Alphabet Monsters Design Notes o / O

What are Alphabet Monsters?

Alphabet Monsters is an original educational resource where
uppercase and lowercase letters
are designed as
Pokemon-like characters.

By utilizing the shape of the letters as the silhouettes of the monsters,
we have designed them so that children can enjoy getting familiar with the alphabet.

As a design note,
I will be writing about the behind-the-scenes of the production.

* The Alphabet Monsters chart (A3 size)
is available for free download for home and educational use.

▶ Alphabet Monsters Chart (A3 size / Free Download)

o and O: What to do with a simple 'circle'

Among the alphabet, 'o' and 'O' could be called the simplest. Because the shape is just a 'circle', there are quite a lot of options when trying to incorporate them into characters.

Should I make it a slime-like creature, or a ball, a fruit, or perhaps a one-eyed monster... With various ideas in mind, I thought it would be fun to add a Japanese-style motif to create a wider range for the series. Changing from a small drum to a large drum makes the difference between lowercase and uppercase easy to understand, too.

o (Ossu)

The lowercase 'o' has the image of a round, small hand drum (tsuzumi).

The design point is how to make the 'o' shape and the 'rim of the drum' coexist within this simple circle. Without making it too complicated, I gave it a goofy expression with hands popping out from the drum. It has a slightly childish atmosphere with a single hair on its head.

Inspired by the sound of 'O', the name is 'Ossu'. It is a character with round eyes, raising a hand to say 'Yo', giving a casual greeting.

O (Oissu)

For the uppercase 'O', I emphasized the change from the lowercase version and made it a magnificent Japanese drum (nagado-daiko).

This one strengthens the Japanese-style elements even more than 'o', adding a topknot-like design to its head. The expression is also much more spirited than the lowercase version, finished with an atmosphere that seems suited for a festival.

The name is 'Oissu', following the flow from Ossu.

Simple, therefore easy to understand

'o' and 'O' both share the common theme of 'making a sound or playing a beat'.

At first glance, they are just circles, but by borrowing the motif of a drum, they have become catchy and easy-to-understand characters that are typical of Alphabet Monsters.

If you like, it would be encouraging if you could like or follow.
It would be great if you could leave a comment about your child's reaction✨