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You don't need a billboard budget to make a visual impact. Plus, unlike a digital ad, people actually thank you for giving them a sticker.
Benjamin and Dirk are the founders and creative leads behind FOREAL, a design and animation studio obsessed with making ideas loud, bold, and unapologetically colorful.
What started in 2013 as a two-person venture has grown into a tight-knit crew of eight artists and self-proclaimed CGI nerds, all based in their hometown of Trier, Germany. Not exactly a global metropolis, right? But FOREAL has proved that you do not need big city lights to make serious noise worldwide, just solid Wi-Fi, sharp skills, and a whole lot of passion.
From global tech giants like Google to the beloved pizza place around the corner, their client list is as diverse as their visual style. The mission stays the same every time: create high-end 3D visuals and animations that feel tactile, playful, and impossible to scroll past.
FOREAL lives in that sweet spot where big agency quality meets direct collaboration. Clients work hand in hand with the actual artists crafting the visuals, no corporate maze, no meetings about meetings, just clear communication, good energy, and serious creative firepower.
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StickerApp: Hi Benjamin, great to have you with us! How did the idea for the Overtime Originals sticker pack come to life? And why a sticker pack in the first place?
Benjamin: Honestly, as digital artists, we spend 99 percent of our lives staring at pixels behind glass, obsessing over textures, light, velvet, gold. But you cannot touch a pixel. Working with you guys was our excuse to finally break that barrier and turn our digital vibe into something physical.
We had already been printing small runs as client giveaways and were hooked on the quality, so creating a full custom sticker pack felt like the natural next step.
“Overtime Originals” is a playful nod to agency culture. Not crunch time, but that creative flow that kicks in when the emails stop and you finally get to experiment. We mixed our decade-long greatest hits with brand new ideas from the team, capturing our inside jokes, struggles, and small wins along the way. It became a true crew effort, and a simple but special way to represent our whole studio.
StickerApp: It's a fantastic curation of designs! What role did physical print, and stickers in particular, play in expressing your creative identity compared to digital work?
Benjamin: It’s the ultimate reality check. In our digital workflow, there is always an "Undo" button. In print, once it’s done, it’s done. That adds a layer of excitement (and maybe a little sweating) to the process. For us, print adds a sense of permanence; seeing our work on a friend’s MacBook gives it a life beyond a fleeting Instagram post. It makes the digital tangible, which is extremely satisfying for a bunch of CGI nerds.
Stickers are basically the smallest possible canvas for the biggest possible impact. We usually work on complex animations or large campaigns, so distilling our studio vibe down to a few square centimeters was a fun challenge. We love that stickers are "democratic art". They turn everyday objects like laptops, water bottles, or street signs into mini exhibition spaces. It is a way to get our visual language out into the real world without it feeling like traditional advertising. It’s branding, but the kind people actually want to engage with.
StickerApp: So cool. What would you say is the essence of the Collector's Club?
Sam: The magic word is “collecting.” Each issue includes plenty of fun stand-alone stuff, but at its core are the collectible items: the stickers and the cards from the Lumps Original Series, a massive hit that’s sparked fans and friends to connect, trade duplicates, and hunt down the cards they’re missing.
StickerApp: Is this the case also for the stickers?
Sam: Oh, absolutely! Same goes for the stickers. Each issue packs five random stickers, but our collab features plenty more - I can’t reveal how many though, wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise, haha!
StickerApp: Speaking of stickers: What do you look for in a sticker?
Sam: In general, I love stickers that bring my illustrations to life. My work is weird, odd, and a little uncanny, and I like to highlight those quirks by printing on colorful, expressive materials. Holographic stickers are my absolute favorite; the way light hits them is different every time. It’s also one of those materials you can only truly appreciate in person; no photo or screen ever does it justice.
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StickerApp: Beyond the Collector's Club, what role do stickers play in your business?
Sam: Besides the Collector's Club, I use StickerApp to make stickers that go out with shop orders. They’re such a fun, affordable way to add something extra; little tokens that people can stick on their laptops, sketchbooks, or phone cases. I love that they get to live out in the world like that, carrying a tiny piece of the Lumps universe into everyday life.
StickerApp: Million-dollar question: Why do you choose to partner up with StickerApp?
Sam: Million-dollar answer: The StickerApp team is incredible and always goes above and beyond to help me get my designs right. It feels more like being part of a creative circle than just placing an order, and that community vibe makes a huge difference. To add to this, your materials are spot on, especially the holographic one. The range and quality allow me to experiment!
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StickerApp: Amazing! So, how was it actually producing the sticker pack? Did it live up to your standards?
Benjamin: Honestly, it was super smooth, which surprised us. Hitting “send” on print files usually stresses us out because we are picky about specs and details. But the process felt intuitive, and the support team immediately understood what we cared about. No back-and-forth headaches, just clean execution.
What mattered most to us was control. We wanted to decide exactly where the glitter shines and where the foil hits. Those small decisions make a big difference when your whole studio identity is built on precision and craft.
For us, the physical product had to prove our digital quality. We cannot sell premium design and hand out a flimsy sticker. As we like to say, “If it feels cheap, we look cheap. If it feels premium, it elevates everything.” The sticker is not just merch; it is a physical extension of our brand.
StickerApp: 10/10, would recommend?
Benjamin: Absolutely. It’s an easy way to get your art out there. You don't need a billboard budget to make a visual impact. Plus, unlike a digital ad, people actually thank you for giving them a sticker. It turns branding into a gift rather than an annoyance.
And what really surprised us was the longevity! Promo material usually disappears fast, but months later, we still spot our stickers on laptops at conferences or in video calls. A tiny giveaway turns into permanent ad space that people actually protect.
To us, physical print is a way to show appreciation and signal quality. Digital content is everywhere, which makes tangible objects feel rare again. When you hand someone a well-crafted sticker pack, you are proving that you care about the details. And that is something a screen simply cannot communicate.
"The StickerApp team is incredible and always goes above and beyond to help me get my designs right. It feels more like being part of a creative circle than just placing an order, and that community vibe makes a huge difference. I'm overwhelmed by the support I've received from my collectors. A massive thanks to StickerApp, who partnered with me to create some of the coolest packs."
San Drew, creator of Lumps
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Your stickers deserve the best, and we don’t mess around. Premium materials, top-tier printing, and durability that laughs in the face of rain, sun, and dishwashers. Stickers from StickerApp stand the test of time as much as they stand out from the crowd, which is what your stunning designs deserve.
Questions? Wild sticker ideas? Shoot me an email at nora@stickerapp.com or smash that button below.
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"With Stickerapp we have found the right partner to take our storytelling to the next level. With the high-quality sticker sets for our AHEAD collection we were able to create a highly emotional and exciting product together. Individuality and freedom reflect the values of the AHEAD road trip. Many thanks to StickerApp. We look forward to further joint projects."
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"At Yamay, we order labels from StickerApp for our products and are thrilled with the results. The stickers come in convenient rolls, ideal for our bottle application process, and the quality exceeds our expectations. The seamless ordering process and exceptional support from their staff make StickerApp a standout choice. We highly recommend them."
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"Been ordering stickers for over two decades and StickerApp is by far the best I’ve ever come across. Awesome ordering experience, quality and service"
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"Working with sticker app has been so amazing, we’ve been partners for years! Love what they do and how they do it."
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"We have been using sticker app for a couple years to create fun extras for our packages. Our customers LOVE receiving our sticker and have started collaging them on their water bottles and computers! It’s an extra fun perk to opening an order from us."
Our materials have been hand chosen by our team to ensure the highest quality, here are some great products with different ways to utilize them.
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