Stickers form one of the most effective ways of promoting your products at a cost-effective rate. Unlike online and television ads that expire with time, well-placed stickers have a longer shelf-life.
Whether you are walking in the streets or the neighborhood, you have noticed a sticker in gas stations, restaurants, door jambs, and signboards.
The most common ones remain the bumper stickers you see around every day.
One thing that most advertisers fail to recognize is that stickers at the back of your car effectively convey messages without accruing any monthly utilities.
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Stickers Vs. Labels
While most people often mistake stickers for labels, the difference between the two is outright. Stickers often incorporate graphics that are appealing to customers.
They comprise of information such as personalized advertisements, name tags, photo stickers, and any other creative idea.
When mentioning labels, a person refers to prints embedded with essential information, such as product logo, address, contact information. Labels abound food products and beverages.
In this perceptive, understanding the basic requirements for labeling is essential to follow the FDA labeling guidelines.
Besides, if your labels are clothing and general packaging ensure that your home printing venture aligns with the U.S. laws governing these particular sectors.
That aside, most people often wonder if the ink and paper quality matters when making stickers.
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Printer and Paper/ label quality
Printer and Ink
To find the right printer for the job is the first step to making the best stickers from home. That said, it is essential to remember that different printers have diverse printing capacities.
Depending on your needs, you should check the printers’ dpi print resolution and cartridge capacity before proceeding to print. For example, if you are designing a standard sticker, then, a 1200 dpi and four cartridge printer will suffice.
However, in case of high resolution and tonal variation, you may need a printer with more than six cartridges to print quality stickers.
Printer ink
Various printer companies understand the need for having dynamic printer portfolios for a diverse market. And so, you will always have printer options for label and sticker printing.
More importantly, as these printers vary, their cartridges also provide standard and high yield output.
Always find the best ink such as the brother printer ink for everyday work or in case of high-quality stickers requiring tonal variation and dynamic color ranges.
Paper
The medium on which you are printing your sticker is another essential consideration. While some people prefer paper, others go for vinyl.
- Paper labels
They remain the simplest form of stickers today. Paper labels may take forms, ranging from the whole sheet to pre-cut labels.
Fortunately, even with whole sheet papers, you can reshape them to the desired size using design templates and tools such as Cricut Machine.
For homemade creative ideas, instant photo stickers, and customized name tags, you may be in a dilemma on the paper to choose.
Accordingly, you will find pre-cut papers such as Avery labels or customized whole sheet papers, for example, the zebra labels 4×6. With pre-cut pieces, you can order the following shapes:
- Rectangular
- Oval
- Square
- Round
Top 8 Home Printing Tips you Should Know for High-Quality Stickers
Having considered ink and paper quality, you can choose an image application of your choice and begin making stickers by yourself.
However, here are some of the most important things you must remember to produce the best quality stickers:
1. Ensure that your Colors Match
Although printing can be costly, finding the best home printing printer will enhance the accuracy of your sticker’s colors. Make sure that you have checked color correctness and consistency.
In this case, you find that CMYK will help you match the colors for your sticker.
It uses a layering technology to place ink dots on the paper until it achieves the desired outcome. You can also use Pantone for color correctness.
2. Always Choose the Right Colors
You do not wish to create a sticker with colors casts and tinted black hues. You may want to align both light and dark colors before you can proceed to print.
Remembers that color design models such as CMYK my not translate well always. For instance, CMYK often fails to reproduces lighters colors above 10%. Always choose the correct colors to color balance be proceed to print.
3. Mind the Shelf-life of your sticker
While some stickers remain temporal, others need to convey a message for a long time. And so, you must choose your ink and paper depending on the lifespan of the various stickers.
Always remember that ink, printer, printing process, and paper, determine if your sticker stands up to time. As a result, always investigate the quality of your printing material before choosing a supplier.
4. Consider Die-cutting
Although some people may say that die-cutting is for professional presses, it can also enhance the quality of your home-printed stickers. Accordingly, shaping your stickers appeal to viewers.
In addition to speed and ease to use, die-cutting improves efficiency. You can quickly and easily make stickers with a strong visual emphasis.
5. Minimize Solid colors on Large Areas
Printing solid colors in a large area is never easy. Even with a standard CMYK or Pantone, you will still not get a consistent image for your sticker.
The best thing to do in this situation is to avoid spreading solid colors all over your sticker while designing.
6. Print the Best Quality
Almost all printing devices prompt you before reproducing your image on the sticker. From these multiple degrees of quality options, choose the highest quality.
Although it consumes more ink and takes longer, the result is much better than the standard quality.
7. Check your Ink cartridges
You may not want to halt printing because your ink supply runs low. Always ensure that you remain well-stocked.
Remember that if one color runs low, you may eventually choose the wrong colors. Importantly, purchase compatible cartridges to guarantee excellent results.
8. Check Paper Compatibility
Always inspect your printer to ensure that your paper thickness matches the requirements.
Note that laser printers often require thinner papers compare to inkjet printers.
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On the Bottom Line
Sticker wholesale printing may seem a tedious job. Fortunately, once you are familiar with basics and technicalities, you can expand your creativity to papers.
Know what to look out for and save both money and time printing stickers from home!