You’ve got a logo or an image and you want to turn it into a sticker. Easy, right?
Usually, yes. But one of the biggest factors in how good your finished sticker will look is the quality of the artwork we start with.
We regularly receive everything from professionally designed logos and print-ready PDFs through to JPGs, screenshots, images downloaded from websites and even photos of old stickers that a customer wants us to reproduce.
Sometimes those files are perfectly usable. Sometimes we need to do a little work before they’re ready to print.
So what makes good sticker artwork?
Vector artwork is our first choice
For logos, lettering and simple graphics, vector artwork is always our preferred option.
Unlike a normal photograph or JPG, a vector graphic isn’t made from a fixed grid of pixels. The shapes, lines and text are mathematically defined, which means we can make the artwork larger or smaller without it becoming blurry or pixelated and losing quality.
That makes vector artwork ideal for stickers and decals.
A logo might be used on a small 50mm sticker today and a 500mm vehicle decal tomorrow. If we have the original vector artwork, we can resize it for either job while keeping the edges crisp and clean.
Common vector file formats include:
PDF, EPS, AI, SVG and CDR
There is one catch though. Simply saving a JPG as a PDF or EPS doesn’t magically turn it into vector artwork. The original image may still be a bitmap sitting inside the file.
If you don’t know what you have, don’t worry. Send it to us and we’ll check it.
Does that mean we can’t use a JPG or PNG?
Not at all.
A good-quality JPG, PNG or other bitmap image can produce an excellent sticker.
The important question isn’t simply whether an image is a JPG. What really matters is whether the image contains enough detail for the size you want us to print it.
Bitmap images are made from pixels. When we enlarge the image, we’re enlarging those pixels as well.
For example, a 1000 × 1000 pixel image might look fantastic when it’s printed as a 75mm sticker. Try to turn that same image into a 500mm decal and the limitations of the original image may become very obvious.
Edges can start looking jagged, small text can lose definition and the whole image can begin to look blurry.
That’s why one of the first things we’ll want to know is: How big do you want the finished sticker to be?
“But it looks perfect on my phone”
This is something we come across regularly.
An image can look fantastic on a phone or computer screen but still not contain enough information to produce a good-quality print at the size you need.
Screens are very forgiving, particularly when you’re looking at a relatively small image. Printing is different.
If we need to substantially enlarge a small image, we can’t simply create detail that wasn’t present in the original file.
That’s why, whenever possible, send us the original artwork rather than a screenshot, social media image or thumbnail downloaded from a website.
What about AI-generated artwork?
AI-generated images have opened up some fantastic possibilities for sticker artwork, and we’re seeing more customers arrive with images they’ve created using AI tools. These images can work extremely well.
However, AI-generated artwork is commonly supplied as a bitmap image rather than true vector artwork. That doesn’t automatically make it unsuitable for printing. We simply need to make sure the image has enough resolution for the finished sticker size. If it does, we may be able to print it exactly as supplied.
For simple logos, lettering or graphics, we may still recommend converting or recreating the artwork as vector so we can achieve the cleanest possible result.
Can you fix my artwork?
In many cases, yes.
If you have an older logo and the only version you can find is a JPG, or perhaps you have a photo of an existing sticker that needs to be reproduced, talk to us. Depending on the artwork, we may be able to clean it up, recreate it or vectorise it so that it’s suitable for printing.
For very simple artwork this can sometimes be straightforward. More complicated designs can take considerably longer to recreate, so an artwork fee may apply depending on the amount of work required. But we’ll always let you know before doing any substantial artwork work.
What should I send Sticker Workshop?
Send us the best-quality original file you have.
If you have a PDF, EPS, AI, SVG or CDR version of your logo, send that.
If all you have is a JPG or PNG, send us the largest and highest-quality version available. Don’t resize it smaller before sending it to us.
And most importantly, tell us approximately what size you’d like the finished sticker or decal to be.
That allows us to assess the artwork for the actual job rather than simply looking at the file in isolation.
Not sure if your artwork is good enough?
Don’t let file formats stop you from asking for a quote.
You don’t need to know whether your artwork is vector, bitmap, 300dpi or anything else before contacting us.
Send us what you’ve got and tell us what you’re trying to make.
We’ll take a look at the artwork, consider the finished size and let you know whether it’s ready to print or whether we recommend doing a little artwork preparation first.
After all, that’s part of what we’re here for.
