Keeping Our History Alive: The Hacker’s Guide to Sticker Preservation

Brian Baskin opens by framing laptop stickers as a way for people in hacker communities to show their interests, affiliations and history. In a crowd of thousands at a conference, a sticker can reveal a shared skill set, a favourite tool, an old CTF, or a past event, and it can signal who is worth talking to. He also touches on how stickers mark cultural moments, from old groups and conference branding to in-jokes that only a small circle recognises.

The middle of the talk turns to the practical problem of losing these stickers when people upgrade hardware. Baskin explains that a sticker is made of layers, including vinyl, printed ink, laminate and adhesive, and that a simple pry with a razor often lifts the laminate instead of the glue, leaving residue behind. He compared solvents, including acetone, isopropyl alcohol and heptane-based removers. Acetone cleaned well but discoloured printing, while the heptane products gathered the adhesive into a gel that could be scraped off. He also tested heat from a hair dryer, a heat gun and steam. Too much heat damaged the laptop screen, and steam warped the vinyl.

To finish, he covers reapplication. Options include a specific spray adhesive, double-sided transfer tape, or scanning a sticker and recutting it with a vinyl cutter. His main recommendation is to move stickers onto a clamshell case or a silicone laptop skin, so they can be removed, reused and carried over to future hardware without risking the device itself.