WWU students talk about one of the most common ways they self-identify with their peers: Stickers

Two notebooks covered in diverse stickers. One shows mythical creatures & art; the other features travel & nature themes. A phone in a case with a devil image sits atop a red notebook.

Stickers, in this case those of WWU Art History major Paxton Thomas, are a unique way of showing off your interests and personality to your peers.

Young woman in a park holding a laptop covered with stickers, wearing over-ear headphones.

Rylie Hauge

Stickers come in all different shapes, sizes, colors and designs that can depict favorite bands, places, animals and sayings. Placed everywhere from water bottles to cars, we asked WWU students to showcase their favorite stickers and asked them: Why do you like collecting stickers?

Here is what they had to say:

Computers

Rylie Hauge from Bothell is a Creative Writing major who loves putting stickers on her laptop.

“Stickers are little sticky pieces of art that you can put on the things you use most often,” Hauge said. “No person will have the same array of stickers, and I think that’s really cute and tells you a lot about that person and what they like.”

Charlotte Clark-Slakey

iPad cases

Charlotte Clark-Slakey, a Biology Cell and Molecular major from Albuquerque, New Mexico, likes placing her stickers on her iPad case.

“One of them is a classic style of a cowboy tattoo that my roommate got for me and the other a microscope that I work on,” Clark-Slakey said. “I like them together because it looks like the Cowboy is looking into the microscope, so it represents me in the lab when I look at the microscope. A combination of two worlds and two different styles.”

Lauryn Laredo

Headphones

Lauryn Laredo, a Public Health major from Portland, Oregon, places her stickers on her headphones.

“We did a lab in my class with crabs and there was this really cute little guy I studied the whole lab, and his name was Squishy,” Laredo said. “I then got a random sticker pack online, and the crab sticker was there, and I knew that was him. That is Squishy.”

Water bottles

Hailey Parodi from Starwood is a Film Studies major with stickers on her water bottle.

“I like having stickers because I can show my personality without people having to ask me about my interests,” Parodi said. “It’s a good conversation starter.”

Wren Bunzell

Cars

WWU student Wren Brunzell of Vancouver likes to display her stickers on her car.

“My newest sticker is of this metal band called Tool and I just love them a lot,” Brunzell said. “Not a lot of people know about them but when people know them it's pretty cool because we have a common ground and that's kind of the whole point of stickers.”

A young woman with glasses smiles, holding a teal Hydro Flask covered in stickers. The stickers depict animals and positive messages. She's wearing a tweed jacket and backpack.

Wren Mason-Todd

More Water Bottles

Wren Mason-Todd, a double major in Spanish and Linguistics from Poulsbo, likes showcasing her stickers on her water bottle.

“I collect stickers because I like to support artists’ work,” Mason-Todd said. “Plus, it’s a fun way to express your interests.”

Notebooks

Paxton Thomas, an Art History major from Anchorage, Alaska, uses his notebooks as a canvas for his stickers.

“I like stickers because it's something that’s unique to you and it allows you to show off your personality,” Thomas said. “It’s a cool way to support local artists while showing people your interests.”