The final set of three stickers were designed to present three of the most common themes found within vaporwave as different 'flavours' of bubblegum, something which came about from initial research and group feedback which showed a recurring pink/bubblegum theme within a lot of the imagery. These stickers will be placed on bubblegum packaging, something which was thought to produce a sense of nostalgia, another common theme within vaporwave in regards to concerns with 21st Century society. The three themes chosen to work with were: obsolete technology and design, Greco-Roman features, and escapism.
The aim of this 'flavour' was to represent themes of obsolete technology and design within vaporwave. This is a common theme within vaporwave imagery in commenting on the 21st Century's pretensions of being unparalleled in its technological sophistication and showing how such tech and design used to be state-of-the-art. For this reason, it was decided to pair the Windows 98 logotype with a Gameboy colour to combine ideas of technology along with a sense of nostalgia. Blue was used as the main background colour for these designs since initial research and mood boards showed this to be a recurring colour within this theme.
The aim of this 'flavour' was to represent themes of surrealism and neo-classicism within vaporwave. One of the most common pieces of imagery used within this theme is the Greco-Roman bust. This was used within this design, showing the statue as blowing bubbles of gum. This was done in order to enhance themes of surrealism in that it is not possible for statues, a non-living thing to chew on gum and blow bubbles, whilst this also helps link the designs to it's context of gum packaging and the original bubblegum aesthetic found within vaporwave. The bust has been paired with images of two Doric columns which are often shown together to represent ideas of surrealism and neo-classicism. A pink background was chosen for these designs in order to continue to link with the initial pastel 'bubblegum' aesthetic.
The aim of this 'flavour' was to represent themes of unreality and escapism within vaporwave. The design uses depictions of a checked neon floor stretching into the distance, something which can be linked to video games as well as neon colours found within Japanese and Asian imagery, such as neon lights in the skyline. This has been used with a fading sun at the end of the path, as well as two palm trees in the foreground, something found to represent ideas of escape from the reality of modern existence. However, pairing these with the neon, this was done to show that it is often hard to escape the overload of information and consumerism present in the digital age and 21st Century. The colour purple has been used as the background since this was found to match with one of the typical vaporwave colour schemes used for hazy skylines.
The back sticker designs for each 'flavour' use a clear hierarchy of information, similar to that of the original bubblegum packaging used as inspiration, with the nutritional information at the top, imagery situated within the middle, and a barcode at the bottom. The nutritional information was centre-aligned and made to fit the shape of the circle in order to make best use of form as possible. The typefaces use for these were Helvetica Neue Condensed, Medium Condensed and Bold Condensed, a typeface which was thought to match that of the original packaging as well as being used for its clear characteristics and features that enhance the communication of this information. This element has been made more playful in including musical elements which make up a vaporwave track, such as 'flavourings of 1980's mood music, smooth jazz, R&B, elevator music, lounge music', 'an ironic variant of chillwave' and 'contains a source of vaporwave'.
Elements of imagery from the front, main designs have been replicated on the backs in order to produce a consistency and sense of flow from front to back of the packaging, such as the Doric column, palm trees and the Windows 98 logotype, as well as the Japanese characters for 'bubblegum' which have been used to relate the designs to its context in both use within bubblegum packaging and a typical theme of vaporwave.
The background colours for each set of stickers has been pixelated slightly to produce a grainy effect similar to that of static on TV's when no connection is found. This has been done to give the backgrounds some substance, as well as linking the themes of technology found within vaporwave, another small elements which brings all three sets of designs together as a series.
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