Negotiated Projects: BMW WHF

I have to design some merchandise for BMW's charity in China called World Heart Fund. The aim was to represent the charity with an idea of the charity that it intends to be, for example, it helps communities grow and educates children in parts of china that have been  victim to natural disasters or are in need of help some way. BMW do this because they take from the Chinese community and they want to do their part and give something back. So, we were given the task to re design their merchandise for people of all ages, which includes:

• A new years Card
• A certificate
• A T-shirt

And then you can pick from a list which other items you'd like to redesign (minimum 2)

So I chose 

• A mug
• A canvas tote bag

I am planning my designs so that one character is throughout the designs and can be re worked in to every format desired, I have to keep in mind that if they chose my designs I would have to design some more for other merchandise such as iPhone & iPad cases. 

So I start off looking at birds (again) because they can represent so many happy emotions and are nice characters to work with, they are also something i find personal to myself. But before I jumped into anything I knew I had to research the meanings behind birds, colours, and everything i'd thought about using in my illustrations, because there's no point drawing and making something if you'd be offending someone showing it! 

I researched different kinds of birds and their meanings, some were bad luck omens and others were more fitted to my brief.

I had considered Cranes, Magpies and Mandarin ducks, they were all relevant. But I wanted to stay away from the cranes because they are so typically chinese and I thought after reading the brief they didn't want an image that was the epitome of chinese culture, they want a surprise. So i had to find a balance between different and being careful what i'm showing to people.

I had seriously considered mandarin ducks because of the idea of relationships behind them. They represent odd couples, and i thought that was a nice idea because BMW and a charity like WHF are just so odd together! But The idea was loose and I thought people might take it differently to how i'd intended it, and I don't want to imply that BMW are in the charity for a ulterior motive. 

So I chose the magpie, it was kind of my first choice anyway, they are a good luck charm, they bring happiness and I think it's relevant for WHF to bring happiness, so that was one aspect I could cover.

Next I had to think about how i'd represent more than one aspect of the charity, I couldn't have just a magpie anyway, it doesn't say enough, i wanted to paint the picture clearly so i experimented with ways to represent other aspects. I decided to represent growth with trees, friendship through another character perhaps and prosperity with a dandelion. I also did some tye dyes for the colours of the magpies and leaves for the tree, ect. Here are some of my drawings:

After experimenting with different ideas and drawings these were the ones i picked above the others, and i had ideas in mind of how to fit them together for each design, so I started to play with my pictures on Photoshop and after a bit of play they came together nicely. Here are some of my finished mock-ups. I just need to perfect them now and I will be able to send them off ready for print!