Get Custom Stickers Made: From Idea to Print-Ready File

On the table lies a sheet of squared paper. On it, a crest drawn in ballpoint pen, the outlines gone over twice, and next to it a shirt in the club colours. This is what it can look like when someone wants to get custom stickers made. Anyone who comes to us like this knows what the emblem is meant to stand for, and for the design that is worth more than a half-finished file.

You don't need a finished print file for this. There are three ways to your own sticker, and which one suits you depends on what you already have.

Three ways to your own sticker

They are sorted by what already exists: from the finished file to the scrap of paper.

Route 1: You have a finished print file

Your agency created the logo, or you work with a graphics program yourself. Then the route is short. What matters in the file, from vector data and colour setup to bleed and the contour line, is explained point by point in the article Print files for stickers.

We check every file technically before printing, free of charge. If something isn't right, we ask.

Route 2: You have a file, but with gaps

An example: the logo exists, but only as an image from an email signature, as a phone photo of the company sign or pasted into a text document. That is fine for a screen. For a sticker with a cleanly cut contour, something is missing: vector data, the right colour setup, a cut line. A pixel image turns blurred or jagged when enlarged, and that shows on the printed sticker.

Then you have a choice. Either your agency completes the file, or you hand the correction over to us. For this there is the paid option “Professional data check” (“Professionelle Datenprüfung” in the German shop), which you can select in the shop once koeck-print.at is online: with it, we correct the file for you. The free file check finds the gaps; the paid option fills them. If a correction is not enough, for example because the logo has to be rebuilt, we tell you beforehand and send you a quote. Please only send us logos you have the right to use.

Route 3: You only have an idea or a sketch

A hand drawing or three words on a scrap of paper are enough: our design team turns them into the sticker. This suits you if you want personalised stickers but don't have a graphics program, for example in a club or a small business without a design department.

Send your sketch and brief by email to shop@koeck-print.at and ask for the design. Before we start, you receive a quote that sets out how the design work will be charged; it is billed according to the time it takes. What is included, such as rounds of revisions and the files you receive afterwards, is set out in the quote.

Once you have approved the design, you order the print in the shop, as soon as koeck-print.at is online. Until then, you can reach us by email.

Design and print happen under one roof: the designer works alongside the plotter that will later cut the sticker, so a contour too intricate to cut is spotted while it is still being drawn.

What to bring if you only have an idea

A good brief doesn't have to be long. It answers in advance the questions that would otherwise only come up in the design. This information helps us:

• Purpose: What is the sticker for? A club party, packaging, a laptop lid, a promotional gift?
• Location: Where will it be stuck, indoors or outdoors, and on what surface? That decides the material. The questions involved are covered in the checklist Ordering printed stickers: what to look out for?
• Size: How much space is there on the object? Measure with a tape measure on the object itself, not on the screen.
• Text: the exact wording, spelling checked, including web address or phone number.
• Logo: in the best form you have, even if it is only a photo. Please only send logos and crests you have the right to use.
• Colours: company colours or club colours, ideally as a colour code, otherwise as an object to compare against.
• References: stickers and signs you like, as a direction rather than something to copy. And ones that are a definite no.

An example you don't like can narrow down the design faster than three adjectives. “Please not so playful” with a photo says more than “modern but friendly”.

What a sketch has to do

Your sketch doesn't have to be pretty. It shows layout and weight: what goes at the top, what is big, what can be small? We redraw the lines, curves and lettering anyway. Photograph the sheet from above in daylight, without the shadow of your own hand.

With colours, the photo reaches its limit. The shirt or the letterhead itself is better for comparison, because every phone shows colours slightly differently.

From design to print file

The brief and the sketch become the design. You see it on screen first, and the screen shows colours brighter and more saturated than vinyl can reproduce. Our four-colour (CMYK) printing can't reproduce fluorescent colours such as neon green. We get as close as we can. The printed proof shows what the shade really looks like. Why this is so is explained in the article Print files for stickers.

Corrections: now rather than after printing

Read the design as if you were seeing it for the first time. Is every digit of the phone number right, every hyphen in the club name? Does the shape still work when the sticker is small on a water bottle? Ask a second person to read it over. Our file check looks at the technical side, not the spelling. Your comments belong in the rounds of revisions agreed in the quote.

What goes into the finished file

Once the design is settled, our design team turns it into the print file. It contains a few things you can't see on the finished sticker:

• Vector data for logo and lettering, so the edges stay sharp at any size. The fonts are converted to outlines.
• Colours in CMYK, the colour mode used for printing.
• Bleed: the background extends a little beyond the cut edge. The cut can shift very slightly, and without this extra margin a light strip can be left at the edge.
• Contour line: a separate spot colour, usually named “CutContour”, that tells the machine where to cut. It is not printed.

