Dishpig
Illustration · Character system · Social
Year
'25 – '26
Role
Illustration, Character Design, Brand Extension, Social
Tools
Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects
Dishpig sells tea towels and kitchen goods with a mascot at the centre of the brand. I designed the character and the system around it: an expression set, seasonal variants, social assets and product artwork that had to stay recognizably the same pig across every one.
Challenge
A mascot brand only works if the character survives repetition. The same pig had to carry a product line, an online store, a social feed and seasonal campaigns without going stale, and hold up printed on cloth as well as at profile-picture size.
The mark tested across colorways. The character had to hold at small size on any background.
Approach
Building the character
The pig is built from thick contour lines and halftone shading, a treatment that holds up at small sizes and when printed on fabric. Fine detail that only reads on screen would have been lost on cloth.
Building the halftone treatment: line art first, shading applied in stages, then carried into a full pose.
Seasonal variants
Christmas, Valentine's, Boxing Day and other moments each got their own scene. The rule was that the pig's construction never changes: same proportions, same line weight, same face. Only the costume and the situation move.
Seasonal variants. The construction stays fixed; the scene changes.
On the product
On the tea towels, the character works alongside a single headline and prints in one color on cloth, and the same mark carries onto the swing tag. Some towels use a single placed illustration; others use a repeat, where the figure has to work at multiple rotations with no obvious seam and no accidental focal point.
Photographs of the product.
Social and motion
Event graphics, testimonials and product posts all run off the same character system, sized for feed and stories. The character does the recognition work, so the layouts can stay plain. Short animations bring the pig to life in the feed without redrawing it.
The system running on Dishpig's Instagram — grid, stories and post formats.
Outcome
An illustration system that runs across product, the online store and social: one character, many contexts, consistent construction throughout. The work is ongoing.
Challenge
A mascot brand only works if the character survives repetition. The same pig had to carry a product line, an online store, a social feed and seasonal campaigns without going stale, and hold up printed on cloth as well as at profile-picture size.
The mark tested across colorways. The character had to hold at small size on any background.
Approach
Building the character
The pig is built from thick contour lines and halftone shading, a treatment that holds up at small sizes and when printed on fabric. Fine detail that only reads on screen would have been lost on cloth.
Building the halftone treatment: line art first, shading applied in stages, then carried into a full pose.
Seasonal variants
Christmas, Valentine's, Boxing Day and other moments each got their own scene. The rule was that the pig's construction never changes: same proportions, same line weight, same face. Only the costume and the situation move.
Seasonal variants. The construction stays fixed; the scene changes.
On the product
On the tea towels, the character works alongside a single headline and prints in one color on cloth, and the same mark carries onto the swing tag. Some towels use a single placed illustration; others use a repeat, where the figure has to work at multiple rotations with no obvious seam and no accidental focal point.
Photographs of the product.
Social and motion
Event graphics, testimonials and product posts all run off the same character system, sized for feed and stories. The character does the recognition work, so the layouts can stay plain. Short animations bring the pig to life in the feed without redrawing it.
The system running on Dishpig's Instagram — grid, stories and post formats.
Outcome
An illustration system that runs across product, the online store and social: one character, many contexts, consistent construction throughout. The work is ongoing.
2025
DigiCert
Ryse Therapy