CASE STUDY / 2015—2026
A MAGICAL NEW ART FORM
Paint by
Sticker
Designing a Scalable Production System for a 10M+ Copy Franchise
ROLE
Lead Designer & Format Developer
PARTNER
Workman Publishing
SCOPE
Visual systems, Adobe Illustrator automation, layout engineering, accessibility UX
SCALE
35+ active titles across 3 age tiers • 10M+ copies sold globally • Paint by Sticker Kids line alone exceeds 10M copies
01 / PROJECT OVERVIEW
A new category for tactile, guided creativity.
Paint by Sticker began as a prompt, "How can we make a sticker format fun and not like everything else out there? "
then turned into a single activity book built around hundreds of uniquely contoured polygon pieces that had to align with extreme precision.
The original production process was largely manual: shapes were duplicated by hand, puzzle pieces had to be paired with their corresponding stickers, and sticker sheets were manually arranged and prepared for print.
It became apparent if the series was to expand, something needed to change.
I redesigned the underlying production system to make the format faster to produce, easier to revise, and scalable across multiple books, trim sizes, and age tiers.
02 / THE CHALLENGE
The workflow that had problem after problem after problem.
01
Scaling
Every new title multiplied the amount of repetitive layout and pre-press work required.
02
Error risk
Manual ID pairing, geometry duplication, bleed adjustments, and sticker-sheet placement created more opportunities for shape, scale, and labeling errors.
03
Revision fragility
A late-stage change to artwork or a die-line could require corresponding updates across both the puzzle pages and sticker sheets, making revisions slow and difficult to manage.
The goal was to move from a title-by-title production process to a repeatable design system that
could support the growth of an entire franchise.
03 / THE SOLUTION
Developed and Engineered an Adobe Illustrator Automation Pipeline.
Rather than scaling the production workload through additional manual labor, I concepted and scripted a custom automation workflow using ExtendScript/JavaScript plugins inside Adobe Illustrator.
AUTOMATED PAIR BINDING
Parsed artboard geometry, duplicated path data, and connected each puzzle piece to its corresponding sticker-sheet element using a custom metadata naming system.
BATCH SHEET LABELING
Automated sticker-labeling allowing designer to layout the sticker sheet in aesthetically pleasing and well organized without the worry of miss labeling.
DYNAMIC REVISIONS
Decoupled geometry relationships so updates to source artwork could be propagated across corresponding sticker elements through script re-runs rather than rebuilding layouts manually.
The earliest iteration that worked and was used kind of unfortunately used for years was a 4 pop-up plugin
1) Pop-up one made a prompted an a duplication and under the hood naming of the of the pieces making the labeling easier, or the option rename the pieces and then print the labels.
2) The next Pop-up prompts the the directional orientation of the label order This allowed the designer to keep the pieces aesthetically organized with a labeling logic that is easy for the user to skim.
3) The third prompt allows you input a prefix.
4) The final prompt allows the user to enter the what they want the starting number to be
Years later i was asked to return to the project - at that point i realized The company was still using the same script and how clunky and slow they script was, don't get me wrong it save lots and costs of time and production costs, but I knew it could be better.
The newest version put everything in 1 window,
The option to cloning and entangling and the renaming at the the top
all the renaming option ins the middle
At the bottom a way to preset your Font options for the labeling
In addition to the face lift which made the user feel like they were cutting out steps I also added memory. Now Base name will default to the last name added by the user to reduce the amount of times the user will need to interact with this field.
I also set up the start number to remember the last number it placed +1 so if the user is labeling multiple rows or columns the user doesn't have to keep track of the last number placed making the whole labeling process much smoother and reducing users cognitive load.
The final change I added was a up dating the user on its deployment status script alert
Cloned object count
Renamed groups(the entangled geomentry) for labeling
Labels created
This give a confirmation that the scrip is working and if the number look wrong, you may have more or less geometry than intended.
Impact
The redesigned workflow reduced layout and production time from approximately 3–4 weeks per title to about 1 week, representing roughly 70% time savings.
It also substantially reduced the amount of repetitive manual work involved in ID pairing, geometry placement, and late-stage revisions.
Designed a Dual-Mode Accessibility & Difficulty System
The UX Problem
User testing surfaced a second challenge beyond production:
Strict shape‑matching was too cognitively demanding for younger users.
Some users preferred a pure spatial‑reasoning challenge with no guidance.
The Design Insight
A single puzzle format needed to flex across different ages, abilities, and cognitive styles—without creating separate SKUs or redesigning the core mechanic.
The Solution
I introduced an alphanumeric labeling system that overlays guidance without altering the artwork.
How It Works
Labels ON → Guided mode Users get scaffolding for placement, reducing cognitive load and supporting early learners.
Labels OFF → Challenge mode Users can ignore the labels entirely for a shape‑only, spatial puzzle experience.
Why It Matters
Creates a user‑controlled difficulty model built directly into the format.
Allows the same interaction to adapt across multiple age tiers and abilities.
Establishes a consistent visual language that scales across the franchise, including Paint by Sticker Kids and My First Paint by Sticker.
Standardized the Franchise-Level Production System
To make the workflow reusable across an expanding catalog, I standardized the underlying production specifications and templates, including:
Bleed tolerances
Cut-line offsets
Paper-stock margin requirements
Multi-trim-size templates
Layout conventions across adult and children's editions
Instead of treating every title as a unique production problem, the system created a common framework that designers and production teams could reuse and adapt.
04 / THE OUTCOME
Time is Money!
The result was a production system designed to support both creative consistency and operational scale.
~70% reduction in production time — From roughly 3–4 weeks to about 1 week per title
Reduced pre-press risk — Automated pairing and geometry handling removed major sources of repetitive manual error
Faster revisions — Late-stage changes could be handled through automated updates rather than rebuilding layouts by hand
Scalable format system — Supported multiple trim sizes, age tiers, and related product lines
35+ active titles across adult and children's formats
10M+ copies sold globally, with the Paint by Sticker Kids line exceeding 10M copies
Paint by Sticker proved that constraints can make a creative experience feel more generous: every piece has a place, every page reveals a small victory, and the system makes room for more people to participate.
05 / USER IMPACT
A small act of making, with lasting reach.
Paint by Sticker delivers more than a creative pastime — reviewers consistently describe it as calming, absorbing, and “mesmerizing,” offering a naturally mindful rhythm that helps reduce stress and support focused attention. The number‑guided system encourages cognitive sequencing and pattern recognition, while the act of peeling and placing stickers builds fine‑motor coordination often associated with occupational‑therapy exercises. Because the format is low‑mess, portable, and accessible for a wide range of ages and abilities, users rely on the series as a screen‑free mental reset that blends creativity, structure, and relaxation..