The ClientGabi H2O is a UK-based company focused on promoting water conservation. They offer educational programs, online educational games and activities, and a variety of consumer products designed to help people in the UK conserve water.
“Our aim is to bring a value to water, an asset which we have long taken for granted. We want to make wasting water socially unacceptable by changing perception and behaviour.”
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Services Provided
Character Design Illustration Story Consulting |
The Challenge
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The challenge for GabiH2O's founder, Avi Djanogly, was how to bring about lifestyle change on a mass scale. It was decided that spurring behaviour change among children would not only form better life-long habits, it would create "pester power" and encourage parents to get involved too. To achieve this outcome, they had a character designed to appeal to children. They decided on a camel to represent their mandate of water conservation and after seeking consumer feedback, received consistently positive response. However, there was also considerable critical feedback. Some of the respondents felt the character looked too much like a horse, too camp, or too mature. This prompted them to pursue a re-design.
Initially, Mr. Djanogly approached me to re-design the existing Gabi the camel character to fit the current childrens’ animation landscape and update the GabiH2O logo. |
 The original Gabi character design.
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The Solution
One of the recurring consumer comments during the focus groups was that Gabi looked too much like a horse. After consulting with the client and reviewing the creative brief, I began researching camels and how they differed from horses. I also looked at every cartoon camel I could find. The last thing I wanted to do was to create a design that appeared derivative of existing work.
Once the research phase was complete, I produced rough pencil sketches to explore the look of the character. Shape language, proportion, variance, attitude and personality were explored to arrive at a design that met the requirements of all stakeholders. After several rounds of revisions, I developed a design that both I and the client were very happy with.
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The chosen design was then refined and clean line art is produced. Several variations of costuming were created to get him just right.
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Once the client signed off on the final design, I proceeded to re-work the logo, adding a backwards ball cap and replacing the old design with the new.
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Now the fun began as I was tasked to put Gabi into action in a variety of illustrations for colour pages, product appications and promotional images.
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GabiH2O then decided to expand from a single character to a whole cast of friends to help Gabi spread the word about the importance of water conservation.
The Results
Gabi the camel is the UK's first animated character dedicated to educating children about water conservation. He is at the center of a national campaign that has captured the imagination of children and saved the UK an estimated 540 million litres of water per year.
His image has been applied to educational playing cards, online games and activities and a collection of products designed to help people conserve water, The character came to life in educational spots on Nickelodeon UK and Nicktoons TV, rapping to promote water use.
His image has been applied to educational playing cards, online games and activities and a collection of products designed to help people conserve water, The character came to life in educational spots on Nickelodeon UK and Nicktoons TV, rapping to promote water use.
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