Printed Stickers versus Vinyl Cut Stickers

When you order custom stickers from The Art of Stickers, you get the choice of having it printed or vinyl cut, but which one is right for you? Well here’s a handy little guide to help you when getting custom stickers and decals made.

Sweetnys-cakes-vinyl-cut-decal If you aren’t trying for anything overly fancy, vinyl cut decals are for you. Vinyl cut decals are usually a single colour, or up to 3 colours when layered. This means vinyl cut decals tend to be more simplistic than printed decals, such as lettering and silhouettes. However, this does not mean that they cannot be intricate in design. For example, we have a leopard design available through our site here. Even without clicking the link, the word ‘leopard’ gives off the impression of intricacy, but this design was professionally produced specifically for vinyl cutting. Therefore, unless your intricate design is specifically made for vinyl cutting, it is unlikely we’d be able to produce your more intricate design as vinyl cut.

Sweetnys-cakes-printed-decalPrinted stickers are usually ordered by those who need something that 3 colours and under cannot cover. This is usually true for business logos and images that contain details such as gradients and complex patterns that cannot be replicated by a cutter alone. One instance could be if you need lettering, usually made as vinyl cut, but the letters are under 5mm high. Due to machinery not being the most delicate inventions, and vinyl not being the easiest material to work with when working smaller, this would be nearly impossible to produce. Instead, the letters would be printed onto vinyl with an outline larger than the letters themselves to ensure the cutter doesn’t tear them.

So to summarize:

Vinyl Cut:
-Lettering
-Simpler designs
-Can be layered up to 3 colours

Printed:
-Intricate designs
-Shading, gradient, complex patterns
-Small lettering and other details

If you’re still unsure where your design falls, you can always ask us when you send in your custom decal request email. We can’t wait to hear from you.