iRIE iDRIN the Jamaican Reggae Patois Emoji Sticker

How it all started

     About three years ago, I started my Jamaican goods website irie876.com  based in Japan ( July/4/2015 current date) . I got two logos created for the site.  One with a logo that really looked classy ( in my opinion), made the "company" seem so big even though it was so small ( a good professional logo is important). I also created a Rasta man character called iDrin, because I wanted the site to have a real irie vibe. Idren means "good friend" so I just spelt it differently and gave him that name because I wanted him to create a friendly vibe to the site (See below)

       At the time when I built my website, Line messenger was becoming popular and many of my friends based here in Japan used the app. When you use Line messenger, the thing that separated it from the western based messenger Apps like WhatsAPP, were the stickers, or stamps as they call them here in Japan. If you haven't realized it yet, Facebook's "Messenger" has adopted this sticker culture because of the success its  having in the Asian markets.

       Back to the point, so one day while receiving a message from a friend containing one of Line's character stickers, the idea came to me. " Hmmm, wouldn't it be cool to have a Jamaican patios sticker?" And the idea kept coming into my mind now and then. So one day while looking at my website and the iDrin logo, it dawned on me " Hmmm, iDRIN would make the perfect character for a Jamaican patois emoji set". So at that moment I decided I was gonna start creating the illustrations for the set. At the time there was no "Creators Market" where individuals could submit their own illustrations for Line to review and have them for sale on the Line network. I just thought I'd create it and then find some way to have a meeting with officials working at Line and  just pitch them my idea.This was back in February 2104. A few weeks after I started to create the illustrations, Line announced the creators market, that was around March, early April. It was like jah guided me, gave me the idea and the faith to pursue it.

The creation process

     Once I found out how many stickers I needed to create I immediately started brain storming ideas and writing a long list of possible expressions in patois, describing them in detail. I am not actually the designer of iDRIN and that's one reason why it took me longer than I had expected to have the sticker set completed, because I had to make it fit my vision, how I see it and how I wanted it. It was a long back and forth project between me and my designer.Changing  of facial expressions , gestures, colours, words , you name it we did it until we had something I could take to people and get feedback. 

Once I got that feedback, I went back again and thought about it and did some more revisions with my designer. I talked with Jamaicans, Japanese, British,Filipinos, Brazillians, Americans, Australians and more , even showed the illustrations to babies. 

    For me, this sticker set represents; True Jamaican language and culture. It's positive, its motivational and I feel great things will branch out from this creation. I'm really thankful that Jah gave me the idea, and I am really grateful to all the people that have downloaded the iRIE iDRIN sticker set and to all the people that use it and help spread Jamaican culture. At the end of the day the goal is to spread, and represent my culture, Jamaican culture.
Bless up!!!

About Dean Jackson

I am a Jamaican that has been living in Japan for the past 8 years. I teach English and I run a Jamaican goods website called irie876.com . I was pushed into design through Jah guidance and have started  a journey to represent Jamaican culture through emojis, stickers, stamps, whatever you wish to call them.  I look forward with gratitude to see what this will all lead to. Thank you.

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