4
Kimberly Mirabella Sammy & Friends 5/10/2022 5
Kimberly Mirabella, Senior Project Book 5/10/2022 Bachelor of Technology in Visual Communications Visual Communications: Art + Graphic Farmingdale State College, State University of New 6
Table of Contents Introduction/My Story The Product Unique Value Competition Personas Relevance Visuals Marketing Acknowledgements/Bibliography 7
My Story Kimberly Mirabella always loved to draw from the time she was young. She loved to draw on huge stacks of computer paper, both front and back. For Kimberly, drawing was an expression of who she was since she always felt different from the other girls. The other girls in the class would go ga-ga for all the big male celebrities of the day. This was something Kimberly never particularly cared to do. As she approached middle school, Kimberly found more of her identity. One of her art teachers encouraged her to take art as a potential career path. After some rather rough criticism of her work online, Kimberly felt an insecurity of not only her work, but herself. She began to question her art style, her fashion, her interests, and even her sexuality. What Kimberly 8 discovered about herself during her time in high school became integral to her future. Around the time she started high school, Kimberly had recovered from a period of depression. One day, she was working on one of the school floats for Spirit Week at a friend’s house when she decided to take a break. She lay there in the grass, coming back to that nagging question of her own sexuality, when it dawned on her that she was a lesbian. Everything then made sense for Kimberly, but she kept it closeted for only about a week before telling her family. She told her mother first, then her sister, her dad, her uncles and aunts, and cousins. Everyone was accepting, even her grandparents.
Meanwhile, her high school years wore on with her fighting her art insecurity and being effectively friendless aside from her neighbors. While closeted from most of the kids in her grade, she was a member of the high school’s GSA. This is where she first learned about LGBT history, pansexuality, and more about trans people. However, this club struggled to hold together at the time, with Kimberly accidentally showing up often when the meetings were cancelled. Graduation was a huge relief for Kimberly, who never quite fit in. Suffolk Community College was a much brighter spot in Kimberly’s life. She met two of her closest friends in an LGBT Club and both her overall mental health and art quality improved. She learned more about the LGBT community during this time. During this time, a new wave of LGBT pride was sweeping across the youth. More young people were coming out, and more terminology and discussion arose with that. However, this youth movement did not come without some negative aspects. As the movement grew, so did confusion and even hatred outside of the community. Homophobia and extreme transphobia were on the rise.One day, the club members each told their coming out story. Kimberly had no idea how lucky she was to have such an accepting family. Stories of disownership, financial cut-offs, permanently damaged relationships with family, abandonment, and abuse plagued the stories of nearly everyone else. By the time Kimberly graduated, the amount of sexualities, gender identities, and pronouns left many people feeling alienated from the community. This led to a lot of confusion about the LGBT community. Kimberly believed there was a difference between ignorance and hatred. Ignorance did not always have bad intentions; some people were just confused. Kimberly’s mother even admitted that despite having a lesbian daughter, she did not know much about the LGBT community and what all the sexual orientations and gender identities meant. Kimberly felt that if there was a way to educate people on LGBT concepts in a way that was accessible and interesting, then people would be more understanding and accepting. The LGBT community was also filled with much history and culture, making it a great topic to learn about. 9
10
11
The Product How Sammy Came Out is the story of a 6-year-old creature named Sammy, who is panromantic and genderfluid. Sammy is at first afraid to come out, donning sad grey hearts. Eventually do come out to their parents, which causes their hearts to turn into a beautiful rainbow. 12
13
Unique Value The LGBT community needs more representation in media; not just in adult media but in children’s media too. It also needs to go beyond representing just gay and lesbian people. While that is very important; bisexual, pansexual, trans people, and other orientations or gender identities go barely represented. While the situation is improving, there is still plenty of room to expand LGBT representation. Children are smart enough to understand what the LGBT community is and what each orientation and identity is. The definition of orientation and gender and how young people perceive it is very different than how older people perceive it. Children are more likely now to understand that boys can date other boys, girls can date other girls, or even that some people are boys, some people are girls, some are both a boy and a girl, 14 and some are neither. Sammy and Friends will bring awareness to another generation. Sammy and Friends does not have any direct competition, as LGBT media can cover a vast variety of topics within the community. However, there were still plenty of LGBT children’s books found and read during research. The most famous example is And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, with illustrations by Henry Cole. This book is based on a true story about two male penguins who raised and hatched an egg together. The little chick hatched from the egg was named Tango. Another book found during research was 10,000 Dresses by Marcus Ewert and illustrated by Rex Ray.
