In 1935, R. Stanton Avery invented the world’s first self-adhesive label. Knowing this, some people cite Avery as the inventor of the sticker as we know it today. No matter who you think invented them – there’s certainly no denying the importance of stickers in marketing and advertising.

However, not all stickers will draw attention or stick it out and make a lasting impression. And, believe it or not, designing stickers isn’t as easy as you might think. In fact, there are a few definite tips to follow if you want your sticker design to be noticed.

Below are 5.

1. Plan Your Colors

If the goal of your stickers is to promote a specific product or service, it’s important to keep your brand colors at the forefront of your mind.

You want people to recall your brand, don’t you? If you use an entirely different color scheme than what you’ve used for all of your other materials, customers aren’t going to easily be able to recall that the stickers are promoting your brand.

2. Simplicity is Key

And, often, the same can be said for good logo design. With stickers especially, there’s typically not a lot of real estate available. As such, it’s important to make the most of what little space you have…and use it wisely.

Don’t cram more information into the space than you can reasonably fit. That’s just Design 101.

3. The Higher Resolution, the Better

This is true of any printed materials – from stickers to brochures to sales collateral. If you want the finished product to be aesthetically and visually pleasing, use high-res or vector images. Typically, if you’re printing something large, you’ll want the image to have a larger ratio of PPI, or pixels per inch.

4. Design Your Stickers in CMYK

And pleasing the printer will be a whole lot easier! Then, you’ll be a lot more likely to be satisfied with the end result. If you design your sticker in RGB, you’re going to need to convert it to CMYK before you print.

To save yourself unnecessary work, design it in CMYK the first time around. If you don’t, you’ll risk ending up with a finished product where the color is completely (and we mean completely) off the mark.

5. The Adhesive Is Important Too

If you want your stickers to last a long time, using sticker paper with a quality adhesive is essential. With a poor adhesive your stickers won’t stick. And that would be pretty sad, wouldn’t it?

Have Fun with Your Sticker Design

Keep these easy to remember tips in mind, and your sticker design is sure to stick around for a long time. Don’t forget to have fun with it, either! You can always play with unique shapes to change things up, too.

Whatever you design, keep colors, simplicity, resolution, and adhesive in mind. Design in CMYK, and you’ll save yourself some effort.

If you’re looking for more great tips…like how to choose a new design for your website? Look no further than our blog.