DOECHII

Top Dawg Entertainment

2023

Background

A prominent up and coming female rapper at the time from Tampa, Florida, Doechii’s swamp-inspired brand was rapidly evolving to keep up with her fast-paced climb to the top of the food chain. Doechii joined Doja Cat for a leg of The Scarlet Tour 2023, Doja’s world tour following the drop of her critically acclaimed album, Scarlet. Upon review of her various avenues of marketing and promotion, I noticed Doechii’s merchandise might benefit from a revamp. I pitched a design concept to her and her label to give them an idea of what I see for her and we went on to develop two pieces of official merch for the tour.

Objective

To use merch as not only a way to connect with fans, but as a tool for marketing. Creating pieces that can be worn together without brand overkill encourages fans to purchase more than one thing at a time, increasing units per transaction and allowing fans to create full looks out of merch in their everyday lives. With merch design, my goal is to encourage people to want to buy and wear as many pieces as much as possible to market a brand, artist or project.

Audience

Younger gen-z and millenial music lovers, specifically those that are fans of women in rap, that integrate the genre into their everyday lives.

Tone

Casual, edgy, punk, street, fun, clean

CONCEPT

Tees

I wanted to focus on a color palette that’s fun but offers some slight contrast. The swampy greens and pops of color align with Doechii’s Floridian Swamp Princess brand image and allow the pieces to be worn by just about anyone.
The designs were created to allow ease of outfit pairing without losing the client’s identity. I wanted to make it easy for the pieces to be tied in with any type of bottoms someone would want to wear, including the sweatpants or shorts in the collection.

Accessories

This type of merch provides a means to tie other garments in the collection together while also offering fans an affordable option so no one feels left out. I wanted to keep accessories simple since there were already so many garments.
The trucker hat can be worn with other pieces in the collection or as a final touch to a casual everyday streetwear outfit. Trucker hats specifically happen to be trending over the last year or so as well, which encourages more frequent wear. The lighter is something almost anyone could use and can even be seen as a conversation starter in different social settings.

Leisure Wear

Going into September and transitioning out of Summer, I wanted to give some cozy options for the cooler fall weather in and out of the home. The thicker material offers a warmer garment to break the fall breeze. The shorts and pants serve as interchangeable bottoms between both the hoodie and the t-shirts.
The one-color artwork on these garments allow for a clean and crisp screen-print to ensure a lasting and durable print. I also wanted to pull a little of Doechii’s witchy vibe for the typography, with a playful and semi-punny phrase for the back of the shorts that her demographic would understand.

OFFICIAL MERCH

To narrow down the aesthetic we were going for, I developed 4 moodboards for Doechii to choose from. We decided this Grunge Pop inspired style would be best for the aesthetic of the merch and would seamlessly pair with the creative direction of the tour.

The final pieces were inspired by Doechii’s multiple personalities and brand archetypes. With her most recent single at the time, Pacer, being a campy blend of heavy metal and hip-hop, I wanted to produce a piece solely dedicated to her edgier, harsher and punkier side since this design would be printed on the darker garment. The custom typography was free-handed and inspired by death metal band logos with elements of swampy moss and vines. The placement on her head was used as a crown of sorts to play into her Swamp Queen aesthetic. The witchy glam on the portrait with the enlarged eye allows her villainous femininity to shine through the eeriness of the overall composition.
For the second piece, I wanted to go a little lighter with the composition and focus on Doechii’s love for punky streetwear. The 3D typography was rendered as the main focus point without taking too much attention away from the rest of the design, using gold to tie in with the other colors in the photo. The semi-abstract layout of dates on the back gave some fun variation to an otherwise clean-cut piece, rounding out the project and contributing to the harmony between the garments.