This story is about a trans girl named Bailey who dreams of wearing beautiful and extravagant dresses each night, but upon telling her family about her dreams, she is met with transphobic comments from her family members. The last is The Family Book by Todd Parr, which is not entirely about LGBT families but includes them in the wide array of families represented in the book. Sammy and Friends would stand out against its competition because it would be more than just a single book. Sammy and Friends would be an entire series; starting with How Sammy Came Out. The LGBT community has too many concepts and information to be covered in just one book. The characters can be fleshed about beyond just being LGBT because LGBT people are more than just their orientation or identity. They have interests, talents, dreams, ambitions, and ways of expression like everyone else. The ambiguous species of Sammy and their friends allow them to be relatable to anyone, regardless of their race or skin color. Sammy and Friends would place emphasis on the universal aspect of the LGBT community that no matter how someone looks, acts, dresses, believes or what culture they come from, they are all welcomed into the LGBT community and play an important part in the diversity within the community. Another current problem Sammy and Friends tries to address is that children are sometimes “sheltered” away from the idea of being LGBT. Some children come from homophobic households, while some have low self esteem and are afraid to come out because they fear their peers will bully them. Unfortunately, despite the progress made, many LGBT children are still bullied by other children or treated poorly by their parents. Sammy is very lucky to have supportive family and friends, though they spend the book afraid of that judgment and afraid to come out. Representation in children’s media has vastly improved in the past decade with successful cartoons such as Steven Universe and Owl House proving that children are smart enough to understand LGBT concepts, that the LGBT community is not inherently an adult topic, and that LGBT representation can help children be more comfortable expressing who they are. 15
Competition 16
Matrix Noncisgender inclusive LGBT Adult Characters LGBT Child Characters Orientation addressed only 17
Personas The series, Sammy & Friends, is made for kids, but can be helpful for adults too. Research shows that more older straight people were familiar with gay and lesbian orientations but less familiar with nearly everything else. While younger straight people were more familiar with trans and bi, they still had a lack of familiarity with other orientations and gender identities. Among the less familiar orientations and identities were pan and genderfluid, which is why these were chosen as Sammy’s orientation and gender identity. Everyone interviewed who was straight stated they were willing to learn more about the community and what all the orientations or identities mean. College students today grew up in an era when LGBT people were known and heard, whereas older people often did not, depending on where they were from. Children today are growing up in an era where the LGBT community is larger than ever and their voices are being increasingly heard. A book like How Sammy Came Out can help them understand more about this community in a way that is accessible and simple, but not condescending. 18
Sarah, the Closeted Kid Age: 6, 1st grader She’s shy, a little bit insecure, but willing to make friends. She has a crush on another girl in her class, but is terrified to say anything. She often overhears the boys repeating the negative things their parents say about LGBT people. Her teacher decided to buy How Sammy Came Out as a way to teach the other students that being LGBT is ok, but without outing Sarah. Sarah’s feelings on LGBT rights are that “The whole world should be together.” 19
Ronnie, the Straight Guy Age: 36, truck driver Ronnie is a father of two children; one is his eighteen year old son and the other is his six year old daughter. His son recently came out to him as pan but did not explain the difference between bi and pan. Ronnie tried going online to research but was met with convoluted explanations of pan is. While he eventually did figure out some aspects, he still found himself saying “I have a basic understanding of pansexual but it’s a little bit confusing for me.” He really wants to sit down with his son so that when his son comes out to his little sister, he explains it in a way she can also understand. Buying a book like How Sammy Came Out for his six year old daughter will not only teach her what pan is, but will also help Ronnie. 20
Sheryl, the Coming Out Age: 23, special ed aid Sheryl is nonbinary and goes by the pronouns they/them. They absolutely love working with the kids and has very special bonds with all of the kids. One day, the teacher asks Sheryl if they can do a little lesson on what nonbinary is for the class for during Diversity Week at the school. Sheryl has come out to the teacher and not their parents, often saying, “I never bring up my gender identity or orientation to the family.” Sheryl buys How Sammy Came Out and reads it to the class as a way to explain to the kids what LGBT is and how Sheryl feels. While they wish their family could understand, they still have a safe space with their students to be who they are. 21
Relevance A variety of questions were asked to the interviewees, including one about representation in media. Nearly everyone agreed that the representation is either not enough or is improving but is not quite there yet. Sammy & Friends is something that will put LGBT representation in the right direction, not so much being a novelty but being a genuine educational opportunity. As research demonstrated, most straight people understood gay and lesbian, had less understanding bi and trans, and even less understanding of the many other identities. Good representation and explanation can help both kids being told the story and also adults reading it to them. The LGBT interviewees also agreed LGBT representation needs improvement but is headed in the 22 right direction. Whether straight or gay, all the interviewees agreed educating people on the LGBT community is vital to helping people become more accepting. Some interviewees said the media muddle up and do not explain what certain terms mean and casually use them as if everyone should instantly understand. Many felt political tensions also further mystify understanding the LGBT community as misinformation and feelings are often favored over facts and rational thinking. The interviewees had mixed opinions on whether their local area was accepting of the community, most interviewees being from Long Island.
