Tips & Tricks of Designing for Print!

14 Feb 2022   |   339 View

We all get the struggle when you have a perfect idea for a design but have no clue how to start! Don’t worry, it
happens even to the best of us. That’s why we are here to help you conquer the seemingly daunting process of
designing today!

Before we start, it would be wonderful to have a clear picture of how you want your stickers to look; is it going to
be a photograph or an illustration? If you are using a photo as a design, the process would be much simpler
compared to an illustration.

For print quality photo design —not just for stickers, but all types of print as well—a resolution of 300 pixel per inch
(PPI) is recommended. If you’re interested to know how to calculate PPI, this is the formula:
height (pixels)/height of image (inches) or width (pixels)/width of image (inches).

Sounds confusing? No worries, there are a plethora of websites with  PPI calculators  . Another way to find the
resolution of your image is by using an image editing software like Photoshop or Illustrator.

Here’s how to find the PPI of your image on commonly used image editing softwares.
Photoshop : “Image” > “Image Size” > “Resolution”

Illustrator: "Window" > "Links" to see the PPI of embedded/imported files (Graphics drawn on AI have no PPI as
they’re vector files and vectors have no pixels)
For Canva, the default resolution for JPG, PNG and standard quality PDF is 96 PPI.
For designs with illustrations — unless they’re your own drawings or digital composite images that you have the
copyright of, it’s best to find royalty-free images from websites like  Unsplash  or  Shutterstock  to avoid getting a
copyright strike. Especially if you’re going to be selling the stickers or making them a part of your branding.

Design Apps & Aid!

If you wish to draw your own sticker designs, here are some apps you can consider getting. For paid apps, it’s
always good to research to see which ones suit your needs more before making the plunge.

Paid:
Procreate (iPadOS)
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 PaintTool SAI 2 (Windows)
Clip Studio Paint (MacOS & Windows)
Free:
Krita (MacOS & Windows)
ArtWeaver (Windows)
Astropad (MacOS)

And if you’d like to do up a digital composite image, there are several other apps you can use apart from Adobe
Photoshop:
PicsArt
Canva
GoDaddy Studio (previously known as Over)
Ash
A Design Kit
Psst, most of them are free!

Adding Bleed Area!

Great, now that you have an app to work with! Before getting started on your awesome idea, remember to set
aside extra space outside of the desired size of your product. Your artwork and colours must extend beyond the
edges of the desired size so there will be no unnecessary white lines upon cutting. This extra space is also known
as bleed.

Correct your colour profile

After applying bleed to your artwork, don’t forget to switch your artwork’s colour profile to CMYK. When you
create a new file, the default colour profile is usually RGB, which is best suited for websites, social media and
anything used online.

We shall not bore you with all the technicalities but just remember:
RGB is for any type of media that transmits light, e.g. computer screens

CMYK is for anything that uses pigment on a medium, e.g. prints

Here’s how to switch your colour profile on Photoshop:
“Image” > “Mode” > “CMYK Color”
The default colour profile on Illustrator is CMYK but this is how you can switch between RGB and CMYK when
needed:
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 “File” > “Document Color Mode” > “CMYK”/“RGB”

Now you’re aware of how to apply bleeding, and successfully switch the colour profile of your artwork, there’s one
last step before submitting for print: exporting! For Vision Display,  we accept files in AI, EPS, PDF, JPG, TIFF and
ZIP formats  The best format to export a file for printing would be in PDF as it retains all the details with the
sharpest resolution.

Once you’re done exporting your file, you are all set to submit your file for printing! Applying bleed to your
artwork, having the correct colour profile and exporting your file in the correct format can speed up your order’s
process.

Now that you’re ready, place an order with us!

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