Hey! I’m looking to design some product labels for some things I’m making, as well as potentially just some stickers with my logo on them. I can do the design part, but was wondering what you all do to print your stickers/product labels. I know theres an array of at home and online service solutions for this, mainly determining if I should invest in a few tools to do it myself or outsource.
It depends a lot on your volume, design, size and shape. Can you tell us more about your needs?
It usually makes more sense to have someone else do the printing in my opinion but I’m biased!
I think the main questions are how many you need at a time, and how particular you are about the quality of the finished product.
Buying and maintaining a printer requires an up-front investment, and ongoing costs and many pro-sumer level printers leave something to be desired when it comes to print quality IMO (mileage varies widely, and there are decent home printers!)
If you don’t mind your labels looking DIY because your customers know they’re buying a handmade product and you don’t need many at a time, then printing at home makes a lot of sense.
If you’re going for something that looks really slick and you need 100+ at a time then going to a professional printer may be your best option. Under 100 and you’ll be around most print shop’s minimum order, which makes the per piece cost higher naturally.
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I wanted to make some labels for small wood finish containers (1 oz) that I gave away with my cutting boards, as well as some larger labels for some larger tins of it (3-5 oz). I have a few assorted things that I also want to throw labels on, as well as having some general ones with my logo.
I think I’d lean towards doing a large order of the general logo ones and the wood finish labels since I have those in higher stock. May debate doing my own printing for smaller runs of things.
Do you have any print shops that you specifically recommend? Or are most pretty comparable?
Quickprint close to Asmbly. They may even be able to print right on your stuff depending on the shape. Consider lasering/CNC your logo prior the assembly process.
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I can only recommend that you get samples of the stock you pick, and get more than one quote! (oh and be sure to design in CMYK instead of RGB!)
Since printing processes vary widely, so will the results and prices.
Make sure you’re clear about what kind of stock they’re printing on (could be gloss or matte paper, could be vinyl or something else depending on the source) and if getting multiple quotes, be sure you’re comparing apples to apples (full color on vinyl vs single color on paper will look totally different even with the same artwork and the cost will vary too)
I used to work for a local company called Bumperactive
They’re union run and not likely to be your cheapest option, but rad people whose quality I can vouch for!
Anything outside of them and I’d just be guessing, though there’s plenty of online vendors who I’m sure are just as good.
Hope that helps you decide what direction to go next!
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Thank you both for your responses! This has been very helpful