BIC Poster Campaign
Advertising • Illustration • Print
PROJECT: For this advertising project, the goal was to make BIC’s 4-color pen fun for all of Seattle. It’s the 50th year anniversary of BIC Pens, and our north star was to show that multi-colored pens can still be fun in the era of digital art.
GOAL: How can we show people that writing and doodling with a colored pen can be fun? The written word has always had the potential to be powerful. In our campaign, we have transformed boring words using the BIC 4 Color Pen. Now everyday words are playful and fun, using the power of the pen to change the average into something delightful.
Solution: Our strategy is a product demonstration. We’re going to show that writing can be fun again with the Bic 4 Color Pen by transforming a typed word with additional handwritten letters and illustrations. This will change a “boring word” (e.g. work) to a fun word (e.g. “twerk”), thus illustrating that “writing and doodling is fun while using the Bic 4 Color Pen”
PROCESS
My teammate Claire and I began by brainstorming ideas and sketching them down on pen and paper, using the BIC 4-Color pen of course.
After comparing our sketches, we came to a final conclusion, everyone doodles. Whether it’s a busy day at the office, taking notes in class or just writing a to-do list. It’s a simple act, yet it brings a little joy and relieves some stress. And with the BIC 4 color pen, you have multiple color options.
We decided “dressing up your notes” would be the route we would take to truly show everyone that using the BIC 4-color pen brings a little something extra to the table.
Art Direction: Our art direction is a single word, in a classic serif typeface (e.g. Garamond), printed in the middle of the page. Additional letters and illustrations will be added by hand, using all 4 colors for each poster. The Bic logo and Pen will be in the bottom fourth of the poster.
First Draft
Final Draft
Final Thoughts
We took everyday words that people encounter or experience regularly. We turned the mundane into something special by displaying them in an elegant typeface that many designers are sure to love. It's like giving a touch of sophistication to the ordinary.
But that's not all. We added a playful twist by dressing up these words with the iconic BIC 4-Color Pen. It's a little bit of silly fun injected into people's day-to-day lives. The result? Smiles! People smile at our clever and lighthearted approach.
By combining the familiarity of everyday words, the elegance of our typeface, and the whimsy of the BIC 4-Color Pen, we created a campaign that resonated with people.
