Call for Submissions: Black Rock City 2023 “ANIMALIA” Sticker Designs

It’s that time again! The moment has arrived to create your designs for the 2023 Black Rock City stickers. With a theme like ANIMALIA, I can’t wait to see what wild creativity flows.

2023 ANIMALIA theme design (Graphic by Tanner Boeger, featuring “El Pulpo Magnifico” by Duane Flatmo and Jerry Kunkel (Photo by Stephane Lanoux); “The Monumental Mammoth” by Tahoe Mack (Photo by Keith Aeschliman); “Feeding on Dreams” by Mark Dill (Photo by Dan Adams); “Be Art” by Jeff Schomberg (Photo by Mark Hammon); “Teddy Bear” by unknown artists (Photo by Nikolai Sander); “Spacecats Final Landing” by Ayda Keshtkar and the Adenium Collective (Photo by Perry Julien))

Jump to the end of this post for design specs, submission guidelines and the deadline (spoiler: it’s May 12, 2023).

Every year we print many different sticker designs, and typically over a dozen submissions find their way to the playa. Last year we printed even more due to the many amazing submissions! That’s right, we aren’t sitting over here behind our laptops designing a bunch of weird stickers — YOUR lovely brains are in charge. We just print a ton of them and magically transport them to the playa… and hopefully into your hands (and onto your stuff). So if you’ve ever wanted to see one of your own designs on a BRC sticker, this is the moment. Live it! 

Think your style is a little wacky? Fear not. We like variety! Get weird. Bring that snark. Tap into that inner child and get playful. Indulge your love of symmetry. Truly, create whatever your heart desires. 

Feel free to submit a couple different designs. Don’t forget, there is a theme (hint: it’s ANIMALIA); if a sticker has at least something to do with our animal friends, it’s more likely to get printed. Want to improve your chances even more?  Submit a square design, since most submissions we receive are circles.

One more thing! Before you submit a design, please read through the requirements below. No custom shapes. No low-res JPGs. And if the type isn’t outlined, our laptops turn your font into something like Comic Sans or Marker Felt (the horror!).

Rites of Passage sticker, 2011; Fertility 2.0 sticker, 2012; Burner sticker, 2006 (Photos by Steven Fritz)

Black Rock City 2023 Sticker Design Specs

1. Design(s) will need to be one of these die sizes:

  • 3” diameter circle
  • 3″x 3″ square with a 0.062” corner radius
  • 2.5″ x 6” with a 0.125” corner radius

2. You must OUTLINE all fonts, meaning vector text is no longer a font but rather it is vector shapes. This eliminates issues for us and the printer not having the font, which is a dealbreaker.

3. If using one to three colors, set up the file to print as PMS. If using four or more colors, set up the file to print as CMYK.

Designer Tips

  • Did you read the specs? Read the specs!
  • Include “Burning Man” or “Black Rock City” and the year 2023 in the design for bonus points. 
  • Incorporate the ANIMALIA theme. Or don’t. It’s your sticker. Just remember what I said above.
Two of the Waking Dreams stickers, held by their creators at our designer meetup, 2022 (Photos by Jamen Percy)

Submitting Your Art

  • Send the original Adobe Illustrator (.ai) file to stickers@burningman.org. You can also send a high resolution PDF, but the original file is preferred.
  • Whether sending a design or questions, please put your first and last name in the subject header as well as the phrase “2023 Sticker Submission.”
  • DOUBLE CHECK THAT YOUR DESIGN MEETS ALL DESIGN SPEC REQUIREMENTS LISTED ABOVE. 

Sticker Art Submission Deadline:

Wednesday, May 12, 2023. No art can be accepted after this date!

P.S. Did you read the specs? If you send the wrong file type, color settings, or dimensions, we won’t be able to consider your design. And we don’t want that. So double check, then triple check. Is it vector? Is the text outlined? Yes? Then send it on over! 


Cover image is a collection of BRC stickers from 2022 (Photo by Jamen Percy; the hands are the author’s)

About the author: Deets Shay

Deets Shay

Deets Shay is on Burning Man Project’s Communications team, overseeing social media content strategy and execution, in addition to leading print production projects. She attended her first Burn in 2012, when she quickly realized she identified with the culture, and has been going back almost every year since. Prior to joining Burning Man Project’s year-round staff, Deets volunteered for the Department of Mutant Vehicles, where she helped process Mutant Vehicle applications before the Burn, and approved vehicle licensing on playa. You can generally find her hanging out with her amazing wife Ginger Snap, their Corgi, Mini Waffles, and Shiba Inu, Jinkx.

8 Comments on “Call for Submissions: Black Rock City 2023 “ANIMALIA” Sticker Designs

  • Linda mendelson says:

    I have a horse and bear ceramic pics to send you! They came out great! Do I need to make the pics small for you or can you minimize them for me?

    Report comment

  • Brian Steinbis says:

    Hi this might not be the place, but I’m wondering if the posters are out and that I could purchase one. I’ve posters for each year since 2012.

    Report comment

  • eggchairsteve says:

    “Burner 2006” sticker shown above was my own personal sticker from that year, not an “official Burning Man sticker…

    Report comment

  • D.D. says:

    I would love to submit a sticker. I’ve designed a square, but I don’t have illustrator. I’ve been using Procreate so I don’t know how to make a rounded square with a specific curve radius. Can someone help me?

    Report comment

    • Jean Menezes says:

      HI D.D. I can help you with that. you can message me on Instagram @_menezito. Not sure if I’m allowed or if I should share my email here…

      Report comment

  • Feral Hollowell says:

    I don’t know vector. Outline text? What?
    I draw. I draw my own original text. I color. I take a photo. I do not have a computer. I submitted a design in ‘12. It was accepted. Two weeks later they withdrew it. So no hope for me?

    Report comment

    • Laura Krueger says:

      Hi there, vector formatting is created primarily using Adobe Illustrator. There are other programs but I haven’t tried them. Vector is better than normal images. Bitmap images are pictures you take with a camera and are made of pixels. When you make them bigger, they get blurry. Vector images can be made infinitely large and will not become blurry. You can also make infinite variants of your designs very easily. You can download illustrator (it’s not free :( sorry) and find tutorials on how to use the pen tool. You can trace your drawing with the pen tool to turn it into a vector image. It is a lot to learn when you’re new to it but it is a lot of fun and can take your art to new heights!! I’ve never been to burning man but I’ve always wanted to go. I’m about to graduate with a degree in graphic design and this sticker thing interests me a lot! Anyways, good luck with vectoring and let me know if I can be of help if you do jump down the vector path :)

      Report comment

  • Izzy says:

    Hello Deets,
    I’m looking for a page or web site which eventually lists all the official stickers since origin (or at least since 2010) Are you aware of one?
    Thanks

    Report comment

  • Comments are closed.