stunning and eye-catching which would leave a lasting impression on the target audience. It’s a fact that the alluring sticker design of a product helps increase the sale by manifold.
When designed and used properly, stickers can add new energy to your branding strategy. As small and simple as it may seem, designing a sticker is a complex task. It requires a lot of thought and many factors come into play when you design a sticker. A good sticker can work brilliantly for a business, especially small businesses that are operating on limited resources. As far as designing the sticker is concerned, here are 7 secrets that industry experts swear by to create the most stunning stickers.
1. Keep It Simple
One of the most essential aspects of a good sticker design is a clean and simple design. It’s easy to get in over your head with so many great ideas that can be put on a sticker. The golden rule is to keep the design down to the most essential icons, just your logo with some effects and flairs would work great too. A simple design helps bring focus to your sticker as the print area is small. It takes the viewer only seconds to understand and hence remember the sticker with a simple design.
2. The Perfect Shape And Size
The shape and size of your sticker largely depend on the purpose of the sticker. If you are looking to create stickers for laptops, they have to be small but if you are looking to add the stickers on shopping bags or take away cartons, for instance, you can work with a larger size. A sticker need not be the simple rectangle or circle, although the rectangular or square stickers are the most cost-effective as they require less time and effort for cutting and result in minimum wastage. You can create a unique shape for a more enhanced effect.
3. Choose Bright Colors
Just like the shape, colors also play a significant role in attracting attention to a sticker. Aim at making the sticker bright and vibrant so that it can attract people from a few feet away. This is even more important if your stickers are intended for a laptop or a car bumper. If you are adding your logo to the design, make sure to use contrasting colors that work harmoniously with the logo colors while helping it to stand out at the same time. But as you look to add various colors to your custom sticker design, don’t go overboard, the best way is to stick with 2-3 colors that work best with each other.
4. Add Bold Typography
Bold typography helps brands communicate easily with the audience. Since there is a limitation of space, you cannot add complete texts like flyers and brochures. It makes it even more important to add the smallest number of words in a clear, bold and readable typeface. Choose fonts that are visible from afar and work well with your design theme. Another way you can increase the readability of the text on your sticker design is by using uppercase letters or a font with bold weight. Some designers even like to add a white or black background to the text to add a 3D effect to bring the text in focus.
5. Include Less Text In Your Design
In continuation of the last point, it is crucial that the text is not only readable but also to the point. The key is to go with either one or two words, your brand name, tagline, hashtag or a trendy phrase. The aim of your sticker should be to enforce the branding exercises, increase visibility and recall amongst the audience. Leave the storytelling to the visual aspect of the design. A lengthy text would mean fitting a large number of words cramped up in a small space, defeating the entire purpose of the sticker.
6. Try A Transparent Background
Not all sticker designs need to have a rectangular shape these days. Most machines used to trace and cut the stickers are die-cutting machines. One of the remarkable benefits of using such machines is that you can create irregularly shaped stickers easily. Such shapes result in unique stickers and you can enhance the entire experience by using a transparent background. Transparent backgrounds are great for incorporating negative space in the sticker designs specifically those which are being considered for laptops, notebooks, skateboards, etc.
7. Use High-Resolution Files
In addition to the creativity and unique sticker design ideas, printing quality plays a significant role in creating the best stickers. As you have put in a lot of effort into each step of the design, make sure you use the highest possible resolution for printing the stickers. Good resolution, large canvas design and a high DPI or pixels ensure that the printed sticker is clear and crisp.
Along with these secrets, just make sure to use the best possible resources and let creativity take the reins when you design your stickers. Rest everything will fall into place and you will see that you have a spectacular design ready in no time.
Conclusion
Keep these easy to remember design secrets in mind when you design a sticker, and your sticker will surely stick around for a long period. The best approach is to always play with different shapes and enjoy designing, no matter which project you’re working on. Always keep colors, resolution and adhesive in mind. You can save some effort if the design in CMYK.
