How to design clear stickers and labels

This article is all about how to design the perfect clear vinyl stickers or labels. It covers design aspects that are specific to transparent stickers and labels.

Some of the most premium stickers and labels are crystal clear and look beautiful when applied to your product or product packaging. This means getting the design right to create the most beautiful clear sticker or label is super important.

We’ll go in-depth on 4 points that are vital to think about and specific to designing for printed clear stickers transparent materials. They are:

• Think about the color of your background
  
• Ensure your font is legible
  
• Create a white layer
  
• Use high-contrast colors where needed
  

Think about the color of your background

When you design your sticker or label, you need to think about the color of the background - the background will be whatever is behind the label (the object you're sticking it to).

For example, if your clear stickers or labels are stuck to transparent glass bottles, the color of the liquid is important.

Or if your transparent product label is stuck to a dark-colored box or another piece of packaging, you'll need to use white or other high-contrast colors to show against the packaging.

The image below shows a great example of using white as a high-contrast color to show up against the contents of the transparent glass container.

Ensure your font is legible

When designing for clear materials, you'll generally have less contrast than, say, when you're designing for a white material.

While this isn't always the case, it's something to consider during the design phase.

Because there’s less contrast, or the background can distort the design, you want to make sure the fonts are nice and legible for your readers - even if they forget their glasses!

It would be a shame to lose a sale because the customer can’t read the ingredients, identify the scent, or understand other vital information - especially when you’ve created custom clear logo stickers.

Compare this to the design below. The designer has used much smaller fonts because they’ve got the high-contrast white background that they control thanks to their choice of material.

Use high-contrast colors where needed

Now that we know to think carefully about what our clear sticker or label will be stuck to, we can consider our use of colors.

For parts of your design you want to stand out, choose the highest-contrast colors possible.

However, in some areas of your label or sticker, you may want to be much more subtle to complement your design or frame your brand.

The image below shows a perfect example of this. The artist used big, bold, dark font for the product name on this candle label, but then brought the essence of the brand through with the subtle colors used for the background - and it works perfectly!

Create a white layer

When designing customized clear stickers or labels, you'll inevitably need to think about white ink. Printing on clear stickers relies heavily on white ink.

White ink is a bit special, but nothing to be scared of.

Not all print suppliers offer white ink printing, so be sure to check before placing your order. Sticker it offers white ink printing as standard on many materials, including clear.

White ink can also be more expensive than printing with CMYK inks. However, it's often worth the investment to get that extra bit of design pizzazz.

When used correctly, white ink can really make your design pop - especially on clear labels. Take this for a perfect example:

The white layer in this design utilizes the pink color of the liquid perfectly.

How to make transparent stickers online

If this sounds like too much hassle, you can make clear stickers and labels super easily. Just visit Graphic, our free online design tool, to get started.

Select your material of choice, and it will immediately generate a clear background for you to fill.

It’s just as simple in most other design tools. Select the “background” tool from the toolbar on the left-hand side of the screen.

You can then choose the “Transparent” option from the background color drop-down menu.

Now, your entire design will have a transparent background! When you order your clear stickers, our design team can also create a clear background for you.

Then choose your favorite sticker template to edit and modify.

No need to worry about your bleed area or white ink. Just create your design, submit it, and leave our design team instructions about which parts of your design you want white ink printed behind or any other ideas you have.

They’ll then send you a design proof, a digital representation that shows your final design. If you’re happy, send it to print.

Are you ready to print clear labels? Our clear stickers page is the perfect place to start. You can generate an instant quote by entering the quantity and size you need.

Or, stay right here and check out our blog to learn everything about sticker and label printing.