How do you chat? – BBC quiz illustrations
The BBC commissioned me to create a series of illustrations for a fun online quiz about people's social media chatting habits. The brief was to design characters that looked edgy, quirky and non-human. It was an enjoyable challenge to illustrate the characters so they suited the description quiz questions and profile answers. You can read the quiz caption for each illustration in gallery. These were written by the clever quiz making folk at the BBC.
These illustrations were created in Adobe Illustrator with a Wacom Cintiq.
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The Over-Sharer (70-80 points): Why say in one emoji what you can say in 23 messages? And besides, why wouldn’t anyone want to see that grainy pic of a dog in a sweater you took, or find out how much cereal your flatmate stole from you last night? You useWhatsApp to blog your little heart out, but when you scroll to the left to check who’s read your updates, you get upset when you find out that everyone has, they just haven’t replied. Surely everyone should be interested in your insightful musings and funnies? -
The Organiser (60-70 points): Okay, so you’re on WhatsApp a lot, but it’s only because you’re helpful. You’re the first to reply when someone wants reminding of the location you’re all meeting later (even though they could’ve easily just scrolled up a few messages), and you’re often the only person who gives someone an obligatory ‘LOL’. Sharing is caring, and you’re the metaphorical thread that holds the thread together. You’re a leader, a doer and mobiliser. You get things done. You’re efficient. Your emoji would be an umbrella, and you’d be holding it leading a crowd. -
The Randomiser (50-60 points): Everyone could be chatting about that evening’s rendezvous - what they’ll wear, what they’ll eat, what time they’ll meet - when you remember something far more interesting: a dream you had last night, and derail all sensible correspondance with that. You galvanise the others into keeping things interesting when the topics are getting a little dry. Unsurprisingly, that topic normally ends up becoming YOU because everyone loves those mad anecdotes so much. -
The Hasty (40-50 points): You don’t want to spend as much time on WhatsApp as some, but you suffer from FOMO too badly to leave it alone, so your compromise is to do everythingreallyreallyquickly, which means grammatical errors (blame auto correct), mixed up threads (awkward) and an army of emojis. It’s okay though because your friends love you so much they’ve learnt to put their heads together to decipher your special code. -
Actually Busy (30-40 points): You’re a high achiever in the real world, so after an hour away doing something really important, 76 messages beep in. Do you read them? Heck, no - you’re far too busy. Instead , you demand a summary (and possibly spend the same amount of time it would’ve taken to read back telling everyone how snowed under you are). It’s pretty handy though because after the whole thread went off on a tangent, everyone could do with a concise update. Time is money, baby. -
The Lurker (20-30 points): Like that hip stranger at a house party standing in the shadows who nobody knows but everyone’s talking about the next day, you’re elusive, stealth and hard to pin down. The fact that you actually read invites but don’t reply just frustrates people even more. Do you fail to commit in case you get a better offer, or is it just because you can’t be arsed? It’s undecided but keeps people coming back for more. Maybe they’re nervous that a voyeur like you knows more about them than they know about you… -
The Not Even There (10-20 points): It’s testament to your popularity in real life that you’re always added to groups even though the chance of a response is zero. You can’t even remember starting a WhatsApp account, and it isn’t even on the first page of your phone. And what does that five digit number in the red circle mean? Can someone text to let you know? Wait a minute, your camera roll is full of weird screen grabs from Tinder, how did that happen? *Googles how to exit group* Not Even There has left -
3) You’ve gone back through a conversation and screen grabbed something that was said ages ago just to prove a point. Is this something you agree with? -
Your phone’s been out of batteries for the last two hours (thanks, WhatsApp). How many messages are there when you get juice again? -
Have you ever used WhatsApp to arrange a hook up? -
Have you ever used WhatsApp to dump someone? -
You’ve started a sub-group to bitch about something someone said in the main one. -
You’ve then messaged the wrong group with hideous consequences. -
Your phone’s camera roll is full of screen grabs from Tinder and pictures of kittens because you haven’t turned off.automatic download in your settings. -
An auto correct fail from you has resulted in unintentional LOLs from the entire group. -
You can’t be bothered to scroll through the epic thread to work out what the evening’s plan is so instead demand a summary. -
You often end up having a little chat with yourself on WhatsApp because no one else is listening. As you were. -
The evening’s plan has finally come into fruition but you still haven’t committed, despite having read all the messages.
What the client said
Many thanks for the illustrations. They’re super.
