Snake

The second character I wanted to create was the snake, which from Sailor Jerrys' symbolic definitions represents power and the ability to ward off evil and misfortune. Thus I believe the snake is relevant to the connotations of 'togetherness'.

Again, continuing with the same design principle as the shark design I wanted to keep the illustration cartoon like rather than super realistic. 

After playing around with some ideas in the sketchbook I came up with this illustration, I decided to use jungle vines for the frame as a lot of snaked inhabit the jungles throughout the world so it made relevant sense. 

I wasn't really sure with how the snake in the frame turned out, so I wanted to try some other designs and see how they looked. I decided to draw up the snake with a 'B' to symbolise 'better' but I'm not sure how obvious that is or if it needs to be obvious? 

I also implemented this design onto a tshirt to see how it works, again I'm not completely sure if I'm pleased with it, I think the shark design is stronger and works better. Although I want to keep pushing the snake as I would rather have more than one character through the line of work I am creating.

Slogan

For my project, in aid of communicating the message of 'togetherness' I started to realise that maybe these characters wouldn't be strong/obvious enough to promote the message I wish to. So I started playing around with some text to see what I could come up with. I wanted to keep it simple and strong and easy to read, as a consumer.

With the word 'together' I played around with the kerning, pushing the characters of the word closer together, playing off the words own definition.

When choosing the colour of the highlight word there was no particular reason, yet.

I also introduced the snake character to play around with combining the text and the illustration. I think some of the text and designs are quite effective. I want the font to be simple and easy to read straight away which I think you get with these fonts I have been playing with. 

I also implemented these ideas onto phone cases to get a feel of what they could look like as well.

Although this time I used the shark character, I think these designs/layouts work out the best so far from what I have experimented with. My favourite design is the one the far left, a design I will be pushing forward.

Shark

After knowing that I want to now promote an underlying message through my work of 'togetherness' as an indirect response to the current situation the world is in. With the continuous negative news reports of more wars and descriptions throughout the world. 

I still want to continue using tattoo design and culture as my main inspiration for my own work, as it holds a lot of meaning behind some designs which I could push forward into my own. So I looked back on my research into Sailor Jerry to understand further the meanings behind some of his own designs, I wanted to find symbolic designs and representations which could relate to the word and meaning of 'togetherness'. From this quick look back on previous research I found that sharks represent courage and will which could be ideal to use of one of my characters for my campaign designs.

I want to keep my designs cartoon like, rather that hyper real life as I want to use the baby face bias to my advantage in the hopes of my design connecting with the consumer/viewer in a quicker fashion. I also want people to relate to the designs more, which the baby face bias theory suggests they will. 

I gathered some images of shark tattoo designs and also real pictures of great white sharks, I chose to base the design on a great white shark as I feel they are the most commonly known sharks to people thus the viewer will understand the design much quicker. 

All images for mood boards where sourced from google.

I then went about drawing some quick ideas up for the shark design first in my sketchbook then I moved onto illustrator to begin work on creating the digital design. 

After playing around with different styles and designs of the shark character I settled on the design below. 

The reason for the frame surrounding the shark relates back to the inspiration from the flash tattoo designs, as a lot of the flash tattoo designs feature a frame. I think the frame closes of the design nicely and makes it look more finished. I also decided to design the frame with the rope as rope is very symbolic of the sailor life and the ocean in general which obviously relates back to the shark, thus being appropriate to use in this design.

I also used the dotting technique previously used to help create shadow and add dimension to the overall design. I'm very pleased with how this design came out, it's very striking and easy to understand which is what I was aiming for.

Here I have added a little colour to the design, but just to the main focus of the design, being the shark. Even though I added slight shading with the colour I decided to keep the dotting work on the design as I feel it just adds even more depth and without the dotting I think the design would loose some of the impact the dots create.

