Lavender Lovers
Overview
Lavender Lovers is a blind box collectible figurine series that celebrates LGBTQIA+ culture through the lens of 'Lavender Language' - historical queer slang and cant. Each character embodies different aspects of queer vernacular, creating a product that serves as both a collectible toy and a subtle cultural touchstone for the community.
For this project, I was tasked with creating an original brand concept targeting young queer adults. The project required developing unique characters, branded materials, and packaging design that would resonate with the target demographic while serving as a subtle cultural signal within the queer community
Inital Concept & Sketches
The core idea emerged from studying successful collectible brands like Sanrio and Tokidoki, which excel at creating character-driven products. However, market research revealed an opportunity gap: while these brands focus on broad appeal through cuteness, there was space for a brand that could speak authentically to the LGBTQIA+ community. Each character would represent specific slang terms or community groups, allowing for personal connection and identification. The product serves as a cultural signal - immediately recognizable to queer audiences while maintaining playful ambiguity for others.
Timeline
10 Weeks
Collaborative
No
Sketching & Refinement
Character Development: Following extensive ideation, I selected four distinct characters that best represented different aspects of queer culture and language. Each character went through multiple sketch iterations, focusing on personality, proportions, and identifying features. Initial sketches explored various body types, expressions, and decorative elements that would make each character instantly recognizable while maintaining a cohesive style across the collection.
The refinement process involved multiple rounds of revisions, adjusting proportions and details to ensure each character was both manufacturable as a figurine and visually appealing. The final designs were then vectorized into comprehensive 360-degree character sheets, documenting front, back, and side views to provide complete technical specifications. These character sheets serve as the definitive reference for the figurines' production, ensuring consistency in form and detail across all applications."
Character Expression Sheets
After establishing the character designs and visual style, I created expression sheets for each character to better understand them and the world they exist in. These sheets helped me explore their personalities and how they would react in different situations.
Posters
To further explore this world and create promotional materials, I developed two illustrated posters depicting the environments these characters would inhabit. Drawing inspiration from gay culture, I captured two distinct spaces: the witchy, crystal type of gay aesthetic and the clubbing, party type of gay aesthetic.
Branding
After establishing all my visuals, I needed to create cohesive branding to tie my concept together before moving onto the final stage—the toy blind box. I developed a distinctive logotype, carefully selected color palette, and created a brand pattern that unified all elements of the project
Software
Illustrator
Year
2025
Lay Flat
Blind Box Design
Lastly, I developed the blind box product design. This featured all four characters and applied the branding I created to an actual physical product. The blind box served as the culmination of the project, bringing together all the character development, visual elements, and branding into a cohesive consumer-ready item
