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How to Make Die Cut Stickers in Adobe Illustrator
It is hard to execute a do-it-yourself project especially if you are wondering about doing the custom die cut stickers all by yourself without basic knowledge. Making custom die cut stickers is one of the difficult things a designer can come across because you need to follow the sticker’s shape that is why the majority of business owners choose to rely on a professional graphic designer.
Before you go through these 13 simplified steps, you should have a basic knowledge of vector files and adobe illustrator. In addition, you should also know how to navigate a vector image for your next sticker project. If you are confident to do it, all you need is to spend 20 minutes of your time finishing the task. Below are the following step-by-step instructions to create die cut stickers.
1. Open your file in Adobe Illustrator and use your logo. Make sure it is a Vector image and not a Raster one.
2. Select the shape by double-clicking on the outermost line.
3. Click “Edit” ? “Copy”, or use a Shortcut Ctrl+C for Windows and Command+C for Mac.
4. Click the Arrow Button to unselect the shape, or simply double-click anywhere outside the Artboard to exit the selection mode.
5. Create a new layer, then Paste in Place on the new layer (Shift+Ctrl+V or Command+Shift+V for Mac).
6. Go to "Object" ? "Path" ? "Offset Path".
7. Now it is time to create margins. In the “Offset” line put the value of 0.2cm, tick the “Preview” box, and click OK. This step will make your artwork exactly 0.2 cm bigger than the original. (.2cm allowed offset as per standard)
8. Click the outer part of the shape.
9. Change the fill color to transparent and the stroke to red.
10. Then go to “Attributes” ? Tick the “Overprint Stroke” box. Make sure to select the outline before you tick “Overprint Stroke”. This is how it should look:
11. Now delete the black shape. Here’s what you are supposed to see.
12. Rename the current layer to “dieline” and the first layer to “artwork” to let your printing company know what’s what.
13. Save your artwork as a PDF file.
Now you have your artwork that is ready to be printed!
If you are clueless with the whole process, you shouldn’t waste your precious time and energy in figuring out how to make custom die cut stickers in Illustrator and trust our experts here in SingaPrinting. We are one of the most reputable customised stickers printing companies in Singapore.
