Graciela Galvez
Data strategist with a builder's brain
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- Followers
Meet Mr. Purrl! đș
Recraft Project:https://www.recraft.ai/project/e88ddbca-8f13-49cd-b19f-28379683466c
Character Brief
Mr. Purrl is a knitted yarn plushie who works at a London cat café. Stern by design, soft by nature. He takes the rules seriously because they exist to protect the cats: harder than it sounds, since the cats themselves love to sleep on him and use his tail as a toy, doing nothing for his authority. His bowler hat transforms magically into whatever the situation requires: an umbrella, a ball of yarn, a sign. Every kitten about to find their forever home leaves with a miniature Mr. Purrl, hand-knitted by the original himself.
Applications:
- Character
- Logo wordmark
- Sticker sheet
- Merch mockup
- Lifestyle photography
- Comic
- Video
- Notice board
Project Walkthrough vid in the comments.
Read ahead if you want to know how I created this.
OK so, I love cat cafés. And you know, they are pretty strict about rules (for cat and human safety). And I kept thinking... how funny would it be if the actual guardian of the cats was a toy?
Cats approach respect in a very specific way, so the idea of this stern, old-fashioned (cute) little plushie trying to enforce the rules felt so funny to me. Stern (not his fault, he was knitted this way), yet adorable. Rigid, but soft.
He adores the cats. That was always the point. And he found a way to keep them company even when they leave. Turns out, he knits tiny versions of himself: one for every kitten/cat that finds their forever home. So the mascot becomes merch, but within his own world, which I loved.
The magical hat was something I really wanted to get right. It should be important, but it's just a detail. Think about it, he's a plushie with actual powers, and he decides to use them for: an umbrella? Some yarn? A sign? And that's what's funny: if a magical plushie chooses to spend his powers on cat café rules, that means the cat café rules matter. I think that's kind of sweet.
He's English because my favorite cat cafés are there, honestly.
Everything was built by iterating and iterating. At some point I think Recraft was more frustrated than I was, but we kept going and it was so helpful.
In the end, I wanted softness and rules to coexist in a fun way, and I think they do. It took longer than I expected. I ended up completely falling for him. Hope some of you do too.
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Project Link: Fondly
(https://app.flowstep.ai/file?activeFileId=1cddeac5-15a3-43e5-b032-407d45c75359)So, I've always had this issue: I don't know what to give my friends that they'll genuinely like. I also never know what to say when people ask what to give me.
The problem isn't the gifts themselves: it's the loss of a nice surprise. Wishlists take the surprise away, and saving my own gift ideas in Excel sheets takes it away too. I didn't know how to keep track. So, I built Fondly (https://app.flowstep.ai/file?activeFileId=1cddeac5-15a3-43e5-b032-407d45c75359).
It sends you random suggestions: it could be a friend asking, or the app just trying to get your vibe. You never know! You can also add gifts for yourself or a friend into Vaults. Vaults remain unseen, only when it's for someone else do you get to use it to find the perfect gift.
It's basically using a recommendation algorithm, but instead of downright selling things, it's about surprises! A surprise could be bought, made by hand, or just spending time together. It preserves that moment of giving someone exactly what they want, and that shared, happy surprise.
The workflow:
Brainstorm with ChatGPT and Claude > Despair > Design with Canva > First Draft > Iteration > Find out I could have edited manually instead of wasting my messages > Final Draft!
Enjoy (the surprise)! đ
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