Client: Hoya, Opticnet

My roles: graphic design, creative concept development, desktop publishing

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The Context  As the school year approached, Hoya partnered with Converse to launch a campaign showing children that wearing glasses can be cool with the right frames. Hoya ran the campaign in Hungary through its umbrella organisation—Opticnet, which was established to help small independent opticians. The campaign needed to resonate with school-aged children who might feel self-conscious about wearing glasses.

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The Challenge  We needed to create a campaign that would transform the perception of eyewear from a potential source of mockery to a fashion statement among school children. The approach had to appeal to a wide age range of students while promoting Converse's eyewear collection in an authentic way.

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The Creative Solution  Working with copywriter Gyula Tóth, we developed a concept centered around an adorable "cute monster" character who embodied the playful energy of school children. This mascot served as the perfect ambassador for the message that wearing glasses could enhance rather than detract from a child's individuality.

 

The path to creating our mascot took an unexpected turn when a contracted illustrator delivered files the night before our deadline and promptly departed for a skiing trip. While she had indeed created a monster, it was far from the friendly, relatable character we had envisioned—and as she delivered so late, there was no room for modifications. Faced with this crisis, I cleared my head with a long walk and after a big mug of coffee I picked up my pencil. Though I had never undertaken character design professionally, I spent the entire night drawing, digitalizing, and finalizing my own version of the monster in Adobe Illustrator. By sunrise, I had created a character that not only saved the project but was actually better aligned with our vision.

 

What made this campaign unique from my perspective was my decision to use my own handwriting for the text elements. After struggling to find a font that would both match our creative vision and support Hungarian characters, I created hand-lettered text that gave the materials a distinctive, authentic feel. This personal touch resonated strongly with the audience, so much that after the campaign launched, I received inquiries from people wanting to purchase my "font family." 

Originally the monster was wearing a pair of Converse glasses in all graphics, but the client decided to remove them from the mascot in the end.

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The campaign headline featured a clever wordplay in Hungarian that translated roughly to "A monsterous good offer for school!"—a pun that worked perfectly with our character while conveying that the offer was exceptionally good. This linguistic connection between copy and visuals strengthened the campaign's cohesiveness and appeal.

 

The crisis turned into an opportunity that expanded my professional boundaries. Since then, I've selectively accepted character design projects, discovering a new creative capability under the most pressing circumstances.

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Deliverables  The campaign included a comprehensive set of materials including B1 posters for optical shops, flyers for distribution, and window stickers. Each element featured our little monster character and my distinctive handwriting, creating a cohesive and memorable campaign that stood out in the competitive back-to-school market.

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Impact  The cute monster and the hand-lettered approach not only solved a practical design challenge but unexpectedly became a talking point of the campaign itself. The personal, authentic style resonated with both children and parents, reinforcing the campaign's message about embracing individuality

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The project's success led to a long-term relationship with Hoya, who were so impressed with our work that they commissioned me and copywriter friend Gyula to create additional poster campaigns and marketing materials for their subsequent promotions.