Steam Studio Robots
Previous display ad with the original mascots for STEAM Studio.Since 2019, the STEAM Studio program has been welcoming 4th–8th graders to a premier summer day camp at Miami University Regionals. STEAM Studio addresses national challenges with local impact: The underrepresentation of women and minorities in STEM fields, the need for engaging and meaningful summer educational programming for those in underserved school districts, and aids in the conceptualization of STEM principles.
Original sketches in ProCreate
First render of a potential mascot
Artistic Direction
Needing to appeal to a younger audience than the traditional college student Miami University sees, robotic mascots were created in 2020. After the pandemic, the robots needed a branded refresh with a unique character design.
My moodboard of inspiration included: Rob Renzetti’s “Jenny” from My Life as a Teenage Robot, Osamu Tezuka’s titular character from AstroBoy, and even Matt Groening’s “Bender” from Futurama. I wanted these robots to represent diversity in race and gender expression.
First sketch of the girl robot
Various iterations of the boy robot
Draft concepts presented to the client
Moving robots?
The client was overall very happy with the two designs, but wished to be able to position the robots in 3-4 different poses. Due to the rushed nature of the project, I did not have the time to sketch, ink, and color each new pose for both robot characters. I created layered Adobe Illustrator files that could be adjusted like a ball-jointed doll. Ultimately, these flat illustrations are poseable by a novice designer. It is also layered to be edited in Adobe Character Animator.
Showing how to move the character’s limbs within Adobe Illustrator
Showing how to adjust the character’s facial expression within Adobe Illustrator
