How to Find the Best Sticker Design Ideas for Your Online Store?

How to Find the Best Sticker Design Ideas for Your Online Store?

When you’re starting or expanding your sticker business, finding new sticker design ideas is overwhelming. There are hundreds of product pages online, each different from one another. Don’t get discouraged, though – new stickers pop up every day, and sellers can profit.

The key to success is creating unique designs for your niche market segment. If you’re an artist, you can adapt your original artwork. It’s OK if you’re not an artist or designer, – you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

In this article, we’ll cover:

Where Can You Use a Winning Sticker Design?

Print on Demand Sticker with Printify
Print on Demand Sticker with Printify

When it comes to stickers, don’t stick to your old ways! People slap them on anything – doors, laptops, car bumpers, street poles – and people use them for various reasons.

Stickers always have steady demand, and trends pop up regularly. Back in the day, we collected stickers to trade with our friends. Then we put them on laptops. At some point, just drinking from a reusable bottle wasn’t cool enough – you had to cover it with stickers.

The best part is, these trends stick around. There are still plenty of cool bottles and laptop sticker design ideas out there.  

Sticker Design Tips: What Makes an Attractive Sticker?

When you first jump into the sticker business, the abundance of possibilities can seem low-key overwhelming. The crucial first step is to pick a sticker style that fits your brand. Do this before learning how to make stickers to sell online.

There are thousands of cool sticker design ideas, and there is no one artwork that can be deemed the best. Every sticker has its purpose – you should always weigh the pros and cons in a broader context. Consider questions like:

1. Print On Demand (POD) Business

Turn a business idea into a success and earn an easy income by starting a family dropshipping business. POD is one of the best ways to earn money online hassle-free. No inventory, no up-front investment, and no storefront. Involve all family members in online sales by brainstorming, planning, and creating profitable family business ideas with POD.

Print on demand is an online business model with no physical involvement from your side. Create and list products on any online platform and let the printing partners take care of the fulfillment. No need to worry about technical aspects or keep stacks of merchandise in a brick-and-mortar store. With this type of business, print providers will print, package and deliver items directly to the customers.

A square-shaped sticker with a white background. In its center is an image of a cat reading a book.

You can’t go wrong with a classic square-style sticker. The clean, crisp edges and simple-but-elegant look make this the most straightforward and popular option.

A kiss-cut sticker with a dark blue Printify logo. Each letter has a white outline.

A kiss cut provides the ultimate flexibility – cut the stickers into any shape you desire while leaving the back intact.

When it comes to stickers, don’t stick to your old ways! People slap them on anything – doors, laptops, car bumpers, street poles – and people use them for various reasons.

Stickers always have steady demand, and trends pop up regularly. Back in the day, we collected stickers to trade with our friends. Then we put them on laptops. At some point, just drinking from a reusable bottle wasn’t cool enough – you had to cover it with stickers.

The best part is, these trends stick around. There are still plenty of cool bottles and laptop sticker design ideas out there.  

1. Colors

Think about the color palette you’ll use when designing your stickers. Do you want to attract attention with bright colors or keep it minimalistic? The choices you make should be in-sync with the customer segment you are selling them to.

For example, if your sticker revolves around text, make sure the colors don’t overtake it. On the other hand, if you make fun stickers or something that draws attention – go for flashier colors.

If you want to come up with your own color palette, try Paletton – it’s free.

2. Typography

If your sticker features a strong message, make sure you choose a typeface and font that is easy to read. Most stickers are relatively small, so we recommend you go for thick fonts with big, bold letters.

Remember to make the stickers for a clearly defined audience – sometimes you can be witty and playful, sometimes you need to be more serious and direct.

3. Characters

A lot of memorable stickers feature a main character. It could be a funny pug, a spooky-looking skull, or a pinup girl – if it’s cool and eye-catching, it has the potential to boost your brand’s visibility and create mass appeal.

Make It Happen Today!

Where Should You Look for Inspiration for a Winning Sticker Design?

Don’t panic if you get stuck trying to find the best sticker design. There are various places where you can find inspiration, like online marketplaces. Use filters to find the bestselling designs.

Start with these two platforms and check the product reviews to see what customers love and hate:

  1. Etsy offers a full range of creative sticker designs in all shapes, sizes, and categories. Pop culture references are always popping, and they have always been in steady demand. Browse around to find holographic, wall, and vinyl sticker ideas.
  2. Amazon sellers offer an abundance of sticker bundles for all tastes and fandoms. This is a great place to investigate customer reviews and see how your stickers can meet their needs.

Sticker Design Ideas

When you’re looking for sticker design ideas that will sell online, the first thing to focus on is finding the right design for your brand and its style. This doesn’t mean you need to limit your creativity – there are countless ways to approach any design.

Take inspiration from these five sticker categories and think about ways you can tailor them for your eCommerce brand.

Custom Name Stickers

Sticker Design Ideas - Custom Name Stickers 1
Etsy/LunaCraftsHandmade
Sticker Design Ideas - Custom Name Stickers 2
Etsy/JWCraftsSweden

People love labeling objects. How else can you make sure others won’t touch your personal belongings? Save them the sadness of finding their lunch boxes empty in the office fridge by making personalized name stickers.

There are many more options:

These are just a few ways to use custom name stickers. What’s great about them is that the most important part is choosing the right typeface and font – the design should stay minimal, so as not to overwhelm it.

Custom Graffiti Stickers

Sticker Design Ideas - Custom Graffiti Stickers 1
Etsy/LeftoverBagels
Sticker Design Ideas - Custom Graffiti Stickers 2
Etsy/LouisLetters

If you and your target audience are fans of street art, consider turning those artworks into really cool stickers. You can spread the art without spraying the walls if you don’t want to take the risk.

