Apply 2020 Initiative Overview
Apply 2020 is a campaign to reimagine the universally loved “I Voted” sticker, updated for these most uncertain times. What should an “I Voted” sticker look like when the process of voting itself is so imperiled? How can people of different backgrounds use stickers to rally around shared civic responsibilities and priorities, especially in times of extraordinary fear, division, and unrest? These questions were so compelling that we embarked on designing a set of stickers to try and answer them. Apply 2020 features three interpretations of the voting sticker – each offering a different provocation to help us all to get out and vote. Each is in our Hero format, measuring 7" x 7" and contains 9+ nested stickers and a companion card with context on & art associated with the initiative. The Hero stickers retail for $20, with all profits donated to the cause of fortifying voting rights and supporting a free and fair election, via The Voter Participation Center.
For a more fulsome look at Apply 2020 products, please explore our website by clicking here. Join our growing creative community by clicking here.
The fun peels & reveals of "Red, White, Blue," designed in collaboration with Chloe Scheffe, and available for purchase here.
The fun peels & reveals of "Our Lady Liberty," designed in-house by Team Apply and available for purchase here.
The fun peels & reveals of "YOU MATTER," designed in collaboration with Zipeng Zhu (ZZ), and available for purchase here.
A pair of the "Red, White, Blue" stickers, as captured by Lelanie Foster, looking right at you!
One of the nice provocations to vote from "Our Lady Liberty," as captured by Paul Maffi, next to one of New York's finest slices.
Two of the sticker-based messages from "YOU MATTER," captured in the calm by Sabrina Santiago.
About Apply:
Apply is a company built on a simple premise: Stickers Change Things. They help us reimagine and transform the objects we care about most, allowing us to express our interests, ideas, and identities in our rapidly changing world. Based in New York City, we make stickers for the artist in each of us – to tap into our creative instincts, be our boldest and best selves, and build a more vibrant world.
About The Voter Participation Center (VPC):
The VPC is a non-partisan, non-profit 501(c)(3) focused on enabling participation in the American democracy. Specifically, the VPC looks to engage The Rising American Electorate, primarily made up of underrepresented groups, such as unmarried women (18-34), people of color, and young people. Today, this represents 150 million Americans, nearly a third of whom are eligible but unregistered to vote in November. Their method of choice: targeted direct mail, which they've proven to be 6x as effective as the next best channel (paid phone calls). Since its founding in 2003, the VPC has registered nearly 5 million voters in the US. In 2020 alone, the VPC will pass more than 1 million registrations.
At Apply, we're inspired by inclusion. The more people from diverse backgrounds who are able to contribute creatively, the more vibrant a world we will live in. In the VPC, we found a kindred spirit, an organization fighting for a democracy that mirrors our changing demographics. We share the conviction that a truly representative government is foundational to changing things for the better.
Apply 2020 x ZZ: "You Matter"
Designed by Zipeng Zhu (ZZ), YOU MATTER is a call to action to vote for those who can’t: the young, the old, immigrants, and those disenfranchised. The sticker is based on a simple premise: despite his love and commitment to this country, as an immigrant, ZZ cannot vote and is counting on others to vote for him, and vote for what matters most. Inspired by the late Milton Glaser, ZZ uses design as a platform for activism. Type, color, and animation are his tools to raise awareness, challenge power, and spread positivity. ZZ pays homage to a number of Glaser’s most iconic works: his “VOTE FOR” stickers recall Glaser’s iconic “I <3 NY” graphic and much like Glaser’s 2016 poster “To Vote is to Exist,” ZZ relates being and voting – a sentiment made all the more poignant because he himself cannot vote.
Zipeng Zhu is a Chinese-born designer, art director, illustrator and animator based in New York City. His mission in life is to make every day, in his words, “a razzle-dazzle musical.” He runs his creative practice, Dazzle Studio, and gift shop, Dazzle Supply, to “push dazzle to the next level.”
Top Layer of the ZZ x Apply 2020 Sticker "You Matter." Each white letter is a kiss-cut sticker, as is its colored square frame.
Bottom Liner Layer of the ZZ x Apply Sticker "You Matter," revealed after each of the stickers is removed.
Apply 2020 x Scheffe: "Red, White, Blue"
Designed by Chloe Scheffe, Red, White, Blue celebrates democratic participation and the odd, beautiful graphic history of political pins, posters, and signage. In particular, Scheffe recalls two contrasting design legacies. First, a zealously patriotic language of linework, illustration, and type (often involving comically repeated symbols: bald eagles, scrolls, flags, stars, and, of course, the colors red, white, and blue). Second, a language of protest: large block type and abstracted patterns used in civil rights protest signs (here Scheffe was most inspired by the work of the artist, designer, and educator, Sister Corita Kent). Scheffe’s sticker layers put these histories into conversation. The language of pins and coins, expressed in the round kiss cuts, implores civic participation. In their surround, the elements of a fragmented, hand-drawn flag: red, white, blue — and black — capturing the energy and unrest of our current moment. Finally, the liner print includes, in bright blue block letters, the names of nine civil rights activists who have impacted the vote forever: Frederick Douglas, Susan B. Anthony, and the late, mighty John Lewis among them.
Chloe Scheffe is a Brooklyn-based graphic designer, illustrator, and art director. Formerly a designer for the New York Times Magazine, Scheffe now leads the art department at Here Magazine and freelances for a range of publishers and brands.
Unpeeled top layer, with circular stickers kiss-cut out of each of the nine squares.
Top layer with circular kiss-cut stickers peeled, beginning to reveal the names of important civil rights leaders.
Peeling away the square frames first, begins to reveal the names of legendary civil rights leaders from another vantage point.
The liner card, with all sticker material fully removed.
Apply 2020 x In House: "Our Lady Liberty"