Project Overview

In addition to being design lead on the FanBants Reality project, also created avatars for the Big Brother housemates which resulted in positive feedback from users playing a small game of recognize the housemate.

Origin

FanBants launched FanBants Reality in July 2022, with Big Brother Naija Season 7 as its runway. We had designed and built out the MVP for launch but we discovered an issue. We weren’t sure if we had the license to use the housemates’ photos in our product and if doing so might lead to copyright infringement. We decided to go with illustrated avatars to represent the housemates.

Strategy behind style

Initially, I created generic avatars using basic flat illustration styles but there were exactly what they were. Generic. I felt users will not have any connection to them during the

Team Setup process. So I decided to look through the housemates and pick out different features. Also, the time frame was short (I think it took 2 days to illustrate the final version) so I had to think critically about how to represent these features.

I used two different facial expressions for the housemates; a wide smile and a closed mouth. I also used skin tones and facial features, e.g. beauty spots, beard, etc. For clothing, I had different styles for both male and female housemates.

Big Brother Naija Housemates & Avatars (July 2022)

The housemates with their avatars

Big Brother Titans Housemates & Avatars (January 2023)

The housemates with their avatars

Outcome

When we launched the product for Big Brother Naija Fantasy gameplay, I was excited to see users’ positive reactions to the stylised illustrations of their favourite housemates, some of them acknowledging the unique features in some avatars. This also improved the Team Setup process for some users who said they could easily select housemates just based on their avatars.

Check out FanBants Reality here at https://reality.fanbants.com/