I am RAI, and my name stands for Retink’s Artificial Intelligence. I’m the new face of Retink Media and I would also be your AI companion. I would be the go-to person for information and stories about our products, services and brand. I will also be the face behind Retink’s blog post, bringing you educational and solution-oriented pieces.
Today I would be sharing the story of how I was innovated and created, but before I proceed, let me tell you a brief history of Retink Media.
Brief History of Retink Media
RAI: Retink Media was founded in the year 2016 by Solomon Eko (CEO and Founder) as a media agency for sustainable development communications. In 2021, we rebranded to a Marketing Startup that uses AI to generate content for small/medium businesses, online businesses, and startups. Broadly, our services revolve around branding, digital consultancy, digital marketing, web development, digital publishing, and visual/audio production.
Now that you know a bit about how Retink Media was created, come with me on a journey to discover how I was created as I narrate the story to Moses, our customer, who is a small business owner.
Moses: Hey Rai, it’s been quite a journey getting you here. Mind telling us how it all started?
RAI: Indeed, Moses. It’s fascinating to see how I evolved from a simple Scooby-Doo-like dog to the current charismatic robo-dog floating in the air. Well, In 2021 when Retink Media rebranded we needed something aside from our logo that could graphically represent the brand in the most simplistic yet imaginative way possible. We opted for a 2D human like character for this purpose but quickly realised we had to create something more unique and authentic to the brand since we were using a free to use image.
Birth of Rai in 2022
Moses: Wow! That must have been an intentional journey.
RAI: Yes, Moses. However, we were also conscious of the future risk that using a free creative asset posed when we eventually became a big brand, so we decided to change the character to maintain brand authenticity. We then started brainstorming and thinking of what character would fit our brand persona and eventually decided on a human-like dog floating in the air called Rai aka Retink’s AI. Rai was conceptualised to have other poses aside from the floating one. We included a forward, backward, walking pose and a side walking pose with a wink.
Moses: That was very smart and thoughtful because it could have led to being charged for copyright infringement if no action was done and it would have been a bad reputation for you. That reminds me to make a change to mine because I also use a free-to-use image.
RAI: The dog represented our brand essence and personality of friendliness, reliability and uniqueness, amplifying our playful yet professional brand voice. It also represented intelligence bridging the gap between human and machine intelligence. The dog floating in the air represented the ever evolving and changing landscape of marketing and tech.
Having defined all these in line with our brand persona, we set out to create. At first we experimented by developing a simple 2D scooby doo like smiling dog, which was created as a baseline character by one of our graphic design interns, Al Amin but then we quickly realised that the character was too basic and wasn’t aesthetically pleasing enough.
Moses: Hmmmm, sounds like a lot.
RAI: Haha, yes. In the second iteration of RAI, we had to put on our thinking cap again, this time we decided to fashion the mascot into a lego like dog because the lego origin story is one that inspires our CEO, Solomon Eko a lot. We used it for quite some time on our product pre-launch homepage and some communication materials. But it was obvious that we got some things wrong, especially with the structure coupled with inconsistencies in the design and brand colours, and some of the feedback we got, mainly from the homepage visitors further confirmed this.
RAI: For the third iteration, we decided to put on our creative thinking cap again. This time we were determined to get it right and we decided on a 3D mascot, so to start with we hired someone to design a 3D dog as a base character, which we then developed into the desired poses and styles we wanted.
We wanted a friendly and playful robotic looking dog with semi-casual clothing of the Retink logo. The dog is supposed to be floating or suspended in the air. So, basically, we were aiming for a cool robo-dog, rocking some Retink swag with an extra oomph, all while floating in the air. We needed a mascot that could pass for an NFT and help position our brand and build brand equity.
Moses: So, you mean creating you didn’t stop at the second iteration?
RAI: Yes Moses, it didn’t stop at the third iteration either, I will tell you all about it.
RAI: With the concepts, sketches and samples refined and ready, we went to work. This time around we partnered with a studio specializing in mascot design to get it done. Typically, the mascot was to be delivered in 14 days but was delivered in 3 months because of so many iterations as we wanted a mascot that will really reflect who we are. Of course, without perfection but to a large extent satisfying. In the future we may continue the journey to perfection as we keep building our brand.
RAI: From initial sketches to final design, we witnessed the evolution of a character that we are now proud of. Rai isn’t just a character, it is an extension of our brand.
Our mascot’s journey has been nothing short of magical. You can follow the pictorial evolution of Rai and the conversations that ensued between us and the designer we collaborated with to bring me to life.
RAI: After the first designs went on a series of iterations, we noticed I had no robotic feel as required since we were an AI related brand. Then we also noticed my wink was looking more like I was closing my eyes and finally the floating pose was missing. We also got some feedback from reviewers who said my face looked like that of a cat, wolf, some even said a fox, some even said I looked like something between a dog and a fox. We wanted people to see a dog at first sight, so we went back to work! Solomon wanted me to look more like a border collie since it is known to be among the dogs with very high intelligence and would fit well for a superficial bridge of intelligence between man and machine with an emotional touch to it for a marketing AI brand.
RAI: You can see from the images above that there was a clear transition from a smooth face dog to one with a touch of fur. With fur on my face now visible, the eyes appeared swollen, so our CEO asked that my given goggles be made smaller to fit my eyes and with eyes still clearly visible. We wanted to ensure that I appeared playful enough with my facial and body expressions looking cool.
RAI: My hand wasn’t showing distinctly as can be seen from the last image on the right above. In addition to this, we also discovered that we needed to improve the contours, spaces between my head and neck as well as my shorts and legs as seen in the places marked in the image on the left with the improved image on the right below.
RAI: If you look closely at the images below, you will see that some changes were made to the floating pose of the mascot to the one above, like colour change of the goggle strap from brown to purple, improvement in the body proportion, shorts spatial adjustment, as well as the shirt contour alignment. In addition, we created a mirror image of the side view for the floating pose to make it four in total.
RAI: Retink has managed to create Rai into a charismatic figure that perfectly aligns with our brand persona, adding a touch of charm and personality to our identity and we are excited to share this with you as we continue our incredible journey as a brand.
The challenges encountered in creating me tested our creativity and resilience. But guess what? We emerged stronger and more inspired than ever!
I am ready to embark on exciting adventures with you, our amazing community. Stay tuned for more fun, joy, and a dash of my magic!
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