Writer Archetypes in Stickers

by Faolan Cole & Jazz Groden-Gilchrist

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At Emily Carr University of Art + Design, students are eager to express themselves visually. When it comes to the written word, however, there is often frustration; we hear a lot of students say that they’re artists, not writers. Because of this disinterest (and sometimes resentment!) it can be difficult to connect with the students and convince them, through our promotional material, that coming to the Writing Centre can be a positive experience.

Drawing on (pun intended) a mutual love of story/character design, we (Faolan and Jazz) decided to create “Writer Archetypes” and produce them as stickers. By personifying writing habits, we hoped that students would see themselves represented in the writing world, instead of feeling alienated from it. The goal was to make them visually appealing enough that students would stick them on sketchbooks/notebooks and other everyday objects.

The character design went through many stages, beginning by developing a list of different “personalities” within the writing process. Humour, visual aesthetics, and the desire to challenge racial and gender-based stereotypes were all taken into account, helping to turn these writing habits into relatable characters (incidentally, the most relatable seems to be the Last Minute Magician). We collaborated at each step of the brainstorming and design process, with Jazz illustrating them.

Being a part of an art school, there is always an extra push to create visually engaging promo material. We wanted these stickers, however, to go beyond the reach of our posters, giving our students something to relate to, and to take away with them. It’s important to us to help every student feel included in the writing process, and to let them know that we’re here to support writers of any kind, at every stage!

faolan_picFaolan Cole is a Visual Arts major, minoring in Art + Text, at Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver, BC. This is her 3rd year working as a peer tutor in the ECU Writing Centre, and she still can’t believe that her job is to connect with people over writing. A poet herself, her passion is working with creative writers, as well as creating community through writing groups. When she’s not writing, or talking about writing, Faolan can be found drawing, reading, studying mythology, story, and language, and drinking endless pots of tea.

jazz_pic“The truth is that I just wanted to draw cartoons and rationalized a way to make that part of my job.” You can follow Jazz by being exceptionally sneaky, or on Instagram @thejazzwayillustration

 

One thought on “Writer Archetypes in Stickers

  1. I love these so much! I’m a student leader at my high school writing center and was wondering if there was anywhere online that I could purchase these stickers?

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