College is an Adventure at Sierra Nevada College in Lake Tahoe

Written by Andrew Matranga on August 18, 2017

As students return to campuses all across the country, university marketing marketing departments are kicking into high gear with fresh promotions and novel ways to connect with new students on campus. Sticker sheets are just one way to make your message stick.

Since it’s back to school time, it’s a perfect moment to highlight efforts by schools and college across the country as they welcome new students to their campuses.

Sierra Nevada College Tahoe built a sticker sheet that features two peel offs serving as SNC Tahoe Badges. The two peels on the sticker sheet represent day and night over the lake, with each sticker in a different color palette. The rest of the sheet contains the college’s branding and slogans, “College is an Adventure” and “6,224 feet above normal.” Students that attend SNC Tahoe will have a fun sticker to put on their laptops, notebooks, dorm room doors and anywhere else that a circle sticker seems appropriate. The background has outlines of evergreen trees and really gives contrast to the peel offs.

SNC Tahoe is Nevada’s only accredited, private, four-year institution, and with a location high in the Sierras on the shores of legendary Lake Tahoe, it’s 6,224 feet above normal, just like their sticker says. There are over 30 majors from outdoor leadership & sustainability to ski business & ceramics in this liberal arts college that was founded in 1969. The Eagles have won national championships in both men’s and women’s ski and snowboard events. And what a setting for their campus! Lake Tahoe is a 1,645-foot deep freshwater lake nestled high within the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the border between California and Nevada.The campus is on the northeast corner in the town of Incline Village, and it’s no wonder that many students at SNC Tahoe focus on environmental studies.

First Ever WordCamp for Publishers Visits Denver for a Weekend of Developing the News Business

Written by Andrew Matranga on August 17, 2017

WordCamp for Publishers is a community-organized event bringing together folks who use WordPress to manage publications, big or small. Check out the action live on Twitter at their hashtag #wcpub.

For the Denver edition of their WordCamp for Publishers, the organizing team designed a die cut sticker that mimics the comment icon you see in social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, where the comment box signifies engagement and interaction. In the news business, red as a color is one of the three primary colors in design, with black and white being the other two. Red often connotes “BREAKING NEWS” that you’ll see on many local news broadcast channels, or the famous CNN red on cable news. But this group of WordPress enthusiasts is concerned with digital publishing, and they are heading to the Mile High City to participate in best practices and collaborate on building open source tools for publishers.

This event is for anyone who actively manages a publication with WordPress. Educational tracks will focus engineering, product, and editorial. The speakers and attendees will come from national media organizations and smaller publications, and we’ve seen lots of activity already on Twitter where people are traveling from all over to visit the beautiful State of Colorado in the summer. There’s a lot of energy and enthusiasm for this niche because right now the news business is changing rapidly and with digital publishing, more messages are reaching more consumers more of the time. The acceleration of news delivery, from status updates to app alerts means news consumers have many choices, and WordCamp for Publishers seeks to build new connections between the people who are producing the news.

WordPress Enthusiasts in Brighton and Lehigh Valley Share Their Stories with Custom Event Stickers

Written by Andrew Matranga on August 16, 2017

When it comes to technology, we’re big aficionados of WordPress, and this weekend we have two versions of our favorite event: WordCamp Lehigh Valley and WordCamp Brighton. These weekend-long gatherings bring together WordPress enthusiasts, the world’s most popular blogging and CMS software. Developers, designers, web professionals, and bloggers will come together for WordPress-related talks, workshops, and networking.

WordCamp Brighton Wapuu Has A Future So Bright He’s Gotta Wear Shades

Over in Britain, WordCamp Brighton will be held over two days at The Old Market, a performing art and culture space. There will also be a Contribution Day on the 20th August 2017 at Eagle Labs Brighton, sponsored by Barclays. The organizers for WordCamp Brighton ordering up a custom die stickers with the official-unofficial WordCamp mascot Wapuu wearing sunglasses and floating on a cloud with a bright shining sun in the background. Of course Wapuu is clutching his favorite item, the blue WordPress ball. An event sticker like this one is both fun and representative of a brand, in this case WordPress. The designers sure did have a good time with this one, and it’s a solid piece of vector artwork and event branding.

Hard Hat Wapuu and WordPress Gears at WordCamp Lehigh Valley

In the Lehigh Valley of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Wapuu is rocking a hard hat as a nod to the region’s industrial history. This custom sticker sheet has nine different peel offs, with five individual WordPress logos and two WordCamp Lehigh Valley branded event peel offs that feature and iron forge and gears, plus their event hashtag and date. You can always tell when an organizing team is getting into the design theme of their event, as the website reflects all of these graphic elements for a fully integrated experience for attendees.

Rocket Edibles is Ready for Takeoff with Custom Shaped Stickers

Written by Jesse Freitas on August 15, 2017

Rocket Edibles is ready for takeoff with custom die cut stickers aboard.

