Background

WhatsApp is one of the most widely used chat apps in the world (over 1 billion users).

From the simple thought of communicating in words, the market-leading app has added features like voice calling, video calling, group calls and recently, WhatsApp Business.

However, you would agree that the emojis and stickers make your chat life easier right? Like they have become a huge part of our text messages as they help us express how we feel in fewer characters and can make a dull chat lively. How much have these characters affected our communication on our square boxes—mobile,PC and other electronic gadgets?

Statement of Problem

As the time and experiences we have on our devices continue to evolve, the characters that make the conversation more interesting are becoming more prominent in our day to day lives. Despite the number of options available to use, we still have very few that the Nigerian audience can relate with, in form, meaning and culture fit. Hence, we need to have tailor-made stickers for users in Nigeria to drive conversation in a more relatable and familiar manner.

Musa Stickers were created for smooth, interactive and culture-fit conversations on WhatsApp. Simply put, they help to simplify conversations with daily slangs and major excerpts from our local parlance.

Solution (Approach, Rationale, etc)

The project started off with research to identify slangs people use on a daily basis. Musa stickers—a name chosen to help an average Nigerian relate with the project as a friend—is from over 30 keywords popular with the millennials in WhatsApp and daily conversations. Sketches were developed to represent the different expressions, especially the ones that could be expressed facially.  Making an illustration that is bold, simple and easy to understand was at the heart of the creative process.

After sketching is the inking stage, where the lines are made neater and more refine

It Colours were added to the refined illustration from the inking stage to add life and more meaning to the expressions. The colour scheme was chosen to relate with the target users and applied across the series.

The final stage involved adding the keyword/slang the sticker that it represents to increase recognition and understanding. The choice of typeface is bold and informal, conveyed by a commanding colour.

Result

The set presently has 15 stickers released with the next batch to be released by next month and available for download. They were also printed for people to use as stickers on devices or other touchpoints. The stickers, since the first release, have received a huge admiration and positive feedback from users.