50 Days of Illustrated Regrets 50 Days of Illustrated Regrets

50 Days of Illustrated Regrets

Illustration, Art Direction, Graphic Design

A weird personal odyssey

Project Overview

Sometimes we make mistakes or bad decisions. Sometimes it is something that is totally in our control and we just biffed it; other times an outside influence just ruined our day. Regardless of how they began, all of us have a lot of REGRETS. And now I have illustrated them and put them in a zine.

Background

50 Regrets was actually the product of a regret in the making. Ok, I have a little story: I started a freelance project rebranding my friends’ business, and used it as my winter quarter Special Project. Things went sideways, and 4 weeks into the quarter I needed a new project. After a couple panicked calls/texts to some alumni, I brainstormed for a bit, and then in the shower trying to destress I found it: 50 Days of Illustrated Regrets.

Wet shoes didn't stop Martin from building this website for us!

Process/Solution

The initial goal was to create an illustration of a regret (most were mine, some were sourced from friends and family, others are global regrets) every day for 50 days.
After that I was encouraged to put them in a zine. 50 pages was out of my budget, but 24 was. I picked the best 24, and put them into a consistent art direction, and built a layout for my zine. I added copy, as I think a lot of these could really use an explanation.

The orange/green/black color palette is kinda my personal identity palette now. It is weird. Good luck illustrating EVERYTHING with it!

Reflection

This was a fun and incredibly personal project for me. It kind of evolved from a problem looking to a solution into a solition looking for a problem, and then turning into an identity project. I had fun, I feel emotionally rewarded. I MADE STICKERS.
It’s done.
And I want to do it all over again.

Do I feel weird using a mockup when this sticker actually exists? Yes. But I'm going to commit and keep this consistent.