All I can do is turn a phrase until it catches the light.
Clive James
There is nothing I love more than to pitch up at an event, and see someone open their laptop, and there on it’s hood is a tattoo that I have created. My own laptop is adorned with countless stickers – some for clients, and most eminiting from a conversational spark. A custom sticker is like making a leaf press – catching something in a moment in time and preserving it for others to tell a story. And from fridge magnets to die-cut transparent stickers, I say it here – I have experimented!
I still have a secret plan to cover the train carriage commuter handrails of the London Underground with my own take on a “mind your head” sticker. (If those hand rails could talk, man, they could tell you of ill-conceived outbursts from introverted giants…)
The future is holographic
And so it was with the OERs just around the corner (now of course virtually around the corner) that I received an email from those masters of the sticker world Sticker Mule, pointing me towards their all new Holographic Stickers (they do this on purpose as they know I am powerless to resist their stickery products…)
After duly considering my options for about 20 seconds, I had a tickly thought (usually this means I drop whatever I’m doing and start tinkering immediately.) I recently added a hot air balloon to my home page in the latest iteration of trying-to-visually-explain-what-Visual-Thinkery-actually-does (do I even know?). Maybe, just maybe, I could make the balloon feel like it was glinting in the morning sun (subliminal message: I get up at the crack of dawn just to capture visual insights for you, dear viewer…) Could I make the light dance across the canvas? Could I make it catch your eye?
Adding soul
In my graphical tinkerings, I updated the original graphic with some highlights, lowlights and texture to ensure that it would catch the light as gradually as possible. I tried to avoid the big blocks of solid colour in the original.
Artwork is never finished – merely abandoned – especially when there are stickers to order…
Keep it quirky
One thing I’ve noticed, is that whenever people get together for an open chat, people’s individual little quirks emerge that end up in the melting pot of the conversation. This is where the good stuff lies; footholds where an idea can get a leg up.
Avoid the obvious. Keep it quirky. If you’re going to try to say something – say it differently.
The first thing I notice about my newly created stickers is the ever-changing colours as they catch the light. The photos don’t quite convey the immediate impulse to either move the sticker or move your head in order to witness the running rainbow of colour.
Making a scene
And with that in mind, I made a real scene in my garden using some scrap paper on a flagstone…
I’m planning to send one of these stickers to backers of the Remixer Machine on Patreon, so if you’d like one (or any of the other stickers I’ve made), you know what to do… 🙂