About JRN

JRN is a website that transforms your favorite real-life images into customized illustrations. Just like the website states, although it is a digital process, the illustrations are 100% human. Each piece is carefully illustrated and rendered in RJN signature style.

WORKING AS A TEAM

Just like how Professor Utoniom made the Power puff girls from three perfect yet diverse ingredients, we believe the idea, the design, and the execution came about organically because of our varied design practice and the same wavelength. While brainstorming as a group we focused on creating a service for our peers that was useful, fun, and exciting. It was essential for us to include each of our skill sets, which are illustrations, Ui/Ux, and coding in the service.

Finally, the idea was born “JRN”, a website that generates unique character sketches of the user's image with a bit of a twist. Let me walk you through the website with a simple example, imagine you have an argument with your partner, and now your partner is upset. Being the loveable person you are, you want to patch things up with them. So you decide to gift them something cute, thoughtful, and makes you irresistible not to forgive. Simply visit the JRN website and generate your favorite image of you and your partner into a customized illustration. Then surprise your partner with a personalized illustration. Finally, you can mail The RJN team for saving your relationship. Jokes apart, the main essence of the service was to challenge the idea of human vs digital. With technology flourishing, we can always rely on the digital to bring to life our imaginations and vision. For instance, AI art is a great example of technology bringing visions to life in the form of art. While that is a great service, the question of can AI art bring about the same technique, originality, and creativity as professional artists/illustrators come into existence. Hence we decided to create JRN a digital platform that uses Illustrators to capture the whimsical spirit and Joy of our Users to create Original Artwork!

MY ROLE AS AN ILLUSTRATOR

Coming from a product design background (UI/UX) Illustration is fairly new to me. However, over the course of the pandemic, I started exploring new forms of Art and Illustration. It proved to be a domain that allowed me to express myself creatively in a more free-form manner. When we were first given this assignment it was informed that we were free to take on any form/structure to create a service. Naturally, I thought this was going to be a fantastic opportunity to experiment with my newly found interest. I also took this up as a challenge as I was only used to illustrating for myself and without any restrictions of time and context. In terms of the illustration process, I used a reference image of my classmate to first draw on paper and then digitally on my iPad. Initially, when I started sketching I was very concerned about how I was going to make the illustration look exactly like the reference image. However, through trial and error and feedback from my peers, I understood that perfection does not always mean replicating it can also be perceived as creating a form that is original, unique, and something to call your signature style

SUGGESSIONS AND REFLECTION

The suggestions we received in class while presenting our service were really helpful and it opened up a different perspective to tackle some of the problems we faced while designing.

1.) As the illustrator is working on the user's request, the website can provide an option for the user to interact with the illustrator so as to give feedback and suggestions.

I thought this was a very unique idea. As a designer/Artist, when creating for users there’s always a chance that your user may not like certain elements or want a more improvised output and I think incorporating this feature where the user gets to interact with the illustrator creates a space where conversation can happen around making the design more suitable for the user/appreciating the illustrators work. But then again, the question of how practical this is comes to play as the illustrator will not be available all the time. Perhaps RJN can come up with a system where the user can access the illustrator's working session as and when they begin their process. (This would be done in a way that would be convenient for both the illustrator and the user)

2.) As RJN is a website that has been designed exclusively for our peers, it is operated in such a way that the users can only request a character sketch when the Illustrator is available. This would work as the website is aimed to function for a specific target audience. But if RJN were to open its services to a larger audience how would it work?

This was a very good observation and something we as a team has trouble finding the solution to.

However, the whole idea behind this concept was to emphasize the human behind the output. The humanness of the process can be brought to light by

A popup that says our illustrator is asleep or at a party
The time taken to illustrate can be conveyed to the user by another modal that says Our illustrator needs 3 hours to perfect your illustration! (As opposed to computerized illustrations that give the users their illustration/art instantly)

3.) Incorporating a section where the users can see previous art made for past users!

This is definitely a great idea and something we should incorporate into the website. Along with the images, there can also be a space where the current users can see testimonials.

Personally, this assignment was a great opportunity to explore my illustration skills. Throughout the process of making we did have difficulty maneuvering around gaps in the design, we were not sure how to fill them. During this time we realized that it is important to take a step back and let your team members share their perspectives on the subject we are tackling.