As I seek to understand more about the popularity of stickers in messaging apps (hint: they’re more than just big emoji!), I thought I’d share some of the interesting articles I’ve come across.

Sticker Culture

• Stickers: From Japanese craze to global mobile messaging phenomenon by Jon Russell (TNW)
  

  Despite success in Asia, it appears likely that the appeal of stickers is different in Western markets, where Romanic alphabets are better supported on smartphones and there is less of an emoji/cartoon culture.

• Why is every messaging app under the sun trying to sell stickers to you? by Jon Russell (TNW)
  

  Stickers are a frictionless way to monetize a service. By that I mean that they do not immediately disrupt the user experience by serving adverts, forcing video plays or using other forced ‘interactions’ that might serve to draw revenue from sponsors. Stickers are not intrusive and can keep an app priced free.

• The Elements of Stickers by Connie Chan (Andreessen Horowitz)
  

  The “trading” element, however, is less about statically collecting and more about dynamically custom-curating one’s personal collection of stickers. These collections also signal one’s “sticker street cred” in Asian messaging apps — you can always tell a newbie or non-tech savvy user by their use of the stock stickers only.

For Developers

• Building a Message Sticker App Extension in Xcode 8 (AppCoda)
• WWDC 2016 Session 204: iMessage Apps and Stickers, Part 1 (Apple)
• Design that sticks: Meet the designers behind the mobile messaging sticker craze by Josh Horwitz (TNW)

For Users

• How to use stickers and apps in iMessage for iOS 10 (iMore)

Key Takeaways

• Designers only need to submit @3x versions of stickers (max size: 618 x 618px, 500KB)
• PNG files are preferred (even for animated stickers)
• Pay attention to transparency because your stickers can overlap message bubbles and images in conversations 
• If you are making stickers that feature a single character, name the sticker pack after the character (or “CharacterName & Friends”)
• If you want to appeal to Asian users, a quick Google image search of the word “kawaii” wouldn’t hurt
• Most sticker packs seem to have at least a dozen stickers

Even though I’m not the greatest artist, I’m hoping to have a sticker pack ready for September!