Durex development

Developing on from the initial ideas previously discussed, i began to develop the idea of illustrating a series of young people lining up for something; a very normal everyday thing to do.

I began by illustrating a couple facing each other, condoms can be seen placed in the pocket and bag of the two figures, with print patterns of the square and shape circle of an actual condom being used throughout the clothing of both of the figures, this idea was developed earlier on, however i believe in this format; where you can see the full body figure it works a lot better in subtly referencing condoms, with the casual nature in which the condoms have been placed in the pockets and accessories furthers the whole drive behind this visual; to make condoms a normal, everyday thing to carry about.

When trying to decide on the colour pallet for the design i initially though of using the different colours of the most popular condom boxes i previously researched in to, however i tried out using tones of red and pink in order to communicate romance and intimacy which felt appropriate due to the subject matter of the design.

The colour pallet seemed to work really well in communicating intimacy within the otherwise very 'safe' design (safe in terms of not explicitly sexual).

Within the design, different couples of different sexualities have been portrayed in order to communicate the fact that durex is a brand for everyone, regardless of sexual orientation.

Rather than just illustrating couples, friends and people on their own have also been portrayed in order to show that durex want people to have the sex they want on their own terms, whether thats within a monogamous relationship or not.

Durex Initial Ideas

After researching in to the reasons why young people don't wear condoms i began generating more thought out concepts for the campaign.
Initially i had the idea of creating a series of four illustrations inspired by the colours and characteristics of the most popular Durex condoms, such as depicting an exciting narrative using elements of dots and orange to reflect the characteristics of the Durex 'excite me' range which features orange packaging with dots on it.

I then thought of the idea of creating a series of illustrations (as the brief asks for a visual solution) showing different coupes of all races, genders and sexual orientations in bed together, as durex has said that they do not judge and believe that all people should have the sex they want and deserve (see below for initial design)

the illustration on the right shows the inital design for the above concept, although this is just an initial idea some elements do work, such as the use of bold block colours, although i felt as if this idea was lacking the criteria set out in the brief, as the beif states that the campaign should encourage young people to make carrying and wearing condoms a part of normal everyday life.

i then began to experiment with the idea of communicating the criteria set out in the brief of making carrying and using condoms the norm, to do this i thought that it would be an appropriate idea to show condoms being bought/carried in everyday scenes and scenarios that are familiar to the 16-24 year old audience.

I began designing with this concept in mind by showing a woman buying condoms along with other daily essentials such as milk and bread, in the setting of a shop; a place where the target audience will often visit. I felt as if this idea was getting closer to meeting the criteria of the brief, more so than the bedroom setting illustration, however i felt as if it didn't yet communicate the diverse range o people and couples who use condoms.

I then began experimenting with depicting more people and couples in the illustration to reach the wide target audience, (as seen above) again using the setting of an everyday routine type location (a train, or tram or tube). within the illustration i've used the shape and details of condoms within the illustration such as the circles on the males jumper or the trousers textures of the couples mimicking the ribbed texture of some of Durexs' most popular condoms. Condoms can also be seen in the woman's handbag within the illustration; communicating the idea of condoms being something that young people carry about with them on a daily basis. The concept behind this piece felt as if it was defiantly meeting a lot more of the criteria set out in the brief.

Whilst trying to develop the above concept i came up with the idea of rather creating a series of posters that it might be more effective to create one large piece as this would give-me the opportunity to communicate all aspects of the brief within once piece. Below i have sketched out the idea for this piece.



The above idea is to create a long illustration piece (126cm x 29.7cm) which shows a line of people queuing up for a cash machine, or a train or in a line for a coffee shop; everyday, normal locations. Within the piece different people and couples (different races, genders and sexual orientations) will be seen carrying condoms in bags and pockets similar to the above piece, with their clothing showing elements of the shape and size and overall look of condoms. I think this piece will work well in communicating the idea that condoms are something that should be part of your daily routine and something that should be carried around, i also believe that through the clothing, body language and interactions that i intend to depict within the illustration i will be able to communicate the idea that Durex don't judge and that they are the challengers of sexual conventions. I believe i could achieve this by certain accessories or clothing the people will be wearing.

In order to determine the most appropriate location for the illustration to be set in, i asked several classmates and university students (all within the target audience age range) where they would consider a normal place for young people to hang out,  a few people said at university, or in a park in summer, however most people said the pub or a club. I feel like this would be a good location to base the piece in as its a casual place where friends and people often go for dates or to talk, and so it feels like a good location for discussion about sex to take place. Of course the illustrations of the people are th main focus of the illustration, however the background location is still important as it ties the whole piece together and gives it more context.

The Prawn Shop x Nasalwarts Collaboration (brief)

The Brief:
internal collaboration consisting of designing a collaborative clothing collection, exhibition branding and the curation of a launch party/exhibition between my self and Tom Clague.

I received an email in mid November from the events coordinator from The Old Red Bus Station; a bar, club and exhibition space in Leeds city centre, the events co-ordinator (Gabby) emailed me in regards to my brand (The Prawn Shop) putting on event/pop-up shop in their exhibition space, this seemed like a great opportunity to not only gain awareness for my brand, but also gain insight in to how to curate an exhibition. Months prior to the email, my self and fellow classmate Tom Clague discussed the idea of collaborating on a limited edition clothing collection on my website under his illustration name Nasalwarts. After receiving the email i immediately thought about utilising this opportunity as a way to launch the collaborative clothing collection my self and Tom had previously discussed, we had a meeting with events coordinator Gabby and detailed our idea to create a launch party/exhibition at The Old Red Bus Station. She responded really well to the idea, having seen Tom's illustrations in a previous group exhibition he took part in.


Before we began to plan the event or even began designing the collection we thought it would be wise to go and visit the space and see what was possible, we visited the venue on the 29th of November.

The exhibition space was on the top floor of the building, with two sets of stairs leading up to a short hallway with a door at each side-leading to two rooms which were both available for us to use.
The first room (on the left) was very open, with exposed brick walls and windows. Gabby informed us that we could hang anything on all but one wall, we also had the freedom to rearrange the rooms however we like.
The second room was much darker than the first, with it normally being used for club nights with coloured lights throughout this room.

Myself and Tom were really happy with the space that was available, we thought that we could do separate things in different rooms and make the exhibition interactive in some way.
After setting the date for the exhibition (6th of February) we decided to start working on the project over Christmas and focus on it when we got back after break