Are Stickers the New Emoji?

You may have noticed an explosion of stickers on major social networking platforms and messaging apps.

If you’re new to stickers, they’re basically big bold graphics used like emojis. What makes stickers different from Emojis is that they don’t need to represent a pre determined list of symbols because they’re not part of the unicode standard.

For example, all emoji icon sets have a smiling face with smiling eyes icon. The icon is part of a standard set and has specific design requirements, such as the closed mouth and eyes.

Stickers on the other hand are included as part of messaging apps and work like reaction images. Stickers can represent a range of concepts and can include text and animations. 

But are stickers really 'the new emoji'? Check out this ad from Apple to highlight the iPhone 7, which encourages you to say it with stickers:

We might be behind in identifying this trend. According to Slate, emojis haven't been cool in Japan since 2015 - the same year that emojis were making their way to the White House in the United States:

In other markets, messaging apps also demonstrate the popularity of stickers. In Thailand, the set of bear stickers for Line, a popular messaging app, have inspired backpacks, toys, and more. In China, Tukzi (a rabbit character) is the default sticker set.

"Stickers are different to Emojis because there’s a focus on character or conversation theme and not just the facial expression," says Kate. Unlike emojis, stickers can include props and text. 

Ready to stay ahead of the trend and incorporate stickers into your designs? Here's a collection of our favorite sticker-style designs:

Say it with peppers and crying carrots.

Only $8 to add this lemur set to your collection? We're sold.

Cats: good for anything related to the internet.

Add that Facebook live-reaction look to your video production.

Unlike the individual items (listed above), these designs are all available for unlimited download with a subscription to Envato Elements:

105 vector sticker designs.

The perfect font for that handwritten sticker look.

Mix and match to get your message across.

With color variations and different designs.

Want to make your own sticker set? Check out this tutorial for creating a sticker set in Adobe Illustrator on Tuts+.