Glossary of the Sticker and Printing Industry Terms
- 4 mil Vinyl
- A white, glossy outdoor bumper sticker material with a permanent adhesive. We use top of the line, high performance material that will look great and last outdoors!
- Bleed
- Bleed is required for stickers that will have color printed off the edge of the sticker. We require 1/16" extra bleed outside of the CUT LINE for all stickers that will have color printed to the edge. For more information, see our White Borders and Bleeds page.
- Bumper Sticker
- A label or sticker with an image, logo or slogan. Custom Sticker Makers prints full color bumper stickers at any size, and any shape!
- Custom Die Cut Sticker
- A uniquely shaped sticker that follows the outline of your design. Often referred to as a DIE CUT STICKER, your sticker is considered to have a die cut if it has any shape other than a circle, square, oval or rectangle.
- Cut Line
- The cut line is the cut path applied to your sticker and applies to the exact dimensions of your final printed and cut sticker. Any pertinent information on your sticker should fall at least 1/8" inside the cut line, all bleeds should bleed at least 1/16" beyond the cut line. For more information, see our White Borders and Bleeds page.
- Decal
- A type of custom printed sticker that bears a design or logo and can be applied to many different surfaces, both indoor and outdoor.
- Direct Application Labels
- A direct application label is a sticker or label that will be applied to a product instead of being handed out or sold individually. Direct application labels are typically used as product labeling for marketing purposes and are made to be applied immediately. Many direct application labels are small stickers used for identification purposes, many are used for other applications such as industrial compliance or event promotion.
- Double Cut
- A double cut is where we kiss cut your sticker/stickers, and then cut out a slightly larger piece of vinyl around the kiss cut design. The double cut can be used for single designs, or multiple designs per double cut sheet. The second cut, or sheet size, is determined by the customer. See our Different Cut Types Available page for more information.
- dpi/ppi
- The number of individual dots that are within one linear inch. This only applies to raster images.
- Eco Solvent Ink
- Eco Solvent Inks do not off-gas VOC's (Volitile Organic Compounds), and reduce the impact on the environment. See our Green Sticker Printing page for more information
- Hard Copy Proof
- A sample of your custom sticker that is mailed to you and requires your approval before we can begin printing your order.
- High Resolution
- Any image that is 300dpi/ppi or greater, AKA - Print Resolution
- Kiss Cut
- A kiss cut is when we cut through the vinyl, but not the liner, and your stickers come on approximately 8.5" x 11" sheets, as opposed to individually cut out. The kiss cut option is only available for stickers and labels that are less than 4 square inches.
- Label
- A type of custom printed sticker used to identify or label goods or products.
- Line Art
- Line Art is a graphic design term referring to any two dimensional image consisting of straight or curved lines on a plain background without gradients or colors.
- Liner
- The liner is the waxy paper backing that you peel your sticker off of and then recycle.
- Low Resolution
- Any raster image that has a resolution of less than 300dpi at the final size of your custom sticker. Web images are generally saved at 72dpi, and most will not print clearly.
- Pixels
- The smallest unit of an image that can be adjusted. All non-vector files are made up of pixels. The more pixels per inch you have in your artwork, the higher resolution your artwork will be. Pixels are only found in raster images.
- Printable File Formats
- Custom Sticker Makers accepts the following file types for printing custom stickers
- .psd Adobe Photoshop Document
- .ai Adobe Illustrator File
- .jpeg,.jpg JPEG Image File
- .gif Graphical Interchange Format File
- .pdf Portable Document Format File
- .svg Scalable Vector Graphics
- .png Portable Network Graphic
- .eps Encapsulated PostScript
- .dxf Drawing Exchange Format
- .tif Tagged Image File Format
- .mng Multiple Network Graphic
- .pct Picture File
- .bmp Bitmap Image
- .drw Drawing File
- .indd Adobe InDesign File
- .psp Paint Shop Pro Image File
- Raster Image
- A collection of pixels that create an image. For your custom stickers to look the best, all raster images must have a dpi of 300 or greater, at the final size of your custom sticker.
- Small Stickers and Labels
- Any sticker or label that has an area of 4 square inches or less.
- Square Inch
- A unit of measurement equal to a square with sides measuring 1". To find your total square inches, simply multiply the width of your sticker x the height of your sticker. Width x Height = Square inches.
- Turn Around Time
- Custom Sticker Makers has a typical turn around time of 2-3 weeks.
- Vector Image
- Resolution independent images that are scaleable to any size. Vector images do not contain pixels, as the images are created using mathematical equations. Vector images are preferred for best printing. CSM will print custom stickers from the following vector files.
- .ai Adobe Illustrator File
- .pdf Portable Document Format File
- .svg Scalable Vector Graphics
- .eps Encapsulated PostScript
- VOC's
- VOCs (Volatile organic compounds) are commonly found in industrial solvents, and also as carriers in solvent-based inks. VOCs are petroleum based chemical compounds with a high vapor pressure and low water solubility. They are considered toxic, and some VOCs are federally regulated. Custom Sticker Makers uses Eco-Solvent inks. These inks use a less toxic solvent carrier, and drastically reduce the amount of VOCs emitted into the atmosphere.
- Web Proof
- A jpg image showing what your final sticker will look like sent to your email. Web proofs require your approval before we can begin printing your order.
