Gamers Heaven Bay Area
Creating a mascot that resonates with the anime and nerd community for a cafe
Overview
→ Role: Designer
→ Collaborators: Dennis Yu from Gamers Heaven Bay Area
→ Deliverable: Scaleable mascot to be used across social media, printed for shirts and across physical mediums within the cafe.
Constraints of existing design language
How can we make a design that resonates with the community that frequents the cafe while working with existing IP?
This project had the challenge of designs that needed a mascot that would fit in but also stand out, while also keeping in mind the audience of the cafe. The typical users frequently consume anime or games, so the design had to reflect that and be a mascot that the community could rally behind. The bee was decided, but we needed to figure out how the two would work together.
Creating variations
Designing for the text
For the front of the shirt, it was important to have a version of the bee that would work with the text.
We decided to make the ring around the D-pad icon represent the trail of pollen a bee has. However, there were several options for how this could look.
A second variation needed
Meanwhile for the back of the shirt, we needed a variation of the bee that would interact with the D-pad independent of the Gamers Heaven text. This would also provide variety to the signage within the cafe.
Iterating from feedback
For the text bee, we needed versions that would work with different versions of the existing D-pad and backgrounds. These needed to keep the color treatment and consistency.
Additionally, for the hexagon design, we narrowed it down to 3 numbered designs from above, from which I ideated several iterations to choose from, particularly with the bee's legs.
Final outcomes
Usability across mediums
The bee unified the visual language of the Gamers Heaven Bay Area location, from drink sleeves, to T-shirts, to printed boxes and more throughout the cafe. The visual serves as a memorable cue for the brand.
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