The main thing to decide is where white ink goes. Holographic Stickers, Glitter Stickers, and Chrome Stickers are printed on a shiny film, and the film shows through any ink printed straight onto it. White ink under a color makes that color look the way it does on screen. Leaving the white out lets the shine show through the color.
The material shows through the ink
Our inks let light through. Printed straight onto one of these films, every color picks up the film underneath. A red over Holographic shifts through the rainbow, and a blue over Chrome looks metallic. Darker ink hides the material more, and lighter ink lets more of it through.
That shine is usually why people choose these materials. It also surprises people who expected the colors on their screen.
Where the white goes
Under any color you want to look like itself, we print a layer of white ink first. With white under it, your red is your red. Without white, your red is a rainbow red.
So a design has three kinds of area:
- Effect showing through: no white under the ink, so the shine is part of the color.
- True color: white under the ink, so it looks as it does on screen.
- Bare material: nothing printed at all, so you see pure holographic, glitter, or mirror.
You choose this on the product page, under "White Ink Backing":
- "None": no white ink, so the effect shows through everything.
- "Full Base": white under the entire design, for solid, vibrant colors, with a material border.
- "Partial Base": white under all the colored areas; the white areas of your artwork become the material.
- "Select Areas": tell us where you'd like white ink in the "Where would you like white ink?" box, or let us decide what works best.
Where white ink should go explains each choice. Your proof shows the result before anything prints.
If you know exactly where the white belongs, build it and send it. Put it on its own layer, filled with a spot color named exactly SpotWhite, and set it to overprint. On these materials the white is a design decision, and if you have already made it, we follow yours.
Try it
Try each white ink choice on Holographic, Glitter, and Chrome, and see which parts keep the effect. How to see what's inside a sticker explains every control.
If you send your own white layer or cut line
When you send your own white layer or your own cut line, we open your file in Illustrator and work from it. What you drew is what prints, and the placement is yours.
That means a careful file is followed exactly. If the white or the cut is only roughly where you want it, tell us, and we will set it for you instead of following a guess.
Design bold
All three materials are busy surfaces. A hairline or a delicate script competes with the material and usually loses, because the eye follows the moving shine instead. Solid shapes, chunky lettering, and heavy weights hold up. Thin serifs and fine gradients don't.
Small text suffers most. If it has to be read, give it more weight than you would on white vinyl.
An all-white design
On these materials, white artwork prints as white ink, so the effect never shows in it. It prints, but it is the combination that surprises people most on the proof. If you want a white design with shine around it, it often works better as bare material with a printed outline than as a solid white shape. Can my design be all white? covers this.
Photos can't show the effect
These materials change as the light moves, and a photo shows only one moment. On your emailed proof, the picture moves with your mouse (or a tap on a phone) to show the material catching the light. That is a simulated effect, and the finished sticker may not exactly match it. "Show White Ink" on the proof page shows where the white ink goes.
Holding one is the best way to judge these materials, so the best test is a small first order. The 15 Custom Sticker Sample prints on white vinyl only, so it can't show you these films.
Ordering
The minimum is 25 of a design. We send a proof first. If we haven't heard back from you 36 hours after we send it, we may go ahead and print what the proof shows, so reply or ask us to hold it.