I also added the banner below the design, which is another influence from the tattoo design. I think it works okay here but I don't think it is something I will continue, as I don't think it is as effective as another technique of promoting text could be. 

I also implemented this design onto a tshirt, just to understand what exactly the design would look like.

I used the displacement feature on photoshop so the design would interact with the tshirt folds in the hopes of making the implemented design look more realistic. 

The first photo is a photo I have taken myself the the photos below where images taken from google.

I think the design works quite well on the tshirt, as it is simple so it is still easy to understand once implemented onto the tshirt.

Raw for the Oceans

After understanding that design can convey and communicate an important message I searched around for any previous campaigns where this technique had been used to create awareness on a particular subject. This is where I cam across the Raw for the Oceans campaign by G-Star Raw in conjunction with Pharrell Williams. The campaign aims to give awareness about the continuous growing issue with people littering the oceans around the globe. Todo this they have created a simple character design of an octopus and the recurring use of the slogan 'WTF are you doing to my oceans' across the line of apparel available for purchase.

 
The use of the cute character will instantly be engaging for the consumer/viewer due to the baby-face bais. Humans instantly connect with anything conceived as being 'cute' as cuteness connotes honestly, naivety and innocence. Thus making the design more approachable etc.
With the use of the slogan 'wtf are you doing to my oceans', intended to be coming from the cute ocopus character it instantly will evoke emotions within the consumer, wanting to help this helpless, innocent character. Thus being a very effective marketing and campaigning technique, whilst also being a very aesthetically yet simple graphic apparel design. All while being an androgynous design.

http://rawfortheoceans.g-star.com/

Design can influence

In my project I really want my desings to have meaning and strike up some sort of emotion in the viewer or for them to find some connection within the design. Up untill now I have really been struggling with a reasoning behind my designs and why I'm doing them.
As I was continuing my research, specifically on how people respond to designs/products etc I realised that design can influence the consumer in quite a big way if the design is successful in communicating what the designer had planned. There for this project and in design overall can be used as a positive platform in sending and communicating out a message to the consumers. You could make positive awareness of current global issues.

• Migrant criss/EU/Isis/War/

I don't want these issues to take centre stage within my project as I don't want it to turn into a political debate or anything too heavy, as I obviously want to concentrate on my designs and how they interact/communicate with the consumer. Also, the idea of putting these designs onto these products which get carried and/or worn by the consumer, further spreading the positive message further. This also gives a purpose to the design and further reason as to why I have decided to put the designs onto them, giving the perhaps frivolous product meaning!

I still however wish to keep the style of the design on 'trend' and follow my previous research and interest with the tattoo inspiration. As I want to continue to use the symbolisim created by Sailor Jerry, using military symbolism to signify togetherness etc. 

I want to project a message of how the world, us humans need to form more togetherness in order to get through and work past all the negative issues the world is being clouded in. We all need to work together in order to fight off the evil.

Playing off the Apple logo

To try and make the designs more relevant to the product they're being places on, I decided to play off the apple logo, so I came up with these ideas.

I used some of the designs I have already previously created, based of the tattoo inspiration, with the roses and the pugs. Repeated patterns/designs is something which I noticed is a popular trend within the current highstreet stores, on accessories. I also really like the idea of having a see through case, as a lot of phones available now come in a range of colours, meaning people are more likely to want to show that off. Seeing the different colour through the case also gives the designs different dynamic.

I also created designs playing straight off the apple logo, with the worm coming out and the apple juice. Although the apple juice idea has been done before. I also placed a mandala I created previously to sit around the logo, which I think works okay. Although it is unfortunate that the logo doesn't sit central on the phone.

I also played with the idea of using a different fruit to cover the apple, using a pine apple and then an eaten apple. I quite like these ideas, although I think people might think they're too plain for a case.

Street Style Phone Cases

I google imaged street style phone cases to get a feel of what they are like;

These are some of the Moschino cases, obviously I want be able to create these but just an example of how far the phone case market is going.