BOBA CONSTRICTOR – ILLUSTRATIONS & SOCIAL MEDIA VIDEOS

Given my fondness for boba tea, I thought it would be a cute idea to create a brand called “Boba Constrictor” (or 蚺蛇珍珠奶茶 in Chinese) and have as much fun with it as possible.

Boba tea, more commonly known in the United States and other english speaking countries as “bubble tea,” is a delicious Taiwanese milk tea drink. The words “boba” and “bubble” refer to the small, chewy tapioca balls at the bottom of each cup. Boba straws are wide enough to allow for the tapioca to be sucked up through them.

FLAVOR ILLUSTRATIONS

Here are 9 variations of my Boba Constrictor mascot. You won’t find any vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry here; these flavor variations reflect some of the most common choices found in traditional boba shops all over the world.

SOCIAL MEDIA VIDEOS

I created this series of short-form videos to advertise the Boba Constrictor merch line on social media. Understanding that Boba is less a drink and more a cultural signifier, I knew the importance of choosing music for these videos that would be compelling to Boba Constrictor’s target demographic. To further educate myself, I had fun exploring KPop and various related genres of asian pop music. I then intentionally selected tracks based on their popularity, online virality, and/or their loose association to the respective flavor/color pairing. (For example, it was important to me that a song by Thai artists be used for the Thai Tea flavor.)

I began this series by editing the videos directly in TikTok, using only the platform’s in-app editing tools. As my ambition grew with each edit, I quickly found that it was easier for me to produce the videos in Adobe After Effects rather than TikTok. This allowed for much more customization and control over the final edit.