What’s The Difference Between Rectangles With Round Corners & Square Corners?

You may have noticed that we have two categories of rectangular labels; round corners and square cut corners.

Our rounded corner rectangles have radius corners, which are curved, while our square cut corners have the sharp, pointed corners that are the natural result of the two edges of the rectangle meeting at a 90° angle.

You might wonder why labels are made with two different kinds of corners. In actual fact, there are a variety of reasons that people choose one over the other – some more practical than others:

• SIZE OPTIONS
  If you opt for square cut corners, the number of sizes that are available as “standard” are more restricted because the sizes are determined by the size of the sheet and the number of labels being cut into that sheet. Additional sizes can be created by adding a selvedge (or blank strip) around the edges of the sheet and/or adding gaps between labels, but these are unlikely to be made as standard label products.
  Rectangles with rounded corners usually have gaps between the columns of labels and a selvedge all the way around the sheet, which means that there is generally a wider range of sizes available as standard products.

• PRINTABILITY
  Another difference is how easy it is to print onto the two kinds of rectangles; as mentioned above, most square cut rectangular labels will go all the way to the edge of a sheet BUT most printers are not able to print all the way to the edge of A4 sheets. Standard printers usually have a “printable area”, which is the section of the sheet that they are able to print onto, with the edges of the sheet falling into the unprintable area. It is possible to purchase printers with “edge to edge printing” settings, which will allow you to print the full area of an A4 sheet but these tend to be speciality models rather than standard printers.
  As rounded corner rectangular labels are made with a selvedge all the way around the edge of the sheet, standard printers should be able to print onto the full area of each label – which means that are no problems if you want to add borders or coloured backgrounds to your labels.

• PEELABILITY
  Another benefit of rounded corners is that these labels tend to be easier to peel up off the backing sheet. Some people find that they struggle more with the sharp edges of square cut corners when they are trying to remove labels from their backing sheet, while the rounded curve of the radius corner helps them to peel each label off more easily.

• APPEARANCE
  Of course, sometimes it’s all about how the finished label will actually look once it has been applied; for some people the square cut corners create a cleaner finish that suggests sharpness and precision, while others prefer the gentle arc of a curved corner as a way of providing a subtle, decorative finish.