Hi,
I have seen many times on social networks that some designers are busy making stickers and displaying their works, and when I ask how you earn money in this way, some of them say through the Patreon site.
Have you ever had experience in making stickers? If so, please share it here.
regards,
I am sure most of us here at some point have had to produce some sort of adhesive sticker as part of some job at so point, but as a chosen career path, making stickers is not a wise one.
If I ever have need to (and I don’t remember when that last was), I find ust what my client’s needs are (usually part of a larger branding exercise and often for a specific event), speak to my printer about best solutions, design it, create it in illustrator or InDesign and then send it to them to print. Job done.
What you are talking about here is the army of amateurs who call themselves designers, but who have no clue what design is all about. These are the uneducated, ignorants you’ll find lurking on race-to-the bottom ‘completion’ sites.
If you want to be a designer, stick around and learn what it’s all about. If you want to make and sell ‘cool’ stickers, then you need an amateur crafting forum.
This place is populated by professional designers, who are increasingly irked by exactly this sort of barrel-scraping industry that is dragging the profession into the mud.
Don’t follow them, you’ll be bottom-feeding forever with the other wannabes who thing they are designers ’cos it’s cool. Stickers may be a ‘thing’ now, but the fad, like all fads, I’ll be over soon enough. Then what?
Thank you for your answer, but I meant mostly digital stickers that have expanded with the growth of social networks.
It seems that your work focus is mostly on printed works.
If you consider stickers as a fad, then you can imagine other graphic works as a fad. Such as UI/UX design or game graphic design or poster design for the game or website design! Because all these are transient and another technology will replace them.
It seems that your definition of a professional graphic designer is someone who designs office papers, brochures, envelopes, and such things, and this is despite the fact that the use of graphics in today’s world is expanding day by day.
In addition to Patreon, you could sell them through Etsy or Creative Market and similar online marketplaces.
I don’t have any experience with digital stickers, but I have had some limited experience selling things through online marketplaces. My experience has been mixed, however. When I worked at an agency, I occasionally hired a freelancer I knew to create AfterEffects intros for videos. He made around US$150,000 annually, selling digital clothing and accessories to gamers. He was a highly talented exception, though.
I’ve found that most people make little or nothing with online marketplaces. A few people make enough money to continue doing it part-time. Very few make enough money to do it full-time. Those who succeed full-time are usually very talented, dedicated, good at marketing their work, find the right niche, establish themselves early, are lucky, and are prolific.
These marketplaces have tens of thousands of people trying to sell things, so finding the right niche, creating a presence with lots of merchandise, and standing out from the crowd is essential. Tossing a half dozen things online and expecting people to find and buy them typically doesn’t work too well — you get lost in the crowd.
Patreon? Wow. So the designer is asking people to pay a recurring membership fee in exchange for access to their digital stickers. I’m fascinated by different business models within this industry. I’m curious to what level that could be successful. Is this income that elevates a designer into the middle class, or is it beer money? I hope you’ll post again with your findings.
The other thought that comes to mind is that they might be pulling in substantially more income off the social media views than the actual sticker subscriptions. It might look like a design business, but really they’re in the eyeball business.
I make my own. But it isn’t suitable for mass production and the professionals in this forum don’t think my method is very good but it’s cheap for one or two stickers or labels.
I guess I’m part of the “Army of Amatures” but I don’t sell my labels on social media. I make each one for a specific purpose. Either for myself or for the local charities I support with things like free posters and sometimes free labels.
Digital stickers…Emojis on steroids. Some of them are animated too, which, if you have a whole Discord page full of them, they can be quite…annoying, especially the larger ones. I shut off the Discord animation option, it’s that annoying. The practice has extended to animated avatars. Sigs seem to be a thing of the past and now it’s ‘stickers.’
I didn’t know people paid for them. The crowd I know that uses them doesn’t seem to have enough of a cash flow that would allow them to buy or commission them. They can’t even afford the $5 Patreon price to up their membership tier in the Discord so they can use the larger assortment of ‘stickers’ available, but eh, if there’s a market for that kind of thing, whatever.
Stickers aren’t designs per se, they are small digital illustrations. Graphic design isn’t usually involved at all. They are illustrations of whatever is trendy right now. The only problem I see with selling them is quite a number of them seem to involve trademarked characters. For fans using them, not so much a problem, fan art is usually given a wink and a nod, but once money becomes involved, it can be a problem - for the seller.
Proceed wisely.
Ah, and another note on that Patreon thing I mentioned above.
The extra stickers are linked to the Patreon of the artist hosting the site. On the 3 Discord sites I hang out on, the owners of the channel are the artist that create those stickers. You can access the larger assortment by going to their Patreon page and becoming a patron at various levels to access more of the sticker perks (among other things like private channels where they live draw and interact and such.) Never heard of Patreon just to buy random stickers.
And quite honestly? unless you hover over them to get the sticker name, you never know if you are being honored or dissed, LOL.
I always wondered what the people who make these stickers do for what purpose. These are not made by a number of teenagers for fun or by people who some graphic artists call unprofessional. What is certain is that these people are completely professional and their equipment is completely professional and up-to-date. They spend hours to make a set of these stickers and they must have a purpose.
Until I met someone on the social network Treades who introduced his new sticker collection. This collection was a combination of broccoli and oriental manga cartoons and it was done by hand. I asked him how he makes money this way and he introduced Patreon!!
