Android mini production - Part 1: groundwork

While we all sit quietly and wait patiently for the next shipment of Android Series 1 mini figures to arrive, I thought I would entertain / inform you with a series of posts chronicling the creation of these little guys from start to finish!

It all started with this logo and a couple of designers working on the Android platform. Like many designers these days, they had become fans of the growing genre of limited edition vinyl figures created by artists specifically for an art-collecting adult audience. With a great mascot, a love of all things collectible, and a desire to do something cool, they set about to bring their idea to life.

Luckily another friend of theirs at Android happened to know someone with experience in vinyl collectible production, which is where I came in!

At the end of 2008 we started talking about the best way to go from logo to collectible. Could we adjust Android to an existing platform? Should we do a large expensive collectible? Can they all have different heads? Would a mini series be cool? Is blind box a fun format for tech centric people who may not be as familiar with the concept as traditional toy collectors? During the course of our discussions I threw together this mock-up of what a figure of the logo could actually look like.

It seemed that we were heading in the right direction with a multiple design mini series. I quickly created a set of simple concepts to illustrate that a series would give us the opportunity to create a variety of designs and showcase the versatility of their deceptively simple mascot. Even though these were early concepts, you can see that a few of the ideas and design elements made it all the way to the final products. Some designs (such as BSOD-BOT shown here) were scrapped for pretty obvious PR / legal reasons. Still, it was worth a shot!

With the concept hammered out and an OK from the big Android himself Andy Rubin, the project was a go! We were all set to create a mini series with a relatively small budget for a small quantity of figures destined for internal promotions and giveaways. Yes, originally these guys were not necessarily going to find their way into the hands of fans and collectors (and some of you would argue that they still haven't!). This was shaping up to be a fun project, and I knew it would have some appeal in the world at large, although how much appeal was hard to judge. Selling collectibles based on mobile operating systems was an untested market to say the least. Thanks to the enthusiasm (and legal wrangling) of the guys at Android, we were able to work out a deal wherein I could produce a few more units to be sold directly to fans and shops.

Next Installment: Getting down to business on design.