LO2: Product Analysis - Character Model

 

For the 2012 London Olympics, the two mascots Wenlock and Mandeville are designed in order to represent key elements of England through iconography, for example there is some degree of inspiration from the Union Jack in terms of the colour-scheme for the two mascots, as orange light blue and silver are present which is similar to the classic red white and blue of the Union Jack, moreover this is further represented by the exclusive Union Jack versions of the two characters. Moreover, the use of a taxi light is a direct reference to the iconic London taxis, which is a huge piece of modern day British culture, which is an indirect method of promoting and branding the country. Moreover, the simplistic design of the character and the single large eye gives the characters an an almost "cute" appearance. This is purely done for marketing reasons as merchandise such as plushies will widely be marketed towards a younger audience so the models must be age appropriate in order to be successful. On the topic of marketing, there is a clear London 2020 logo which is to promote the event through the use of synergy, as this logo and name will constantly appear alongside these mascots which will ultimately promote the Olympics.

For this character, there is a clear bright and colourful appearance, this is done in order to connote a friendliness to the character. Moreover, in terms of iconography, we can clearly see this is a Japanese person and a school girl due to her uniform and the style of the eyes. This character has been designed in-proportionately to convey the idea of this being a younger character, this is also to give the character a cute appearance so that this character appears more kind and loveable and possibly more vulnerable and say a character that is taller and more muscular. This potentially plays on the stereotype that women are vulnerable than a character that is possibly male or a taller woman. Electric blue hair also plays a link to music as anime characters are stereotypically associated with nightmare music and EDM, this may be a way of advertising and promoting these genres of music just from imagery and association.