How to Make Your Own iPod Skins: Design iPod Stickers in Photoshop

Okay, okay - what are iPod stickers? If you purchase them, they're the nifty little vinyl pieces, backed with adhesive, pre-cut to fit your iPod. Stickers - or more commonly called skins - are the sticky pieces of artwork that you can use to adorn your iPod both to protect it and to really add some style and personality.

So, stickers are skins and skins are stickers.

Using Photoshop, it's easy to design the same kind of skins that you'd purchase somewhere ... and end up with the same design that hundreds of other people have. Talk about a unique personality, right? We want truly original, so we are going to go for it ourselves.

What do you need? Technically speaking, you only need a full sheet label (for example, Avery 5455) that you can print on any printer and a graphics program. You could, technically, do this in something as simple as Microsoft Paint ... but it will be a much more time-consuming process. What we're going to be using in this guide is Adobe Photoshop. Absolutely any version will be able to accomplish the task, but the directions will be specific to Photoshop CS2 so if you're using an older version (or Elements), you'll have to look around for some of the tools I'll be talking about.

What we're going to create is a self-adhesive iPod skin - to fit any iPod with a click wheel - that will last for a good month or two and won't leave a sticky mess behind when you peel it off. It will protect your iPod and when it starts to show signs of wear, you can easily make another!

Step One: The Template

We don't want to re-invent the wheel if we don't have to - which we don't - so we're not going to. Instead, we're going to borrow this template (http://www.ruthannzaroff.com/mirkwooddesigns/ipodcover.htm) by Mirkwood Designs.

Go ahead and save the template to your computer, and then open it up in Photoshop.

Step Two: Prepare the Canvas

This is quick and painless - we just need to set the template up in Photoshop so it can be used easily. So, open the template up in Photoshop and we'll first set it to RGB mode by clicking "Mode", and choosing "RGB". If you don't do this step, the template will be in grayscale and you won't be able to do any colors.

The next thing is to make it so that we can see the lines of our template while working on the design. We'll need a duplicate layer to achieve this. Right-click the background layer and choose "Duplicate". Name the duplicate layer "Overlay". Then, set its blend mode to "Color Burn".

What does this do? Well, try dragging an image (it doesn't matter what) behind the Overlay layer but above the background layer. All the colors of the image will remain the same, but you'll also be able to see the black lines of the template - which we need for cutting purposes later on.

Step Three: Make Some Art!

I could tell you how to make the artwork ... but then the originality would go out of the design. Instead, let me offer some pointers that will help you create a cover that truly expresses you:

1. Expose Yourself - What are your hobbies and interests? What style of music do you just love? These are great starting points in a personalized design. As an example, my daughter is a little ballerina whose very favoritest color (predictibly) is pink. I might create her a soft pink design with ballet shoes dancing across it. For myself, I might start with the idea of a violin and a single red rose and go from there.

2. Think Bold - Bold, brilliant colors are definitely the stuff of iPod skins. I honestly think part of this is because the traditional white iPod looks like the perfect canvas for splashing paint all over ... if, of course, that wouldn't ruin the expensive little thing. When you're designing, then, don't be afraid of really throwing a lot of bright, bold colors in.

3. Accentuate - We want to express our personality, sure, but we don't want the design to become so much that the click-wheel and the screen get lost in the design. Start out your design by focusing on the click wheel or the screen, and build other elements around that focal point.

Illustration 01 shows several ideas in template format. These were created quickly using nothing but custom shapes and brushes in Photoshop. Keep all your artwork on separate layers so you can easily move elements around and/or change colors as you go along.

Step Four: Print & Place

Once you have your design - or designs - ready, it's time to print. Two covers will fit on a single Full-Label sheet, so you could go through the Adobe Print Wizard and use one of the options in there for 2 images per page - just make sure that if you do this, that Adobe isn't resizing your image to fit on the sheet. If it's resized, it will never fit right.

Because I'm freaky and want total control over my print, I just print twice on the same sheet. To do this, just flip your sheet the opposite direction when you place it back in the feed.

Make sure your printer settings are at "Best Quality", and that you change the paper type to "Label" (or the closest thing your printer has to it). Otherwise, your beautiful design won't look as hot on paper.

After you've printed it out, grab a pair of scissors to cut along the inside of the black lines, using a craft knife to remove the openings. Then you can peel the backing and place it on your iPod - center the openings first, press gently, and work your way out to the sides to prevent any "bubbles".

Rock on!