Illustration

IKEA
Pasta Queen
Dyking Out

OPPORTUNITY: IKEA was launching “The Life Improvement Project” and needed visuals to aid the campaign.
INSIGHT: People use the IKEA manuals when they are setting up their furniture, hence they are familiar with the IKEA dude who appears in the instructions.
SOLUTION: Bring the IKEA dude to life in a new, fun way.
MY ROLE: Concepting and illustration.

MANUALS:
We created The Life Improvement Manuals, which show the IKEA dude giving different tips on how to improve life. Additionally, as a soft sell, we incorporated some IKEA products within the tips (when they were relevant to the tip given). In total, I illustrated a page for each of the following manuals: 

1. Closet Organization

2. Reward Exercise

3. Try New Things

4. Build Confidence

5. Get a Good Night’s Sleep

6. Never Stop Learning

7. Eco-friendly Lighting

8. Design for Weight Loss

9. Save the Honey Bees

10. Drink More Water

Below is a closer look at "Try New Things." We even gave the IKEA dude a mohawk.

CONTENT CREATED:
Additional illustrations were created for the following deliverables:

1. Banners

2. Key visuals for the IKEA homepage

3. Times Square billboard

CREDITS:
AD: Giselle Guerrero
AD/ILLUSTRATION: Ceci Bergier
CW: Emma Parry
CD: Diego Zambrano

THE ASK: Create a fabric line specifically designed for kitchens to be sold in shops like Anthropologie. The main theme: pasta.
MY ROLE: Full creative direction and execution.

PROCESS:

1. Inspiration:
I like to kick things off with gathering inspiration. For this particular product, I created a mood board of pasta photography. When it comes to inspiration for drawing, I like to refer to real photographs of the subject matter instead of illustrations. 

2. Sketch. Sketch. Sketch:
I carry a sketchbook everywhere I go. This part is perhaps the most fun, just thinking and exploring all the possibilities of design. I like to have as many sketches as possible. I don’t constrain myself here because it’s where the magic happens. I aim for 30 pages of sketches (when time allows).

3. Pick my favorites:
Once I have spent enough time sketching out different approaches, I go through my content and select/photograph my favorites. Then I go into photoshop and make a spread that includes my top pieces. This part is also exciting because it’s where I get a better understanding of what the final product will start to look like. I try to have as many graphic elements as possible.

4. Digitize:
Depending on the final look and feel I am going for, I either draw it in Photoshop or vectorize it in Illustrator. I used Illustrator for this particular project .

5. Color study:
For every project I like to do a color study which helps ensure that I'm using the best color combinations. Once I have selected the colors I want to use, I do a combination palette, which is where I test each color with each other to see which work and eliminate those combinations that don’t.

6. Collect graphic elements:
After having created and colored all my assets, I lay them out on a single page. It’s my version of a UI kit for making patterns. In exchange, this gives me clarity and allows me to see all the elements I have at my disposal. With this, I can start playing in photoshop to create patterns.

7. Extra Playtime:
Even though I sketched out my final design, I make sure to have extra time for play and exploration because there's always a chance to see things in a new way. In this case, I had made all of my graphics, except I still felt like it was missing something. It was missing emotion. I realized that whoever would buy an apron with this fabric must really love pasta, and that is how I came up with the final addition of the Pasta Queen type treatment. I thought about this while I was waiting at the salon and made a quick sketch right there. When I got home, I vectorized it and incorporated it into the final design. 

8. Final product:
Once I have my final pieces, I place them all in one sheet to see how they all work together, and voila, the work is done.