Oct 21, 2019
#SoFarBehindSunday / May, 2019
‘Now that’s how to throw a fundraiser! #studio54 #impossibletogeteveryonesmilingatonce’ [Imagesᵛᶤᵃ@/amylustyle]
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#SoFarBehindSunday / May, 2019
‘Now that’s how to throw a fundraiser! #studio54 #impossibletogeteveryonesmilingatonce’ [Imagesᵛᶤᵃ@/amylustyle]
An Interview with Jacqueline Chen, the Creator of Chibird
Jacqueline Chen is the creator of Chibird, a popular character that is adored by her 100,000+ fans on Tumblr and multiple other social networks. Jacqueline creates positive animations and drawings on her tumblr, Chibird.com frequently to share her art with her fans and spread positive messages. She also launched Chibird and Penguin iMessage Stickers last year and has seen success as one of iTunes top iMessage sticker apps!
We’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Jacqueline recently about Chibird, how she started, and her upcoming plans. Read below to learn more and be sure to download her sticker app, and check out Chibird on Tumblr, Facebook, and Instagram!
Where are you currently based and what is your main job?
I’m currently a university student studying computer science. I’m based in the East Coast, but I’ll be moving to California at the end of the year.
What made you want to create an iMessage Sticker App for Chibird & Penguin?
I’ve always wanted to create stickers, ever since Facebook stickers came out. When iMessage stickers were released, I was really excited to finally get the opportunity!
What was your favorite part of creating Chibird & Penguin?
It was fun coming up with the ideas for different emotions and seeing them all come to life. I sketched a bunch of variations on paper before settling on the final versions.
This one may be a hard question but which Chibird & Penguin sticker is your favorite?
Hm… I actually really like the Chibird with the eyebrows and folded arms, just because of how silly it is. I also like the Penguin with the flags!
You have a huge fan following for Chibird and your fans seem to love that you focus your stickers and art around positive social justice messages! What was the inspiration behind that?
I’ve always just drawn what I felt, and sometimes I feel the need to take a stand for certain social issues. Our world can be really negative and hateful, but it doesn’t need to be that way. I want my art to be positive and welcoming! I hope my art can reach people who need it and show them support for their rights, happiness, and equality.
What are your favorite design programs to use?
I use Photoshop for all of my drawings! I also like to sketch with pencil and paper.
What other iMessage Sticker Apps do you like to use?
Ahh! I hope this doesn’t sound narcissistic, but I actually don’t use any other iMessage stickers right now! I think I’ll go download some other ones now that you’ve mentioned it!
Besides stickers, what other projects do you like to work on for Chibird?
I’m currently working on a book for Chibird and longer animated videos. Stay tuned!
Chibird has been around for a while and has a huge following on Tumblr and many other social platforms. When did you start Chibird and what was the inspiration behind it?
I started Chibird in high school because I wanted a way to finally get all the ideas in my head out into the world. I’ve loved drawing comics since I was little, and social media has been an amazing way to share my art with everyone. I really love being able to create things and add a little bit of positivity into people’s lives.
What projects can we expect for Chibird in the near future?
The book and animations are first on the docket! But hopefully we’ll get to see some more shirts or other merchandise for Chibird in the future!
Chibird & Penguin has seen amazing success as one of the top iMessage Sticker Apps in the iTunes store. Do you have any advice for aspiring sticker designers and creators?
Thank you! I think the best thing you can do is find what you love to do and stick with it. You don’t have to copy a certain artist or follow a specific formula, but working hard and putting in consistent effort pays off. Figure out what makes you special or unique, and people will find you if they really love what you do.
Anything you want to say to fans of Chibird?
Thank you all so much for all the love and support I’ve gotten for Chibird! I’m just so happy that I can share my artwork with people. You all are always so kind, understanding, and supportive, and it motivates me to keep drawing.
Images taken from Chibird & Penguin on iTunes by Jacqueline Chen
5 Chatbots Solving Real-World Problems
With so many chatbots popping up on the internet everyday, it’s getting harder and harder to stand out. As chatbot enthusiasts, we have picked out our 5 favorite bots that we think are disrupting the chatbot space by solving a an important problem for their users. Give it a read and you might find yourself speaking with some of these bots soon afterwards!
Buoy Health
Buoy Health is setting out to help users with diagnosing their symptoms efficiently and effectively instead of spending hours mindlessly googling on the Internet. Buoy’s algorithm analyzes your answers in real time and based on your response, figures out what questions to follow up with. Within minutes, users will receive a detailed understanding of their symptoms and their possible diagnosis.
