The world can be a scary place. At the time of this writing, I’m taking shelter from Hurricane Irma (well, Tropical Storm Irma now) and have no power. We could all use a little pep in our step lately, and to that end, I’ve spent the last couple of weeks designing the first-ever Goat Yoga iOS Sticker Pack.
ORIGINS
Goat yoga, for those who haven’t yet heard, is a viral concept as simple as its name. Surround a yoga class with playful goats and watch what happens.
My fiancé and collaborator, Eric Daniel, first came up with the idea for goat yoga stickers three weeks ago. Goats and yoga are highly visual, and they’re also really funny looking. Combined, they’re a sticker gold mine.
The stickers I designed here are intended to be as unsettling, unpolished, and funny as a yogi with a goat on her back.
METHOD
Based on Eric’s experience as a social media manager and mine with image manipulation, we organically shifted into Product Manager and Designer roles.
After several rounds of trial and error, I designed the stickers via photo collage. The goats and yoga poses are mostly true to form, but the human/semi-human faces are another matter. Each of these comes from a viral meme representing a different emotion, making the set easy to understand and widely useful.
The elements of the stickers (face, yoga pose, goat, etc.) are not intended to flow together smoothly. The bad juxtaposition is the punch line—a technique taken from my favorite sticker pack, Potatium.
CURRENT STATUS
The set is still in progress. I have created ten stickers that meet Eric and my standards, and I seek to create 7-10 more. Each takes between 0.5 and 2 hours, depending on the complexity of the concept and the images involved.
After the set is complete, we will need to purchase an Apple developer’s license and put the set through the App Store’s review process, which can take days to weeks. Our goal is to be the first (and best) Goat Yoga sticker on the market, and to create an end product that helps others communicate with laughter and accuracy.
REFLECTION
Throughout the process of creating this pack, I learned from both technical and thematic mistakes. Once, Eric pointed out that in trying to match a character’s skin tone to their meme-face, I was in danger of accidentally creating a blackface effect. It took several attempts to learn a sustainable Photoshop workflow and grow comfortable with masking images. I am still learning to work with hair and other finely textured elements, and some pieces of the set reflect this weakness.
From start to finish, I’ve done my best to keep focused on the user. For a sticker to be included in the final pack, it has to elicit a gut-level “that’s so me” reaction. Stickers, like emojis, are most useful when they help us describe the way we feel, and right now, I feel like
Until next time,
Emily