Sticker Sheet Project

The time has come to create a collection of six stickers, including the sheet (packaging) that it will be part of. Your goal is that the set will be cohesive and relevant to your target audience. Along the way you will practice using many of the tools in Adobe Illustrator, as well as how to properly prepare your file for production.

Tools:

Paper and Pen/Pencil
D6 Dice, real or virtual
Camera (handy, but not required)

4. Illustrator or Photoshop

5. Drawing Tablet (optional)

Timeline (2 weeks)

Day 1: Brainstorm & Research

Day 2: Sketch

Day 3-8: Digitize

Day 9: Ready for Print

Day 10: DUE. File Submission + Portfolio Update.

Design Principles

unity variety

balance

repetition

unity variety

1/7

If you need more detailed explanations, click here.

IDEATION & SKETCHING

Click image to magnify!

Theme Selection & Research

You are going to make a lot of lists (of 6 items each).

Make a List of Themes
- Things that interest you or hobbies of yours, could even be holidays, events, or calls to action
- You should have 6 items on your list
- ex) breakfast food
Roll and circle your result. That's your theme.
Interview
- Option 1: Find two peers who know something about your theme
  - Ask: What comes to mind when you think about the [theme]?
  - Ask: What is ONE THING that has to be included in a sticker sheet centered around [this theme]?
  - Write down their responses.
- Option 2: Market Research. Go to Redbubble or Etsy
  - Search for your theme under stickers. What things do you see? Does any one thing seem to show up more than others (ex: search for breakfast, and find a lot of pancakes).
  - Write down your observations.
Make 6 lists for Nuance
- These are the "things" your stickers will be
- Keep things simple
- You can use Google (ex: google image “breakfast”) and write down the types you see.
  - ex) pancakes, jam, tea, etc.
- You could roll between each list and shuffle things you still want to the next list...
  - But its more fun to trust the dice.
  - Make 6 different lists and roll for each.
Research - Moodboard
- Goal = make a visual language
  - Doing research helps you get an understanding of the things that excite and inspire you.
  - Putting them together into a moodboard helps give you an idea of how your project could look.
- Create a new Illustrator file that is 1920pixels x 1080pixels
- Go to Behance or Pinterest and look up sticker pack (or gif sticker pack).
  - Copy (WindowsKey+Shift+S) and paste these onto your moodboard file.
  - Try to get collections of sticker packs so you can see how variety within a set is achieved.
    - Ideas for colour / shape / composition

Sketching

On a fresh paper, write down your first "Nuance"
Beneath, write a list of 3-5 qualities,
- these will help you establish the look you are going for. You will not be rolling this list.
- ex) nuance = pancakes. Qualities: fluffy, complete breakfast, sticky
Start drawing thumbnail sketches (about the size of a loonie)
- Play with styles, aim for variety.
- Draw 3-6
- Select one and circle it.
Repeat for all 6 six nuances.

DIGITIZING & READYING FOR PRINT

Making Phase

How you do this is up to you. You could…

Draw your designs on paper and take a photo, then Image Trace and colour them in Illustrator.
Draw your designs in Photoshop
- make sure your dimensions are at least 10cmx10cm and your resolution is set to 300ppi!
- You will still need to Image Trace when you bring your drawing into Illustrator.
Use the pen tool
Use the shapes and pathfinder tools
Use the shape builder tool

Setting Up Your Sticker Sheet

Create a new Illustrator File
- 13cm x 18cm. 300 ppi
Give it a background!
- Create a rectangle the same size as your sheet.
- Have fun! You could use textures, patterns, gradients... or even a simple white background with lil designs on it (such as the tiger sheet above)
- LOCK this layer!
Create a Title
- Make a new layer
- It should be large, and located in the center or on top
- It may be a sticker itself (with cutlines) or part of the decor.
- Use a font that fits the vibe. Have fun!
- LOCK this layer!
Copy over your stickers
- Scale them to fit on your sheet.
- Arrange them in a visually pleasing way.
- Try to leave a .5cm border around the edges
  - This keeps them safer from damage during trimming
  - You can create a "border" of .5cm rectangles on a new layer, to act as a guide.
Create your cutlines
1. Copy all of your stickers and paste them all onto a new layer
2. Lock the main sticker layer
3. IF your stickers are raster (drawn in Photoshop) you will need to Image Trace each individually. Make sure to remove the surrounding white box.
4. Select all the stickers and
  - Object > Expand (you may need to Expand Appearance first)
  - Object > Path > Offset the path by 2mm
5. Now, this is VITAL --- make sure none of your cut lines OVERLAP! You can do this by giving them a temporary stroke colour or just using the eyedropper tool on the cutline scissors (you'll need to copy it to your file).
  - If the DO overlap --- UNLOCK your main sticker layer, and select your sticker as well as the offset paths. Nudge or resize them together until they are clear of their neighbour(s).
6. Remember, an offset will leave the original path
  - You will need to go to Pathfinder > Unite to merge them.
7. Also, put a rectangular cutline around the border of your sticker sheet
Create your protective borders
1. Lock your main sticker layer
2. Copy your cutlines onto a new layer BENEATH your sticker layer
3. Lock your cutline layer
4. Select all of these duplicated cut lines
  - Object > Path > Offset the path by 2mm!
  - (2mm + 2mm = 4mm, the appropriate amount of buffer fluff)
5. Change the fill of this new cloudy mass to WHITE
6. This will keep the background's ink away from your designs

WAGOL (What a Good One Looks Like)

Notice the...

Title
The background (this one has little doodle graphics)
The white buffer fluff around each sticker
The 2mm cutlines around each sticker