Research - Character

Fruit With Personality

This is the level we are at now (illustration by Malaki)

Which is much like this level of kawaii cute but I think the Fruit needs a little bit of personality to be "cool" and appeal to a wider range of ages and both genders.

This is more of the level I think we need to be at if we are sticking with personified fruit. Something with personality and attitude. Something "cool" and a little bit more middle of the age demographic. I can't find any images but the yoghurt ad with the fruit skateboarding over the punnet, i think something like that would appeal more.

(images below sourced by Maddie)

Case Studies

Cookie Time Monster

Its fun, its simple, its friendly and easily identifiable. 

It plays on the sesame st cookie monsters. I really like how they use the real cookie with the illustration, the monster is interacting with the product therefore young children who mimic behaviour want to engage with it too.

Their typeface combination is a fun, quirky sans serif in monster fur coupled with a very legible penciled handwriting to be relatible to children. Sleek designer typefaces are too sophisticated and cold/sterile.

The last image is an example of creative packaging which uses a clear window to show the product and overlays a printed image to make it creative.

Cookie Bear

Griffin's has taken the beloved teddy bear to endorse their biscuits. It has a nostalgic value for adults, associated with fond memories of being comforted by their favourite childhood teddy bear, attending teddy bear picnics, and they would want to share these memories with their children.

He has a simple catchphrase Dum-de-doo. He is jolly and cheerful, bringing smiles to children's faces. part of the marketing which popularized him was a cookie bear club, and a children's story book.

He would definitely suit a younger audience. When it becomes uncool for children to take a teddy bear to a sleep over, and before he becomes part of nostalgia he would be an ineffective character type to use.

Minions

The beauty with Minions is the appeal is wide spread through a large demographic. I would put this down to the cheeky personalities. They are essentially little monsters.  Universal studios has taken pixars idea of making childrens movies tolerable for adults by using  different levels of humour.

My little Pony

A great way to market to young girl's is through mythical fairytale creatures like unicorns, Pegasus, fairies and mermaids. 

My little pony has evolved their characters over the years to keep up with the current trends. I found it quite funny how the eyes of the ponies have gotten bigger and bigger over the years. The colours also went more vibrant in the 90's but seem to have gone more pastel in the current versions. This would be something to keep in mind for the colour scheme for our product.

Unstable Unicorn Kickstarter Game

Ramy Badie has taken this beloved unicorn character and made it into something really cool. This campaign has closed now amassing over 1 million dollars in pledges, presumably from people of a range of ages and genders as well as cultures.

The artwork has a range from cute to dark, sweet to full on attitude. For me it was the artwork that sold the game, and its nostalgia value for my little ponies.

Big Eyes = Cute

Neopets

Evolution of virtual pets

Neopets, like pokemon, has been around for decades. They seemed to be based on the idea of tamagotchi. They are virtual pets you had to earn money by playing games to feed. you

Neopets history

Monsters

Monsters are an enduring theme throughout childrens books, movies, tv series and toys. Perhaps these are used to stop children fearing the monsters under the bed or in the closet. They are generally portrayed as cute, cuddly and friendly, with large eyes and cheeky personalities. 

The bonus to monsters is there is an endless number of creations you can make. You are only limited by your imagination. Both genders can be targeted by them. Girls will like cute creatures based on animals, with big eyes, wings and floppy ears. Where boys would more likely be drawn to grosser, slightly scarier versions, with claws, horns and big teeth. These would be more based on sharks, dinosaurs, reptiles and insects.

(pictures below found by Maddie)