Laptop stickers

December 30, 2023

I started putting a vinyl wrap on the lid of my MacBook a few years ago after reading Graham Stevens’ post about preserving his stickers.

I liked the idea of being able to remove the stickers without leaving residue on the computer, especially since I use an employer-provided machine.

I chose a relatively subtle gray for my first cover, and proceeded to fill it up with stickers.

Laptop lid as of December 28, 2023

Now that’s full, it’s time for a refresh.

The vinyl I purchased stretched and ripped as I pulled it off, so it’s not good for preservation, but that’s not a big deal to me. Graham sells color-matched versions that are good for that, if you want.

For my next version, I bought some dark blue 3M vinyl. My application didn’t go smoothly, so there are quite a few bubbles, but they’re small and they’ll be covered by stickers soon, anyway.

Fresh new cover for 2024

Appendix A

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  1. "The Hunt", a children's book written by my colleague, Alberto Mier
  2. An early reward from a Radiotopia fundraising campaign (when 99% Invisible was part of the cohort).
  3. WASD Keybaords—My first mechanical keyboard purchase
  4. Urban Honking was a web magazine/community for many years. I still have a few stickers from 15-plus years ago.
  5. Red Robot from a Diesel Sweeties-Exploding Dog crossover
  6. Logo for work's internal CMS
  7. Goulet Pens dragon
  8. Field Notes
  9. Sticker from a hackathon sponsored by Global Editors Network, hosted at Yahoo! News
  10. My alma mater
  11. Internal marketing of company's "core values"
  12. Red's Beer Garden
  13. Our composting service
  14. "Fair Winds & Open Skies," another Alberto Mier joint
  15. Purchased at Oblation in Portland, Oregon
  16. Local coffee roaster/shop, Dancing Goats
  17. Moonlight, from Goulet Pens
  18. M1 inside