Major Project

Aishath Lene Abdulla Amir (0333185)

Bachelors of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University

Major Project : Final Compilation

My Project: YOLA

Yola is an apparel brand that designs and creates clothes based on Maldivian Folklore. This brand aims to safeguard Maldivian folklore and culture by seamlessly blending it with everyday clothing styles.

IDEATION

Introduction and Background

Objective -  Celebrate indigenous cultures, endangered languages, or disappearing art forms. 

Purpose - Art and Culture Preservation

Concept - Showcase traditional crafts, music, or storytelling.

Support organizations working to preserve cultural heritage.

Showcase artwork, illustrations, and creative projects.

Feature local artists and their work.

Explore different art styles and techniques

Target Audience  

WEEK 1

For this project I wanted to create a series of illustrations based on the folklore stories of Maldives to create the apparel brand.

Dhivehi/ Maldivian  (Folklore) 

Introduction and Background - the Maldives is home to a lot of ancient legends and folktales. This brand bring the rich and true culture of the Maldives back to life, but with a modern twist with 

the use of folk tales, this brand wants to tell their cultural stories with the use of Maldivian cultural art.

 

Objective -  To teach the younger generation that Maldivian folklore is an important element of their culture, as well as what Maldivian customs are made up of.

Problem Statement  -  Even if most of these stories appear strange, they represent a significant part of Maldivian culture, and it is critical that you experience them to the utmost.

The development of interests in culture among younger generations as a result of modernity isn't necessarily a bad thing, but we should nevertheless put an effort to stop the stories 

getting lost forever

Spanish writer Xavier Romero Frias observed this when he spent 13 years in the Maldives researching the folklore and traditions. He also noticed that standardisation of 

Islamic Education across the islands as well as modernisation contributed to the decline in the Maldivian traditions. In an effort to stop the stories getting lost forever, 

Xavier learned two dialects of Dhivehi (Maldivian language) and spent his years in the country befriending elders of the islands, learning the folk tales and writing them in to a collection in 

English which is now a published book called ‘Folk Tales of the Maldives’. (Folk Tales of the Maldives, 2021)

Branding Concept - Illustration and art based on folk tales, create a branding strategy to catch the interest of the younger generation

  

Target Audience - art enthusiasts/ gen / (15-30)

WEEK 2

For the forgotten traditions that are vanishing due to the lack of practice and information , even if most of these stories appear unusual, they are a vital aspect of Maldivian culture, and it is important that you enjoy this culture to the fullest. Loss of interest in the culture from younger generations due to modernisation isn't exactly a bad thing, although we should still remind them where they come from

WEEK 3

why losing interest in the culture (why in other cultures

is it due to cultural preservation?

why are they not interested and what are they interested in now

how do i make it appealing to the younger generation

non conventional ideas 

Design output ideation

Application

Logo/ Logo application

Apparel - T-shirts

Tote bag

Zine -  Information about the brand and the folklore stories

Packaging

WEEK 4 

Mood board Ideation

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WEEK 5 

How similar brands make it work 

ex: island bazaar, oevaali

Island Bazaar and Oevaali which are popular brands in the Maldives effectively utilise visual aesthetics and culture to engage the youth and ignite their interest in our cultural heritage.

use of visual aesthetics of the culture

 

Folklore stories are not accessible to this generation because they grew up on the internet. The history and culture not available on the internet as it isn't properly archived. Everything we know about this culture is through word of mouth or read through books less cultural events relating to folklore.

From this point on I had doe some research on what the brand name should be, and settled on YOLA. The meaning of yola is derived from the Maldivian phrase "yola, yola vaahaka" or “ޔޯލަ ޔޯލަ ވަާހަކަ”. It is also frequently referred to as "Ola," which signifies word of mouth, myths, and old wives' tales. 

After this I started working on the Logo. 

WEEK 6

Logo design

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For the mood board, I wanted to experiment with illustrations and overprint effect. Though it won't be n as colourful as it is shown in the mood board

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By this time I had already started working on the illustrations. The idea is inspired by vintage tarot cards with a mix of Maldivian cultural aesthetic.

WEEK 7

consultation ideation

How do you know which stories to choose from?

What morals do i take in to consideration when choosing the stories

Output that will attract  the generation such as social media content, 

why is it interesting to know

how do people do content on tiktok 30-40 second video.

Illustration

supernatural tales (with spirits or monsters), “long fairy-style myths”, stories with “humorous characters”, animal fables, nautical tales, and “semi-historical” chronicles.

I had chosen 3 different stories to illustrate based on the theme. The theme of this campaign is horror. Three distinct folktales are included in this campaign, all of which centre on the idea that "disobedience brings bad luck, while obedience reaps rewards."

First draft

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WEEK 8 

consultation ideation

Showcasing a new idea the values from the stories 

Style of illustration appealing of broader audience

Consider own idea in terms of information management 

Not only i should be able to understand this. Think about the connection between the apparel and the zine

Illustration

Second draft

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After doing the two illustrations I felt that it wasn't really able to convey the narrative of each character and the similar morales each of these character carry. So i moved onto creating an illustration that combined all 3 together.

WEEK 9

Illustration Progress

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WEEK 10 

On week 10 we had the presentation for Task 1. 

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After the presentation I was given some feedback on how I can improve my illustrations. As well as how to make the final product more appealing to the target audience.

WEEK 11

On week 11 I had made some improvements on the final illustrations and I had a consultation with miss Anis where she advised me. I had redone all the illustrations separately by adding characteristics that best matched the characters and their story.

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After the consultation miss anis advised me that i didn't need to use the full body of the characters, rather stick with the chest and above. 

After that I added in the extra details for the illustrations.

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I still felt that the characters looked a bit dull at this point do i changed up the colors more and added in the extra details to make the illustrations pop more

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After this i worked on finalising the logo, since I felt that it didn't match the branding very well. Then the output and application process for the brand.

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Colour Palette

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Visual Element - Textures

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WEEK 12

Logo application

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Visual - Illustration design layout

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Tag

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Apparel Design

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WEEK 13

Button up shirt

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Tote bag

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Packaging

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Environment Poster Design

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WEEK 14

Zine

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Zine application

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Website Landing Page Design

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Instagram 

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Presentation

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After the presentation, I was advised to bring some much needed improvements to the campagn of the brand itself. Since Yola is a brand that doesn't represent just the 3 characters, I was asked to make use of the brand identity a bit more to promote the first campaign launch of Yola which is called "Prosperity and Despair". 

After feedback Zine

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FINAL PRESENTATION

Major Project Final Presentation - Canva

Major Project Final Presentation