Sticker Books – Handy Object Styles

Handy object styles for sticker books

Creating a path in Photoshop

In order to use a Sticker Book object style in InDesign you will need to first create a path in the Photoshop file. Make sure to keep your path simple, close to the edge of your actual image (not the imagined cutter guide) with no sharp angles or intricate shapes. These cannot be maintained when cutting and can cause stickers to tear when being peeled.

Download file

Click on the link below to download the template containing the Object Styles.

Load Object Styles

Open your InDesign file and go to your Object Styles palette (Window>Styles>Object Styles). Select Load Object Styles from the palette option, then select the downloaded file and click Open. Check the Object Styles you wish to load and click OK (don’t check or load the Basic Graphics Frame or Basic Text Frame Object Styles).

Applying a cutter guide Object Style in InDesign

• Place your image into your InDesign document at your desired size and position (on the CMYK layer).

• Click on your image with the Selection Tool (black arrow). Go to the Clipping Path Options (Object>Clipping Path>Options…). Change the Type to Photoshop Path, then go to Path and select the path you created.

• Reselect your image with the Selection Tool (black arrow). Convert your Clipping Path to a frame (Object>Clipping Path>Convert Clipping Path to Frame).

• Click on your image with the Selection Tool (black arrow). Select your desired Object Style (Window>Styles>Object Styles).

Object Style examples

Cutter_Guide – This will place a spot colour stroke called Cutter Guide 3mm out side of  an image frame.

Cutter_Guide_Reverse – Sometimes the Cutter_Guide object style will not work correctly and align the cutter guide on the inside of the image frame. If it does simply use the Cutter_Guide_Reverse object style which will realign it to the outside.

Sticker_Position_Guide – This will place a 3mm white (paper) stroke around an image frame.

Sticker_Position_Guide_Drop_Shadow – This will place a 3mm white (paper) stroke around an image frame and include a black (K) only, feathered drop shadow.

When the Object Style appears incorrect

Sometimes the path does not behave properly and the Cutter Guide will appear on the inside once the Object Style is applied. If this happens, simply select the Cutter_Guide_Reverse Object Style.

Adjustments after the Object Style is applied

You can use the Direct Selection tool (white arrow) if you wish to manually adjust the Cutter Guide shape. Simply drag the points on the image frame.

If you need a larger gap between sticker and cutter guide, just increase the stroke width.

If you resize a sticker after you have applied the Cutter Guide Object Style, make sure you clear overrides in the object styles to maintain the 3mm gap between the image and the Cutter Guide.

Some images are not suitable for use with these Object Styles

Certain images can prove to be very difficult to tidy up. If this is the case, simply draw the cutter guide manually as described further up in this post.

The CTS team would like to thank Lisa Robb who devised the method and original Object Style, used to create the ‘Handy Object Styles for Sticker Books’ section of this post.