With Smartpress, The Bernard Group’s online division, custom wall decals are more than just stickers- they’re a powerful form of custom wall art. Whether you need a subtle message or a large format wall decal that commands attention, we offer sizes from small accents to full wall murals. Plus, we provide eco-friendly wall decal materials and user-friendly installation for both impactful messaging and eye-catching decor.
Need inspiration? Smartpress Graphic Designer Nate Johannes will show you how strategically placed wall decals gave our workspace an upgrade you won’t believe. (Trust us, the scale is truly impressive!)
High-Impact Wall Messaging for Any Space
Whether for your office decor or as part of your nonprofit’s brand identity, Custom Wall Decals decorate with detail. For indoor use on smooth interior walls and glass surfaces, our temporary wall decals feature an adhesive that lasts up to 18 months and leaves little to no residue, so you can remove and reapply your wall decor as the mood strikes – or as your marketing strategy requires.
Choose from classic vinyl for your printed wall decals or make a sustainable statement with our green wall decal options: Smooth Paper-Based Wall Decal (FSC) and Textured Paper-Based Wall Decal (FSC). These eco-friendly decals are paper-based, and give you the option of a smooth gloss finish or a slightly textured, matte one that adds even more interest to your custom graphics.
As an essential business service, custom wall decals serve various purposes beyond aesthetics, including branding and messaging. Consider their impact in retail stores, restaurants, nonprofit organizations, manufacturing facilities, churches and school classrooms. The principle is simple: if you have a wall, add decal.
Hint: Before you do your wall decal printing, explore our sustainable options: Sustainable Swap: 4 New Green Alternatives for Eco-Friendly Printing.
Scale Your Vision: From Small Decals to Large Wall Murals
The beauty about designing custom wall decals with us lies in their true customizability. We can create decals as small or large as you need, in virtually any shape you can think of (thanks to our digital die cutting capabilities). Ideal for brand logos, mottos, abstract designs, and intricate artwork, our decals can be produced as a single sheet or a multi-piece masterpiece.
For Smartpress’ own production facility, we opted for large wall decals that doubled as branding and office decor. Like many industrial spaces, we had expansive white walls, making large format printing the ideal solution for impactful visuals.
With Smartpress’ versatile custom printing services, even our substantial decals, measuring 120’W x 12’H and 18’W x 18’H, were easily accommodated problem. (Find more on designing for size in the Q&A below!)
Hint: For any multi-piece project with a final size larger than 149’W x 149’H (yep, that’s in feet), or for decals with cutouts and large quantities, we recommend filling out a Custom Quote.
Seamless Installation: Overlap vs. Flush Seams
The installation method for your custom decals depends on your design and printing choices.
- Do you want an overlap seam or a flush seam?
- Is your design a single-piece or multi-piece wall graphic?
The most common technique to install multi-piece graphics or tiled wall designs involves an overlap seam, where two adjacent panels fit together and one overlaps the other by a specified amount. This amount can be anywhere from 1/4″ to 1”, with 1/2″ being the most common. Keep in mind that standard panel widths usually don’t exceed 50”, so plan your artwork accordingly.
(Jargon Alert: A multi-piece design is not necessarily the same as a tiled design. While both have more than one piece, multi-piece can mean various decals that are applied independent of each other, while tiled refers to pieces or panels applied with overlapping seams.)
A flush seam, or butt seam, involves aligning adjacent panels edge to edge without any overlap.
Another crucial design element with wall decals is bleed, which can be confused for an overlap seam (spoiler alert: they’re two different things). Ensure a minimum of 1” bleed around your artwork’s perimeter to avoid any white edges after trimming.
Installation complexity also depends on size. We recommend professional installation for large wall decals or uniquely-shaped designs (like we did). For smaller DIY wall decals, we provide easy-to-follow instructions right here.
“We created something dynamic and bold for the space.”
Q&A with Nate Johannes
Ready to elevate your brewery, lobby or facility with custom printed wall decals? Smartpress Graphic Designer Nate Johannes spilled his insider secrets on how to create a double-take decal.
Why were you excited to design these custom wall decals?
Nate Johannes: “I’ve always enjoyed designing things that are larger than life – or at least larger than me – and I love how simply changing a blank wall can transform an entire space. Also, scale is a tool I lean on heavily within my work as a designer, so when I get an opportunity to design something massive, where you can really push the boundaries of size, I get pretty excited.”
What are some considerations you had to make when designing for this large scale?
What are some considerations you had to make when designing for this large scale?
“It’s important when working on a large-scale project like this to start with a visual audit of the space, taking into account sight lines, obstacles and any constraints that could hinder the overall look of the piece you’re designing.”
“Another big consideration is the distance the graphic will be seen from. With these decals, we wanted them to be seen from across the other side of the production floor (which is huge, by the way), so we created something dynamic and bold for the space – I’m talking 12’ tall letters bold!”
Do you have any tips or tricks for designing wall decals for all sizes?
“There are definitely challenges to designing something on a 27” monitor that will end up being on a 27’ wall. Enter our trusty design tool: scale. If you’re able to add an element into your layout, like a silhouette of a person, it’ll immediately help establish a sense of scale that’ll help translate how big different elements are coming across within the design.
“Side note, there also seems to be a tendency to add more things to a design when there’s more real estate to work with, so consideration of whitespace becomes even more important as the scale of the design gets bigger. Try to harness your inner simplicity.”
Why is it important to install elements like these in a production or manufacturing environment? What impact do they have?
“We’re all good at picking up the vibe of spaces we enter, consciously or subconsciously, even if we’ve never been there before. We’re constantly monitoring our surroundings, and retailers around the world know this well. Just take a look around the next time you’re in a grocery store, clothing boutique or hotel lobby.”
“All the spaces, all the walls have been considered for maximum impact. When you can bring visual interest into what once was a plain white wall, everyone entering will have a richer experience in that space, too.”
How do you feel about the final result?
“I’m pretty dang excited about how the final product turned out! The quality of the print is top-notch and I couldn’t be more thrilled with the overall result. After seeing this piece IRL, it is clear that a great deal of thought and effort went into ensuring it was perfect.”
Hint: Have more questions? We’re the online printer that’s got your answers: Wall Decals FAQ.
“When you can bring visual impact into what once was a plain white wall, everyone entering will have a richer experience.”
That’s a Wrap Decal
Whether as part of your business signage or nonprofit decor, custom wall decals give you a chance to showcase messaging, marketing, even values and culture. And with Smartpress, you get to design high-quality wall decals to perfectly suit any industry or idea. Will you choose a large format statement piece or a collection for smaller, specialty decals? The choice is yours.