Case Study: Bushido Kids Karate Club T-shirt
The first time my design was turned into a product.
1. Background of Customer:
Name of Customer: Bushido Kids Karate Club
Type of Business: Martial Arts School
Years in Business: 10 years
Target Audience: All ages 4 and up and their families
Unique Selling Proposition: Teach traditional karate and practical self-defence.
2. Problem to Solve:
They make club T-shirt each year and this was their 10th anniversary. They needed another T-shirt for 2017. (Design contest was open to everyone)
3. Solution:
Create a fun and club relevant illustration for the club's 10th anniversary.
I started with sketching on paper with a pencil. Brainstorm ideas. I forgot how or why, but the club had many dragon symbols (patches etc), so I wanted to include a dragon. Maybe I was inspired by the book I read as a child (Japanese folktale) where a boy was riding on a dragon. I wanted to make a boy and a girl in gi riding on a cute (not scary) dragon. I searched online some images that I can refer to, and drew my first draft (on paper still). After revising here and there, I finalized the design.
Then, I traced all the lines in marker, scanned the paper, and placed into Illustrator and digitalized it (into vector). I added a belt (like a crest) surrounding this image, adding appropriate text. Typeface choice was cartwheel. It had a sense of fun and also brush texture (as if of Japanese calligraphy).
And after minor revision, the final image is the below:
By implementing these solutions, I won the contest and my design was selected as 2017 club T-shirt design. I saw the students were happy with the fresh look of the design. Sensei appreciated it, too, and I ended up designing 2 more club T-shirts (even after I left Guelph).
Below is the next two years design I did:
2019 Similar dragon illustration from previous years. This time, trying to connect dragon's tail into a black belt, connecting all 3 figures. I used my son's karate photos to draw the kids poses.
2018 Frame was carwheel font's D, and from there, dragon (with black belt) and a boy come out with their karate kicks :) I had a fun drawing this one.