Maybe you’re already a graffiti artist who wants to market your work. Carrying a bundle of stickers around the city is lighter than 10 spray bottles of paint. Plus, you can cover multiple areas much faster. 

These sticker design ideas are where you can use all the colors of the rainbow to draw attention. A new trend is creating flashy holographic die-cut stickers to make them stand out even more.

Custom Cartoon Stickers

Sticker Design Ideas - Custom Cartoon Stickers 1
Etsy/BabyFangzSHOP
Sticker Design Ideas - Custom Cartoon Stickers 2
Etsy/TheCayStickers

Everyone loves cartoons. Pick your favorite characters, and remember to check what’s trending now. Try not to limit yourself to one audience – you can make stickers for parents with children or funny stickers for adults who watch anything from Adult Swim.

A great trick to come up with sticker ideas is to go back in time and revisit your beloved childhood characters and fuel the sweet nostalgia we all crave.

Note: If you’re selling stickers with existing characters, i.e., one’s that you didn’t create yourself, you’ll have to get written permission from the original owner for reproducing and selling their artwork on your stickers. This way, you’ll avoid legal consequences.

Custom Emoji Stickers

Sticker Design Ideas - Custom Emoji Stickers 1
Etsy/HalloCarmo
How to Find the Best Sticker Design Ideas for Your Online Store? 1
Etsy/JancatArtShop

They say there’s an emoji for everything. From cool teachers grading their student’s work, to people who love mood journaling – emojis have infiltrated the stickerverse and are great for creating trendy sticker designs.  

Similar to custom cartoon stickers, some emojis fall under copyright law. Apple has their own emojis, as does Samsung, Twitter, Facebook, and other digital enterprises. To make sure you can sell stickers with these emojis, you must contact them for licensing.

You can also design your own emojis, inspired by the licensed ones, and give them your unique twist. Or choose the ones under the Open Font License, like the Google Noto Typeface.

Custom Graphic Stickers

Sticker Design Ideas - Custom Graphic Stickers 1
Etsy/LeftoverBagels
Sticker Design Ideas - Custom Graphic Stickers 2
Etsy/PaperSharksShop

Here’s a category where your creativity can shine bright. Go for retro, anime, pop art – the ball is in your court. Feel free to play with colors, materials, and shapes like holographic and kiss-cut stickers.

Graphic stickers require a baseline knowledge of digital graphic design or photo editing tools. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t know how to make a sticker design yourself. You can always hire a professional designer to do it for you, or get free print designs.

If you’re committed to designing the stickers, there are hundreds of online resources – guides, video tutorials, and courses where you can learn everything you need from home. We cover some of the most popular graphic design programs in the next chapter.

Which Software to Use for Sticker Designs?

Want to have a go at creating your own sticker designs? There are plenty of online tools to help you.

Adobe Creative Suite comes with a vast arsenal of features and is one of the most popular design toolkits out there. If you’re not already proficient in graphic design tools, you’ll most likely face a very steep learning curve.

Canva is a free web design tool that uses the drag-and-drop approach. Many beautiful templates, graphics, and images are available for free, and you can purchase many more at $1 per element.

Maestro Label Designer is online software that facilitates the creative processes around creating cool labels.

Microsoft Word is an unexpected contender on this list. It offers a familiar interface, a decent clipboard and is most likely already installed on your computer.

Avery offers a simple way to create and personalize templates and labels.

How to Design Stickers to Sell

Design Stickers to Sell
Design Stickers to Sell

Now, let’s chop the sticker selling process into five simple steps to push you towards success.

1. Market Research

First, narrow down your niche. Find the right audience that shows high demand for your product. If people don’t want it – you’re not going to sell it.

Tools You Can Use for Market Research

2. Select Products

You’ve found the perfect consumer segment, so you might already have an idea of what you want to make for them. There are many different sticker types, varying in size, materials, style, printing techniques, and more.

Questions to Consider:

3. Create a Unique Design

If you use the design tools we mentioned earlier or hire a professional instead, you’ll be up and selling stickers in no time.

Remember to add a personal touch to make your stickers unique. Create something that connects with your niche and stands out from the crowd. Draw multiple sketches on a piece of paper (don’t worry about making them perfect) and choose a few favorites to recreate digitally.

4. Choose Where to Sell

You need a place where people can buy your stickers. Consider different factors when picking a sales channel:

The best place for beginner sellers is Etsy – they already have a huge traffic of buyers, so you can spend less time advertising and more time profiting.

We’ve made a quick review of the most popular sales sites to help you get started.

5. Set a Price

Too low, and people might think they’re low-quality. Too high, and they won’t buy them. Calculate an appropriate price for your target audience that still brings in profit for your business. 

Track expenses, profit, and changes in the market, because you can always adjust your price based on your findings.

6. Start Selling

Congratulations, you’re ready to start selling your cool sticker design. Think about doing some initial advertising to get those sales started. It can even be a post on your personal social media profile or group. Sometimes your first clients are your grandparents, and that’s great.

You’re Ready to Get Started

Now you know how to make stickers that will stick to people’s hearts. Make sure you treat your sticker business seriously – they may be small, but they can bring in big bucks. Let’s review the five steps for creating stickers to sell online: 

  1. Do your market research
  2. Choose what type of stickers you want to make
  3. Create unique designs yourself or hire a graphic designer
  4. Pick a sales channel
  5. Set a price
  6. Start selling

Try our Printify Mockup Generator and have a quick go at creating your own stickers today. 

Make It Happen Today!

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1 comment

  1. Vivian
    April 8

    Nice article. It is motivating. I am driven to get my workload sorted out and look at the possible sticker prints from my brand designs for the end of year shopping period.

Write a reply for Vivian comment