In this project, I leveraged an existing pop-culture phenomena (in this case Kirby) to develop a set of 6 Pop-Culture expressions across two categories: Ideal and Freak. 3 items will represent the “unattainable ideal” and the others will represent the “freak” that subverts the ideal cultural phenomenon it is referencing. Each category will include designed merchandise, prints, and interactives. I chose to create plastic pins, a poster, and sticker activity book for both categories. I chose to highlight the ideal Kirby as a character that believed in justice, inherently kind, and encouraged teamwork. The Freak Kirby on the other hand, is a Kirby that eats other citizens of Dreamland (his country), borderline sociopath, and a black hole. This project was definitely one of the more challenging ones but was fun. I struggled the most with creating the pins and sticker sheets because it was something I never did before and had limited resources and budget.
For the pins, I created them out of Shrinky dink plastic, a combination of paint markers and colored pencils, and glossy accents to give it a nice shine. There was a lot of trial and error and researching involved to find out which method worked best for the desired outcome.
For the prints, I created an intuitive eating poster for the Freak Kirby to go against the norms of diets and healthy eating. The Ideal Kirby print is a reward chart that focuses more on good behaviors.
For the interactive, I made sticker activity books for both categories. Each book contains connect-the-dots, mazes, sticker pages, matching, and coloring pages.