Rocket Edibles is a new startup offering cannabis infused consumables that are organic, gluten free and non GMO. We printed this rocket-shaped die cut for them as they prepare to launch with our custom logo stickers.

People are buying a record amounts of cannabis in legal states. For instance, last year here in Colorado, the state brought in $1 billion-plus in marijuana sales. This rising tide has raised many ships, and Rocket Edibles is entered a niche with the growing legal marijuana market: edibles. Edibles are simply that–cannabis that you can eat, and sales are climbing 50% or more year over year. Edibles come in cookies, chocolates, candies, pills, tinctures, drinks, mints and many other new and innovative delivery methods. It’s a fast-growing segment.

“Among Colorado, Washington and Oregon, edibles ranked #3 in terms of market share of dollars sold during 2016, capturing 12 percent ($269.8 million) of the $2.33 billion cannabis market. Flower leads with 58 percent of the market, followed by concentrates at 20 percent.” –BDS Analytics, April 6, 2017

As you can see in the picture, they have three colors at work: white, black and green. The plant itself is the engine powering this ship, and the die lines on the sticker feature two custom shapes in one when you analyze the design–there’s the ship and the fuel, and both work together in a fully branded logo. It’s bold, yet understated.

Sticker Art Created by VSA Colorado Access Gallery

Written by Jesse Freitas on August 14, 2017

Stickers are becoming art in a unique and fantastic way at the VSA Colorado Access Gallery.

Access Gallery is doing amazing work supporting kids with disabilities that are artistic. We covered the Access Gallery sticker story this past winter when they were running their Stick’em Up Chuck Sticker Art Exhibit. The exhibit was so much fun to experience as they made some incredible artwork that was mosaic style of cars, people, a smiley face and more. It was also cool to hear the stories of how they had sold some of the pieces because the artists keep the majority of the sales and it’s how they support themselves.

Stickers became part of what Access Gallery does as it was a way for people with disabilities to still be artistic. Even if you can’t paint or draw, putting together pieces of art with stickers was a work around. All of the stickers being used by Access Gallery are from our production facility here in Longmont, Colorado. Each job has a number of excess stickers that come off of it. We like to surprise our customers by including more than they expected and then the rest either get tossed or mixed into some of our scheduled content online as photos and videos.

However, working with the Access Gallery gave us a new opportunity to recycle our excess stickers that come off the machines every week. We now pack up boxes full of them and deliver them to the team at Access to create more beautiful artwork.

We recently even commissioned the VSA Colorado Access Gallery to create our own piece of art featuring our StickerGiant flame logo. It came out awesome! It’s now the centerpiece next to Saul the Sticker Ball when you walk into our facility here in Longmont, Colorado.

We did a video all about Access Gallery that you can watch here to see more about them and how we came together on this sticker art. Also. Checkout the photos below of them creating this new art piece for us:

Bold Beer Logo Stickers Heading to Akron Ale Fest

Written by Andrew Matranga on August 11, 2017

The good times will be flowing at Akron Ale Fest this weekend. This unique event serves as a community showcase that features the emerging craft breweries of Akron and the region alongside food trucks, exciting cuisine, and local artwork and great music all in the heart of downtown Akron, Ohio. They went with a die cut circle stickers that reps their event branding in three colors, along with a bold hop logo to stylize the entire look. And since it doesn’t feature a distinct year, it will serve as a perennial reminder of the energy and spirit brought forth by the Akron brewer community.

Check out the list of of beers, food and crafts.

The Beer

There are nineteen different breweries on the list, so there will be a beer that suits just about everyone’s fancy. Here’s the diverse offerings at the Akron Ale Fest.

Mad Cap Brew Company, Aqueduct Brew, Bird Fish Brew, Thirsty Dog, Lockport Beer, Hiho Brewing Co, Terrestrial Brewing, Ohio Brewing, McArthurs Brewhouse, Magic City Brewing Co, Docks Beer, Butcher and the Brewer, Mucky Duck Brewery, Sibling Revelry Brewing, Hoppin Frog, Canton Beer, Hansa Brewery, Wadsworth Brewing Company, R Shea Brewing

The Food

There will be three food vendors on site: Akron Coffee, Stray Dog Cart, and Deweys Pizza Fairlawn. During a long day of crafting and drinking, it’s always good to stock up on victuals, and these folks will have everyone covered (in grub!).

The Crafts

What makes the Akron Ale Fest more than just a booze-filled get-together of craft beer fans is the addition of a Craft Fest. Big thanks to the The Bom, Champaign Paper, Mrs. Miller Time, The Robot Consortium, Wood Ohio for offering their services to the many people in attendance. Be sure to check out the many fine crafts that will be part of the festival.

With a lineup like this, it’s no wonder that Akron is shining bright as a destination for Ohio.