I started this project in 2013, that’s 5 freaking years ago. One of my goals for this year (2018) was to continue the series and give you guys a sneak peek behind the scenes. In this post, I will be talking about how I created this projects, the ins, and outs, the struggles, in a nutshell, the creative process.
I’ve been growing up with cartoons, specifically Cartoon Network. I remember that in 1996 we had cable television for the first time and my eyes were glued to the colored tv. I was 11 years old and didn’t know much, so I was killing time by watching Cartoon Network. I was a heavyweight watcher. I began drawing characters in my notebook while I was watching tv, so I had to finish my drawings until the episode was over. I used to memorize a full episode from 2 stupid dogs, and I knew literally all the lines. I mean, I was consuming cartoons that much. “What does this button do?” “Enough about you, let’s talk about me”epic! “What’s up doc?” You miss it too?
I feel nostalgic thinking of those times. Because of Cartoon Network I perfected my English and learned so much more, and for that, I wanted to bring homage to all the characters that inspired me when I was a kid.
How did this project start? Usually, things are happening when you answer the question “what if?”. I love brands. I love using them as much as I love creating them. I love cartoons. What if I can make a mix of the two worlds, where a cartoon character materializes into a brand logo. I had to try it. One thing I can tell you is that I watched a ton of cartoons while creating this project. I mean, it was part of the research phase and fun too. For this idea to work, I had to set some boundaries so here they are:
1. ✅ The brand needs to have some direct connection with the character. For example Dexter (he wears glasses) and RayBan (brand of sunglasses and eyeglasses) the result being the RayBan logo with an unmistakable hint of Dexter. In this case, the letter B took the shape of glasses.
2. ✅ The brand has to complement the character in any way. For example, Fred Flinstones has no shoes, and it made sense to me to dress him up with Lacoste brand. Or IR Baboon and Pampers.
3. ✅ The final result has to spark a smile, has to be funny and not forced.
4. ✅ Go literal, go go Captain Obvious if it makes sense. For example Bugs Bunny and Playboy. These two don’t have anything in common except they are rabbits.
5. ✅ Don’t alter the brand logo (too much).
6. ✅ Add supporting elements if needed. For example the hat of Top Cat on the KitKat logo.
7. ✅ Observe line weights, contrast, colors, and details in general.
8. ✅ Take into consideration the overall project colors harmony.
These are the rules I had to take constantly into consideration. The next step was to select the characters I would be using so I chose around 65 of them and over 60 famous logos. It was time to organize a bit, so everything happened in Google Docs. I created 2 columns, Characters and Brand trying to associate words to all of the characters and logos. I was trying to reverse engineer their personality and for that research played a significant role here, research each brand, research each character. With this process, I started to see some patterns, and it was way easier to match the two. Not every result was immediate some of them took longer to iterate and make.
+ 15 more pages
And of course, I couldn’t mix all the characters with all the brands. I wish I could; some very hilarious mashups would have happened. For example, Captain Caveman and Head & Shoulders, Transformers and Lego, Morticia and Max Factor, Lurch and WinXP, Inspector Gadget and CIA or FBI to name a few.
Making this projects was fun and relaxing. Check out the full series on my Instagram page and go figure out the connections. I hope you’ll like it and if it brings good memories even better.
