Role & Team
Student project, completed as part of the UC Berkeley Extension Graphic Design Certificate Program (not commissioned, produced, or endorsed by Fender.)
Overview
As an assignment for the UC Berkeley Extension Graphic Design Certificate Program, I took on the challenge of creating a vector illustration of a Fender Jaguar Bass and building a full concept advertising campaign around it, spanning print and digital. It’s coursework exploring illustration and campaign design, using an existing, recognizable product as the subject.
Process
I used a photograph of a Fender Jaguar bass guitar as reference. I built the vector illustration in layers in Illustrator, down to the screws and hardware, using lighting and reflection to get it close to photorealistic. I then expanded the original Sunburst-colored illustration to include two more color options, Fire Red and Silverburst.
For digital, I designed a sliding Instagram carousel ad: two seamless panels that show only the first half until a viewer swipes to reveal the rest. I also mocked up how the illustrations could work on a product page for viewing and color selection.
Typography
The concept tagline uses Contralto, chosen for its modern-classic look, it combines geometric shapes with humanist elements that echo the striking, recognizable look of Fender guitars. Source Sans Pro, a clean and friendly sans-serif with a range of weights, is used for body copy.
Branding
The blue and pink gradient plays on the traditional “boy” and “girl” color coding, tied to the concept tagline “Music is for everyone.” The idea behind the concept: push back on both the underrepresentation of women in music-gear advertising and the tendency to feature women as ornamental rather than as buyers of the product. The color blend also nods to the transgender flag (soft pink and blue with a white stripe between), another group underrepresented in this space. The gradient is soft, muted, and modern, giving a contrasting backdrop to the guitar image, with a dark purple typeface color that reads as near-black while pulling from both the pink and blue.
The final print piece is a concept specification sheet for a brochure, outlining the guitar’s features using publicly available specifications from Fender’s website.