Rectangular, round and oval stickers can be selected as a shape in the shop once koeck-print.at is online. For these, the file doesn't need its own contour line. A custom shape, on the other hand, follows the line in the file. For contour cutting, width and height must each be at least 20 mm. Stickers are supplied individually, on sheets or on rolls, which you can also select in the shop.

On the sheet, the stickers are kiss-cut: the vinyl is cut through, the backing paper stays intact. How the cutting types differ is shown in the article Kiss-cut and other cutting types.

Proof: digital or printed

Before the print run starts, you take one last look. For the proof you have three options in the shop, available once koeck-print.at is online:

• No proof: after the file check, the file goes to print. This suits you if, for example, you are reordering a design that has already been approved.
• Digital proof: you receive a view of the print file for approval. In it you check the text, the layout and the cut line. Typos and a contour running too close to the lettering show up here.
• Printed proof (“Standplott” in the German shop): a printed sample of your design on the material you have chosen, available as a separate option in the shop, with the price shown in the configurator. It shows you the colour on the real material.

The digital proof does not, however, show printed colour. If the exact shade matters to you, for example with club or company colours, the printed proof is the better choice. The trade-off: it needs an extra run before the print run.

Why the approved proof counts

Once you approve, the text, layout and cut line are on record as the reference for the print run and any reprints. With a printed proof, the colour on the material serves as the reference too. If you order the second batch of club stickers in spring, the benchmark is already on the table. So keep a copy of the approval yourself, together with the options you chose.

An example: club stickers from a hand sketch

A sports club wants stickers for its members and young players. They bring a hand sketch of the crest and a shirt in the club colours. There is no file.

Our design team redraws the crest as a vector file. The colours are matched to the shirt. Because the crest has a free-form shape, the file gets a contour line that follows the outline. In the process we smooth out small jagged edges from the sketch so that the cut line runs evenly. When the club looks through the design, they notice what was already missing in the sketch: a hyphen in the club name. We add it, and only the corrected version becomes the print file.

The club orders with this file and chooses the digital proof as a final check. In this example the stickers are printed on sheets, so that the coaches at the tournament can hand out a whole sheet instead of single stickers from a jacket pocket.

Our view from the workshop: better one question too many

Our founder has more than 30 years in the trade; the company was founded in 2017. It has taught us one rule: better one question too many before printing than a sheet of misprints afterwards.

A query costs an email or a phone call. A misprint costs vinyl, machine time and a second run. That's why we ask when a file has gaps, rather than quietly patching it up. You should get the sticker you approved, not the one we imagined for you.

And on doing it yourself: if you know your way around a graphics program, go ahead and set up your file yourself. If you would first have to install one and learn about colour profiles, you are better off with our design team.

Conclusion: getting custom stickers made starts with three questions

Before you get custom stickers made, answer these questions for yourself:

• What do I already have? A finished print file, a file with gaps or just an idea?
• Where will the sticker be stuck? Indoors or outdoors, on what surface, and how much space is there?
• Do I want to see the result before the print run? Then choose a proof, digital or printed.

We'll sort out the rest with you. What our design team creates is described under Professional graphic design, and you'll find all our services under Services. Feel free to send sketches as a photo to shop@koeck-print.at, and everything else via Contact.

Frequently asked questions

Can I request stickers with just a sketch?

Yes. A hand drawing on squared paper or a short description is enough to start with, sent by email to shop@koeck-print.at. The design work is a separate service. Before we start, you receive a quote that sets out how the design work will be charged; it is billed according to the time it takes. Tell us what the sticker is for, where it will be stuck and how big it should be. We also need the exact text and the colours. For the colours, an object to compare against is better than a phone photo.

What is a proof and do I need one?

A proof shows you the sticker before the print run starts. In the digital proof you check the text, the layout and the cut line on screen. The printed proof (“Standplott” in the German shop) is a printed sample of your design on the material you have chosen, available as a separate option in the shop, with the price shown in the configurator. It shows you the colour on the real material. It means an extra run before the print run. A proof is not compulsory; for a design that has already been approved you can do without one. Your approval puts the text, layout and cut line on record, and with a printed proof the colour as well.

Who checks my file if I upload it myself?

We do, free of charge for every file, before anything is printed. If something is technically wrong, we get in touch with you. Separate from this is the paid option “Professional data check” (“Professionelle Datenprüfung” in the German shop), which you can select in the shop once koeck-print.at is online: with it, we correct the file for you. If a correction is not enough, for example because the logo has to be rebuilt, we tell you beforehand and send you a quote. The safest choice is a print-ready PDF with the logo and text as vector data, colours in CMYK and bleed all round.