“If people see it in movies, they see it in a commercial, they see it on TV. A lot of times, for example, when you see commercials and they do the montage-type stuff, it can be anything from they’re eating Dominos, to like, they’re getting health insurance, they can be painting a room, but you’ll see two women or two men or an interracial couple. I just think that what is it is that, it’s not just “maybe it’s just to women painting a room” or “these people are friends”, you slowly, subtly introduce that message, that it’s not weird to see it together.” “Now I think we’re starting to find more LGBT relationships. I definitely want to see that continue in the future until it’s not a novelty, until it’s just “Ok this is normal that these two characters can be in a relationship together” because that’s the way it should be. “ “When it comes to more lgbt representation I would love to see more poc and disabled lgbt representation in the media. As someone who is black and has disabilities it’s not something you see too often so that would be nice to see once in a while.” 23
Visuals Since How Sammy Came Out is a children’s book, illustrations were the highlight in the branding, marketing, advertising, and merchandise for the book. The typekit fonts chosen were Oleo Script Swash Caps for the display font and Georgia for the body text. Oleo Script Swash was chosen for its fun yet pretty aesthetic, while Georgia was chosen because of its easy readability because it looks more distinct and pleasing than Times New Roman, Helvetica, or Arial. The colors chosen were pastel and friendly, but not too light. The variety of colors were reminiscent of the LGBT pride rainbow. The logo combined these elements with an Oleo Script logotype and a pastel rainbow heart logomark. The use of hearts and rainbow colors is a subtle but still proud reminder that Sammy & Friends is about the LGBT community. 24
The prototype phase began with a couple of drafts of the story written. Since the book would be geared towards a younger audience, simpler language and a shorter length were chosen. A storyboard of loose sketches was created next. Here, the story was brought to life through visuals. Everything from pacing, book length, and page layout were decided at this stage. Afterward, each page was sketched out on a bigger canvas. The sketches were much tighter, more detailed, and closer to how they would appear in the final book. After the sketches were ready, they were lined out with a clean black line. This allowed the art to look sleeker and be more easily understandable to children. The backgrounds in full were done next. Backgrounds are often done before the color, as the lighting and mood of the environments would affect the color schemes of each drawing. The drawings were then all colored and shaded, with bright, happy colors used overall to create the mood of the book. Darker colors were used for the nightmare and nighttime scenes for tonal contrast. Lastly, the text was carefully laid out and placed to finish the book. 25
Final Logo 26
Color vs. Black and White 27
Clear Space and Min Size 28
Logo Misuse 29
Color Scheme #ffaed0 R: 255 G:174 B:208 C:0 M:40 Y:0 K:0 #fff297 R:255 G:242 B:151 C:1 M:1 Y:50 K:0 #8bffb7 R:139 G:255 B:183 C:39 M:0 Y:44 K:0 #99d7ff R:153 G:215 B:255 C:35 M:3 Y:0 K:0 #aba3ff #ff66b6 R:171 G:163 B:255 C:33 M:35 Y:0 K:0 30 R:255 G:102 B:182 C:0 M:74 Y:0 K:0
Typekit Body Text Georgia Aa ABCDEFGHIJKMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijkmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890 31
Sammy and Family Artwork 32
Sammy and Friends Artwork 33
Marketing The marketing and merchandise plan’s main mission was to sell Sammy as a loveable character, since they are the main character of the story. The advertising and collateral would be marketed towards parents, while the merchandise would be marketed towards kids. Everything from bookmarks, sticker sheets, bedding, even to packaging for tie-in food products were conceptualized, inspired by memories of the Pokemon merchandise from Kimberly’s youth. Kids could bring a Sammy backpack to school with them, or cuddle up with a Sammy blanket for bedtime, or have a bowl of Sammy macaroni and cheese for dinner after a long day at school. Without a main character that children can get excited about, there’s not much to Sammy & Friends. Positive memories with Sammy in their childhood might help an LGBT child be more comfortable with their orientation or gender in the future. A straight child might think twice before judging LGBT children if they remind them of Sammy. The advertising is marketed towards adults because they’re the ones with the money and will be more likely to be making the decision to purchase the book. 34
35
Thank you Mom, Dad, and Alison I’m so lucky to have you as my family 36
Bibliography Mirabella, Wayne. Personal Interview, 9/26/2021 DiBlasi, Alexa. Personal Interview, 9/27/2021 Mirabella, Mark. Personal Interview, 9/29/2021 Mirabella, Linda, Personal Interview, 9/29/2021 Mirabella, Alison. Personal Interview, 10/1/2021 Kaczmarek, Cam. Personal Interview, 10/5/2021 Yanni, Habibatu. Personal Interview, 10/5/2021 Lampel, Christine. Personal Interview, 10/9/2021 Lampel, Lenny. Personal Interview, 10/10/2021 Degen, Erica. Personal Interview, 10/12/2021 Esme, Personal Interview, 10/13/2021 Schwab, Samantha, Personal Interview, 10/13/2021 Schwab, Daphne, Personal Interview, 10/13/2021 Reavis, Toby, Personal Interview, 10/13/2021 Lampel, Danny, Personal Interview, 10/15/2021 Lampel, Stephanie, Personal Interview, 10/15/2021 37
1 Publizr