I care. I mean, why not? Especially if it’s an interesting family decal. I love seeing creative people voice their opinions in artistic ways. Keep the colorful ball of brainstorming canvas-splattering ideas spinning! But perhaps I am, however, biased, because Lore and I have been selling cool family stickers for nearly 20 years now!
No matter how you express yourself there will always be critics and haters. Never let others inhibit you from being you. Keep the world colorful with you own unique voice using any avenue you so choose!
It all started in El Paso, TX, I suppose, where we would regularly cross the border, arriving to Juarez, to visit family, head to the Plaza de Las Americas Mall, or visit the many Mercados and restaurants. Note, this was around 1999, when we had recently added vinyl graphics to our car-audio and alarm business. I think the first time I saw a crazy family decal they were mere scribbles, as if and surely, designed by kids themselves, and someone (perhaps it all started in Mexico, who knows?) had made the quirky little designs into vinyl decals for car windows. Well, I thought it was actually a pretty cool idea, so, I engaged my pen, and my scanner ate the artwork.
Anyway, the trend took off. We sold many these to families that just wanted to have a new way to express their family pride—and everyone loved how long the family decals would last on the windows. Others bought family decals gifts or stocking-stuffers, and the feedback we received was a blast of warm sunlight! A personal and unique gift it surely was, rather than just heading to Walmart or the mall perhaps, and picking something out from endless and always-there fully-stocked shelves—this, was different. This was something that had to be designed specifically for the soon-to-be curious and probably puzzled gift unwrapper.
A decal for Christmas, or birthdays (especially Mother’s day) What?! Why?! A card, some flowers, maybe some chocolates—keep it real dude!
I guess the feedback said it all, and for many Christmases to follow, or following up Mother’s Day after Mother’s Day, year after year, the decals were still stuck to that minivan (or other vehicle, of course). Tons and tons of metal, plastic, a sea of automobiles to navigate around within the city, as if playing dodge-ball and trying to weave around and about—well simply, it was a cool little detail that people saw, and then, talked about.
Some said, “It’s stupid.” Others, “Who cares about your stick family sticker?!” And others still, “That’s unsafe, someone’s gonna see your names.”
Others said, “…different, huh. Kinda neat.” And responding to worldwide spasms of endless intermittent paranoia, “Don’t put the names then, you old worry wort!”
But, many liked it, and the years passed like God blowing on the pinwheel of time, and here we are now, in 2018. Can you believe it’s…almost the future? Personalizing anything gets humans to talking, and trends blossom, then wilt a little, and some stand the test of a few whirls on that spinning pinwheel that will never stop.
Lore and I sell less these days but still the trend hasn’t deflated and it doesn’t look like it will anytime soon. A few websites have surpassed us—some SEO mighty-might, maybe some big bucks perhaps—and have since overtaken us as number one the web for these uniquities, but I think we have the coolest designs (there’s that bias again). And as for some of the negative comments, well, there’s a sea of negativity that will always and forever be drowned out, left to remain only as growling whispers, howling nudges of a breeze, but negativity will never squash humanity’s optimistic side, the desire to express ourselves in artful, unique, and creative ways, and especially, family pride!
So, if it’s for you, go for it! Personalize laptops, containers, notebooks, walls, mailboxes—do I really need to go on…?
As we’ve trudged through the years we’ve waded through many fads, such as the Zombie fad—probably stimulated by shows such as The Walking Dead, there’s been many new styles—and I’ve kept my felt marker zipping along, then I scan, vectorize, and to a decal it is! There’s thousands of family stickers, even some pretty gross zombie family-decal graphics, at Full Intensity Grafx where orders are shipped worldwide daily and turnaround time is only 24 hours.
Express yourself if you’d like, one way or another, or just blurt, “Who cares about your stick family sticker?”
Or, say something nice like, “That’s kind of neat, you have a beautiful family.”
Either way, I’m happy to live in a a diverse world where there’s all types of things to see and experience, myriad artistic forms of expression, and a whole lot of families that eagerly and outwardly share their own unique sense of pride and happiness!
Being a father of four myself, raising a family has been, and continues to be, the most difficult adventure I’ve ever set out upon, but as you might agree, the most rewarding.
So who cares about your family decal? Well, who cares about anything? There will always be some that care about this while not that, this person’s home decorations or apparel choices, his or her vehicle graphics or favorite color, and opinions are as plentiful as the stars. Don’t let it stop you! In conclusion, pithily, whatever floats your boat! Thanks for reading!
