Designer As Entrepreneur

3. Eleanor—Jayne Browne | MVC 2 Major Course 2015—16 | Designer As Entrepreneur 3
Like other messaging apps, Line is
spending money to transform itself
into a “lifestyle platform” filled with
features like grocery deliveries and
music streaming, with the hope that
offering a wide range of services will
keep users engaged after the novelty
of free texting and voice calls wears
off. However, this messaging app’s
main sources of revenue are still
sticker packs and games— its
Creators Market, which lets third—
party designers upload and sell stickers,
made USD 75 million during its first
year in business. According to figures
the company released for its 4th
anniversary, up to 2.4 billion stickers
and emojis are sent each day by its
users. Almost half, or 48%, express
happiness, but the rest reflect emotions
ranging from sadness (10%) to anger
(6%) and surprise (5%). Interestingly,
many characters originally designed
as creators’ stickers have received
merchandising and publishing deals,
and gone on to collaborate with other
corporations, proving that the sticker—
based platform has become an
incubator for creativity and nurturing
new ideas.
Line records which stickers get used
the most often, but not how recipients
react to them— this presents a
challenge, but also gives designers
more freedom; and additionally, the
company doesn’t have a specific
demographic in mind when creating
new packs (when Line first launched,
the majority of its users were female
high school students).
Backed up with painstaking research
of the languages, customs and even
slang used in varying markets, Line's
design team creates a wide variety of
experiences for global users; eg.
American users prefer stickers that
leave no space for misinterpretation,
so characters have “wide” smiles and
stickers are often accompanied by
captions like “Awesome!” and “Great
job!”
And, for Islamic cultures, the Line
team gleaned that a major messaging
opportunity exists around Ramadan,
the Muslim holy month of fasting.
Therefore the team designed stickers
of Brown the Bear breaking the fast
and exchanging good wishes with
Cony the Rabbit.
In short, the Line platform undeniably
facilitates a deeper, richer way of self—
expression and though stickers are an
extension of the content—sharing
trend prevalent across all online portals
and social networks, they are also an
example of how “tech” companies can
influence and reinforce cultural trends.
M O R E T H A N
J U S T A
C O M M U N I C AT I O N T O O L
Line Creators Market
The Land of Serge, Line Stickers
Festive Ramadan Days, Line Stickers
Line Conversation

4. Eleanor—Jayne Browne | MVC 2 Major Course 2015—16 | Designer As Entrepreneur Brief 4
If a “picture” is worth 1,000 words, what's the value of a sticker?
Throughout history, every form of communication has developed its
own shorthand. Northern Renaissance paintings were rich in
symbolism— even the most mundane detail, like a vase, was a rich
allegory. Victorians folded the corners of their calling cards to express
sentiments ranging from congratulations to condolences and wireless
telegraphists developed a system of coded slang to save their hands
from the dreaded “morse finger.”
S**t
HAPPENS
In a text conversation, stickers are bids
for effortless connection. They make
it easy to express feelings you can’t
(and probably sometimes shouldn’t)
spell out in words.
Many users of messaging apps such as
WhatsApp have switched to Line
largely in large part to their selection
of stickers and emojis which like
symbols in Renaissance paintings,
express a wide, complex, and often
bemusing array of ideas and emotions—
and though many of Line’s stickers are
sweet and innocent, some are
exaggeratedly violent and crazy—
there is a limit though to the kinds of
situations that Line can show, however,
and it varies from region to region, for
example, in countries where there is a
large Muslim population, Line doesn’t
sell stickers showing drunk characters.
Emoji, stickers and much more will
evolve and continue to spread through
all aspects of our digital lives as they
support our complex human
communication needs and, in a world
where time is money, why bother
wasting time by typing a reply when
you can send faster, more expressive
emojis or stickers in seconds?
D E S I G N B R I E F
Based on an original story create a set
characters suitable for application as
stickers to be used for the messaging
app Line.
Stage 1—
Create 3* written stories outlining 3*
unique scenarios.
Stage 2—
Generate a new visual language with
which to illustrate your story.
Stage 3—
Extract elements to create a set 0f 24+
(max 40) characters suitable for
application as stickers to be used for
Line.
Create stickers that are—
(a) easy to use in daily conversation
and communication
(b) consist of easily understandable
expressions, messages and illustrations
also note that non—recommended
stickers are those which—
(a) are difficult to use in daily
conversation, such as objects/scenery
(b) are not illustrated pictures, such
as photos
(c) have poor visibility, such as pictures
that are too long or full—length or
include tall characters
(d) significantly lack variety, such as
stickers made up purely of pale colours
(e) offend public order and morality,
are suggestive of under—age drinking
or smoking, contain sexual or violent
imagery, or may fuel nationalism.
T H E B U S I N E S S
O F S T I C K E R S
L I N E C R E AT O R S M A R K E T