Magazine SWITCH Interview “COCONE CREATORS FILE” FILE.04 2D Designer Mai Kamba

※This article is machine translated.

This article was originally published in “SWITCH Vol.41-No.1” and is reprinted with permission.
PHOTOGRAPHY: GOTO TAKEHIRO
TEXT: KAWAKAMI HISAKO

FILE.04

Mai Kamba 2D Designer
Joined the company in July 2014. After working on internal projects, he joined CCP Business Division / Pokepia Product Planning 2D Team in September 2022. Currently working as a creative director and item designer.

Reading fashion “moods” that change with the times

– What did you do before you joined Cocone?

I wanted to become a fashion designer, so I went to a fashion school. However, my thinking changed while I was in school, and I began to think that I wanted to design freely without being bound by the framework of fashion. Around that time, the market for mobile services was becoming more vibrant, and after working as a designer for mobile services, I later moved to Cocone.

– Do you notice any differences between real world fashion and avatar clothing?

I feel that here there is a need to design clothes that are too flashy to wear in daily life, or decorations that you would have to physically give up in the real world. I think there is a place in the apps provided by Cocone where the possibilities for self-expression, such as ‘I really want to wear this kind of clothing,’ are unlimited, so I try to design to help with that wish.

– What does a 2D designer do?

We start with the product planning of what items we will release each month, and we also create design drawings of specific items. Based on the design drawings, we have a 3D designer create models, and I also check the 3D models to ensure that the relationship between 2D and 3D is seamless so that we can provide even better items to our customers. I also work as a PR person, considering ways to expose the items when they are released, and I sometimes propose plans for items that will make customers feel more “cute”.

– What exactly is the “cuteness” that Cocone is looking for?

There is no clear definition of Cocone, but I think the key is to decipher the “mood” of the times. I think the interesting part of this job is to explore what is “cute” in the current era, while dealing with values that are constantly changing and being updated.

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