Initial Thoughts
My goal with this assignment was to capture the intrigue of the Golden Lovers story to get more people interested about them. Pro Wrestling has been a long interest of mine and it was always from how engaging storylines were mixed with a performance. The Golden Lovers Story is about two people who love wrestling unite together after many years of betrayal and distance. Their love story with wrestling and between them break into LGBT themes in a manor that is not disrespectful. It is rare for those topics to exist in the wrestling communicated as it is usually treated with hostility or bad humor. The extreme drama from the Golden Lovers story and whether they would break up or get back together again always stood out to me so I decided to center my project around them.
Research and Mood Boards
Taking from pro wrestling design, I aimed for a tabloid look to capture the drama of the Golden Lovers story. My challenge was to make a tabloid design that had a cheap look but still design with consideration. I tried to find a mixed balance of how wrestling is usually presented in magazines and how teen tabloids are marketed not only to highlight the drama of the Golden Lovers but place a little irony based on where their story lives.
Research
Research
Moodboard
Wearable Designs
For wearables I went with a gym towel, bucket hat, and t-shirt. Wrestling culture is different everywhere and in Japan the audience is more quiet than in America. Unlike America, fans are not allowed to bring signs but they do bring gym towels to catch the sweat off wrestlers when they land in the audience. A bucket hat had an opportunity to use symbols from the wrestlers and a t-shirt shows membership of a fan club. Fans for the Golden Lovers are pretty big in only a niche circle so I thought of making a brand for the fan club. A fan merch catalog was made to have a place to buy these products.
Fan T-shirt
Gym Towel
Bucket Hat Logo and Pattern
T-shirt Mockup
Hat Mockup
Gym Towel Mockup
Catalog
Catalog Design
Catalog Mockup
Tabloid
This tabloid mostly poked fun at how dramatic pro wrestling storylines are. My intention was to have to bait curious browsers with the cover to then reveal a genuine story for those interested enough to open the article. I personally liked a video essay from Super Eye Patch Wolf on YouTube about their full story so I decided to convert it into an articular by the video's manuscript.
Tabloid Cover
Article Spread 1
Article Spread 2
Article Spread 3
Tabloid Back Cover
Reflection
I had a lot of fun with this project finding a way to show my interest in this story. This project was an interesting challenge to take pro wrestling designs that highlight violence and "manliness" and try to poke fun at it with a teen tabloid aesthetic. Two different sides of design that share the subject of drama. The Golden Lovers themselves challenge pro wrestling's image with their own storyline with LGBT themes. I am happy with the results I put out in a project that had so much layers to it.