Pitchbot
Pitchbot is great for all entrepreneurs looking to perfect their pitch. Pitchbot lets you choose from four types of VCs - angel investor, incubator, seed fund, vc firm - for you to tailor your pitch towards each group. It asks you questions and depending on your answer, it provides a customized response and also shows how optimistic the “VC” is feeling. With Pitchbot, entrepreneurs can pitch their startup to see if they get an offer or a pass from the bot which will help them tailor and polish their pitch even more for their real life meeting.
Visabot
Visabot is the first immigration tool powered by artificial intelligence and it’s determined to help users with their immigration woes. Visabot helps professionals relocate to the United States by informing users of the types of visas they can apply for, their chances of getting the visa, and the supporting documents they would need to apply for it. Visabot currently supports three types of visas (B-2 Extension, DACA, H-1B Transfer) and are looking to add more very soon. With recent announcements regarding visa change in the United States, Visabot wants to use its technology and knowledge from visa lawyers to help as many individuals stay in the country and continue pursuing their careers.
Cindybot
Cindybot, based off of British advertising consultant and technology entrepreneur Cindy Gallop, is determined to help women get the compensation they deserve at their existing jobs. By asking about the individual’s job zip code and position, Cindybot populates the median and highest salary of the job for the user. It then walks the user through a series of questions to help them better understand their value at their job and motivate them to ask for a raise. With the existing pay gap between men and women and many research supporting the notion that women are less likely to negotiate than men, Cindybot is trying to address a very relevant issue. Know someone in your life that is not getting the compensation that they deserve? Then send them to Cindybot!
Duolingo Bots
We all know the difficulties of learning a new language but Duolingo wants to mitigate problem by launching their new feature of AI-powered characters to help users prepare for real-life conversations. Each character can be tailored to fit the user's language proficiency. Speak with Chef Roberto, Renee the Driver, Officer Ada, and many more characters to improve your everyday language abilities!
The World of ZAG
At ROKO Mobi, we’ve always had a soft spot for Stickers. Most of our company employees have either worked on sticker products in the past, or are current avid users of stickers on popular messaging apps such as Kakaotalk, Line, FB Messenger, and more! So when ZAG Animation approached us about creating an iOS iMessage Sticker App for them, of course we agreed! Within a month, we developed a successful sticker app that was well received by the ZAG and sticker community. Read on to learn all about the development and strategy that went into this fun project!
How it Started
ZAG Animation, also known as ZAGtoon, is a French production company that produces childrens animated series. Some of their series, such as Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, have millions in viewership as well as partnerships with brands like Netflix and Nickelodeon. With so many popular shows, it was hard to choose just one to focus on, so ZAG decided to go with ZAG Heroez - their superhero brand featuring 8 different shows.
Brainstorming & Strategy
The creation of ZAG Heroez was a 1 month process. We did a deep dive on design guidelines and iMessage sticker best practices to ensure that the stickers created would appeal to the users and stay consistent with their television counterpart. We found that face-specific stickers were extremely popular as it allowed for more expressive usage for the users. We also noticed that ZAG’s television show characters had amazing design details, which would be well optimized for iMessage. Finally, since ZAG Heroez shows are about adventures and exciting missions, we encouraged the ZAG designers to include full body stickers to show the characters in different poses.
Design & Development
After a few weeks of brainstorming, the ZAG designers came back with an array of eclectic stickers in both CGI 3D and Chibi style. The stickers not only showed interesting expressions from the characters, but also the characters in action. We divided the 65+ stickers into four sticker pack categories - Ladybug, Cat Noir, ZAG Heroez Misc, and Valentine’s Day. Since Miraculous is the most successful ZAG Heroez series, they were the most on-demand stickers from users. But we also made sure to not neglect the other series and made stickers for all the main characters of those shows. And with the launch of the app approaching Valentine’s Day, the illustrators created Valentine's Day themed Miraculous stickers to promote their Netflix Valentine’s Day special. After the stickers were finished, we put some finishing touches on the app development and released it to the app store immediately.
The Result
The response was exciting and overwhelming! Within 12 hours, ZAG Heroez hit the iTunes Top 20 iMessage Chart and was featured in the Kids & Family category. The app also received over 15,000+ social media impressions and blogged about several times from fans. The ROKO Mobi Stickers team consistently checks on the app for reviews to address user questions or concerns. Our due diligence has allowed us to maintain a consistent 4.5 rating in the app store, higher than the average iMessage sticker app rating.
What’s next you ask?
We’re constantly thinking of other features we can add into the app to improve the user experience so be sure to download ZAG Heroez to stay updated on upcoming new features! Are you Interested in creating your own iMessage Sticker App? Then shoot us a message, we work with everyone from enterprises, to startups, to illustrators.