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Inside Design – Designing QDC Mascot ‘Q’

KICK OFF

A couple weeks ago Quantum Data Center asked us to create a cartoon character to represent their brand. They wanted to emphasize that their data center is more than just a serious place to store data, so they hope the character will showcase their fun and energetic personality with their customers. We have outlined our design process in this article:

Screen Shot 2016-08-09 at 11.27.58 AM

 

Start with Sketches:

With most projects I always start by sketching anything that comes to mind. I decided to use the most iconic part of their logo and turn it into a character. Then I needed to determine where I wanted its face to go (there were a few options – on top of the Q, inside of the Q, or half-and-half) and if I wanted it to have arms and legs. I tried a couple different varieties and showed them to the team for feedback.

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Picking the Style:

After a couple conversations with the management team, we decided the character would look best with the glasses and floating with arms. Ultimately deciding on the sketch below:

QCharacter

Time for Illustrator:

This is my favorite part of design, opening up illustrator and getting to work. I took the actual Q from the QDC logo and then created the face and arms for ‘Q’ (I used freepik for the glasses and mouth mockup to speed up the process – I highly recommend it when you’re in a pinch):

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After a round of feedback we decided to give him a bowtie for a fun pop of color, check out the final ‘Q’ below:

Screen Shot 2016-08-09 at 11.27.58 AM