I even know people who make money speaking on Patreon!!
Could you provide further explanation on this section? I am quite curious about it.
I don’t want to give out any personal details about him, but he already had a large social media presence and was well-known in the gamer community.
I’ve noticed that when you want to sell a design to a specific audience being known within that specific community is usually what gives you that credibility boost - when you’re online and you don’t have much marketing experience.
Being a “graphic designer who specializes in creating graphics for Twitch streamers” doesn’t cut it. I’ve never heard of a Twitch streamer going to some graphic designers website and thinking “oh, he has some nice stuff, I’ll definitely hire him!”
Most designers who design graphics for streamers are usually involved in the gaming scene themselves, many of them might even be streamers themselves.
The same goes for YouTube graphics and video editors. Video editors who have their own channel are often the ones to get hired rather than the ones who advertise themselves as “YouTube video editors” trying to find clients through their online portfolio. Not saying the latter doesn’t get any clients, but the former position themselves better.
The same goes for stickers OP. Selling bunny stickers to your audience who follow you for your cool designs isn’t going to get you any sales, views & likes? Sure, but not sales.
However, if you’re an active member in a forum full of animal lovers or are constantly seen commenting and lurking around a pets facebook group - selling your bunny stickers to them is going to be a lot more promising.
I seriously don’t get the Patreon stuff either. I’ve seen many of my favorite animators on YouTube do it, but that makes sense. It helps fund their work on a monthly basis and allows them to create consistent content - plus many of them get demonitized for going against YouTube guidelines (mostly for swearing) so having an alternate income source is smart - and they inform their viewers about that as well.
Making digital stickers, something that you just have to make one time, go to sleep, and refresh your earnings dashboard every day? Yeah, I don’t see how that’s adding any value for them to create “consistent content” when they aren’t making anything new.
On the other hand I have seen some online influencers use stickers to successfully attract Patreon members. Like with a $5 subscription you’ll get:
That kinda makes sense. But for a graphic designer to exclusively sell their digital stickers from Patreon with a $5 subscription barring them from even being able to view their page - what can I say, Capitalism 101
This widely depends on the person and what he’s providing. For example, if there’s a motivational speaker who gives speaches for free on YouTube, he could introduce his followers to his Patreon for exclusive interviews he’s had with some of the most successful CEOs or insights into his personal struggles and journey of how he climbed to the position he is at today.
Patreon usually works if you have an additional offer alongside your main offer. If you’re using it to fund your main offer, then that’ll depend on the kind of work you’re doing. Most people won’t be interested in funding your work if all you’re doing is creating stickers. That’s because all they’re interested in is getting the stickers, once they get that, they’ll unsubscribe.
However, if you’re a graphic designer who has an informative talkshow for design students, you can plug in your Patreon for exculsive stuff catered to students. For example, you could offer students Monthly portfolio tips, Monthly updates on the industry, or interesting design internships to apply for - for a $5 subscription.
The main thing that’ll attract students to your Patreon, and get them to fund you monthly are the monthly reports, tips, and internships - because it’s updated every month, they may miss out on it if they unsubscribe, so now they have a reason to stick around.
However, for $10, you could also include cool stickers to hang in their college dorms. Since they’re already subscribed to your initial offer and are one of your loyal followers, paying $5 extra for a cool-looking sticker to make their dorm room a bit less soul-sucking would be nice.
you all aren’t understanding what these ‘stickers’ are. They aren’t physical things you stick all over your dorm room.
They are digital assets. Plain and simple they are like animated or static gifs that you use inline like emojis. More and more of them are animated these days. I can’t log into my Discord account here at work (blocked) but will take a screenshot of some if I can remember later tonight.
I only patronize two Patreon things and they just happen to be two indie bands that I like. On one of them they gave out really nice swag every month if your tier is high enough, but both of them give early previews to new music they are working on and sometimes will do interactive chats on Youtube or Twitch where you can type in questions for them to answer live. It sure as heck isn’t for the stickers they have on their related Discord pages. Other Art Discord channels usually have their own stickers, but once you can access them, you can use them pretty much anywhere in your social media if you so choose. Since they are Art channels, usually the owner has a set of stickers people seem to covet. But if you don’t know what a particular sticker means… well…you just aren’t “with it” in that channel. And they change on the vagaries of the whims of the denizens of the channel.
I don’t doubt that some of the sticker makers use professional tools and wisdom. I know one that does. But they cater to a crowd that doesn’t have a lot of disposable income as far as I can see.
Whatever suits you though, just tickles me plum to death. Have at it.
You can see other replies to this question on Quora.com:
https://www.quora.com/How-can-a-designer-make-money-by-making-digital-stickers?q=How%20can%20a%20designer%20make%20money%20by%20making%20digital%20stickers%3F
I’m with the guy who said they are so available for free, or by using AI, that it isn’t worth the trouble to try to sell them.
If you are a graphic designer (which these aren’t, they are illustrations)
AIM HIGHER.
Thanks for asking. Creating and selling stickers on platforms like Patreon can be a viable way for designers to monetize their work. Although I have not personally created stickers, many designers have found success by offering exclusive sticker designs and content to their Patreon supporters. It is a great way to connect with your audience, offer unique rewards, and generate income through ongoing patronage.
I did it before in illustrator. But u know. My work was not appreciated so I do not do them now