First off, apologies for the posts this week (or more specifically the lack thereof). Work is heating up and I'm beginning to pull 12+ hour days just to make deadlines. That said, I'll have some very fun pieces to show off this weekend. I'm also trying my best to correct this with some fun new stuff for next week. Also, for all of those kind folks that contacted me about my RapidWeaver theme Tabletop, I'm not ignoring you! I do have an updated version for release later today which should correct a few of the stumbles of version 1. Sincere thanks for your kind notes...
Fortune Small Business has a
recent article highlighting Character, a studio
helmed by David Altschul in Portland, Oregon.
The studio is only six people strong, and relatively
fresh since their birth in 2002, but yet I
can’t imagine many people who aren’t
familiar with their work. Character specializes in
creating brand mascots ( or “critters” )
that help directly impact sales. Their work can be
seen in the swagger of Tony the Tiger, or in the
charm of the Pillsbury Doughboy. All told
they’ve worked on nearly all of the memorable
corporate creations worth your time. And they take in
over $2 million in annual revenue.
What I found most compelling about Character’s
interview was the great secrets they let slip out of
the bag. Below you’ll find an abridged catalog
of their wisdom as siphoned by Fortune. I'm really
taking the ball and running with what they said, so
take this as half article and half high-school
philosophy:
1) “[People]
connect emotionally with characters
whose struggles are familiar to
them, not with characters who superficially
look or act like them.”
2) Most characters which aim to tell a story
are emotion-based characters. All
emotion-based characters have flaws grounded in
desires. (Example: Lucky is crazy for Lucky Charms
cereal to the point of obsession and
self-humiliation. The Pillsbury Doughboy loves to
serve even when it is hard due to his size and
environment. Simba desires to become a great king of
the jungle like his father before him.)
3) Emotion-based characters are more commonly
anthromorphic. These critters tend to wear
clothing, have a human “attitude”, and
adopt certain human-like mannerisms (ex. stuttering).
This similarity to humans ends at their motivations.
An emotion-based character’s motivations and
goals should be in line with those of their
species/culture.
4) If you have a character that doesn't
aim to tell a story but instead acts as a "mascot",
you have a mystery based character. These
critters are highlighted by a distinct lack of
information outside of their appearance. Viewer
interest is now driven by NOT knowing a
character’s desires and flaws. If the
character is compelling enough they will work to find
or create a back story. Good examples are the creepy
Pringles dismembered head or the Pepperidge Farm
Goldfish.
5) Mystery based characters' only voice is
their visual appeal. They need to emote
uniqueness and ask viewer participation through how
they are displayed. The benefit of this style of
character is that they don't need to be close
to humans visually. A disembodied floating
head or a pack of gravity-defying cheese crackers
will do.
6)
Critters that don’t fall into either of these
categories tend to be bland and uninteresting
which don’t engage viewer attention.
These characters imply false intentions as their
motivations seem confused. These “fake”
characters are commonly referred to as cartoon-ish,
while emotion-based characters rarely have this
dilemma because they are seen as human. Mystery-based
characters don't fall into either the cartoon or real
categories because their lack of context
allows them to bend to a viewers needs.
-Josh
