Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning × Yami-Kawaii

Sick-cute sets dark feeling in pastel; reaction stickers keep the feeling comic and sendable.

From the research on Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning (LINE)

Mix them and make something Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning Yami-Kawaii

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning, their arrangement from Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning, the finish from Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning. Not a real work, and not an image of either style.

What each style brings

Each part of the design comes from the style with the stronger say in it, and each style gives at least two.

Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning (LINE) Yami-Kawaii (Sick-Cute)

Type from Yami-Kawaii: Rounded sans
Hand-lettering
Colour from Yami-Kawaii: Pastel
Flat fields
Form from Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning: Stylised figuration
Distortion & exaggeration
Composition from Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning: Isolated object
Single focal point
Surface from Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning: Flat

The type

Open fonts standing in for each style’s own type, which is often hand-drawn or commercial.

Display · Yami-Kawaii

Together

Zen Maru Gothic, standing in for Rounded gothic sans (maru-gothic)

Text · Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning

Cartoon character art made to be sent in chat: one figure performing one reaction, such as thanks, sulking, panic or a greeting, cut out on a transparent ground and sold in sets of a recurring cast. Where kawaii soothes, these sets stage exaggerated, comic emotions, often with a few lettered words, and must read at thumbnail size. It descends from manga cartooning and borrows kawaii roundness only as a base that the reactions then break; the emoji influence is the shared job of a pictorial reply, not a shared look.

Nunito; Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning used Hand-lettered Japanese, Thai and Latin captions drawn into the artwork and Manga-derived lettering and onomatopoeia conventions

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Yami-Kawaii, with a counter-accent from Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning (LINE) Yami-Kawaii (Sick-Cute)

#ffffff ground · 36%
#3b3350 ink · 14%
#e0457b accent · 18%
#f6c344 accent · 14%
#bfeedd accent · 10%
#e8795c accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #ffffff;
  --ink: #3b3350;
  --accent-1: #e0457b;
  --accent-2: #f6c344;
  --accent-3: #bfeedd;
  --accent-4: #e8795c;
  --font-display: "Zen Maru Gothic", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Nunito", sans-serif;
}

Use it with care

Yami-Kawaii (Sick-Cute): The imagery refers to mental illness and self-harm, and it is contested whether it raises awareness or glamorises them. 'Menhera' is Japanese internet slang for people with mental health problems, used from about 2001 among users of a 2channel mental health board, and often used dismissively; creators in the scene describe drawing on their own mental health experiences. Treat the motifs with care, avoid using them to mock real conditions, and follow safe-messaging practice in any commercial use.

The two styles

2011–present · East Asia, Southeast Asia, Global / networked Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning (LINE) Cartoon character art made to be sent in chat: one figure performing one reaction, such as thanks, sulking, panic or a greeting, cut out on a transparent ground and sold in sets of a recurring cast. Where kawaii soothes, these sets stage exaggerated, comic emotions, often with a few lettered words, and must read at thumbnail size. It descends from manga cartooning and borrows kawaii roundness only as a base that the reactions then break; the emoji influence is the shared job of a pictorial reply, not a shared look. 2013–present · East Asia, Global / networked Yami-Kawaii (Sick-Cute) A darker variant of kawaii that keeps pastel pinks, lavenders and rounded characters but fills them with medical and self-harm motifs: pills, syringes, razor blades, bandages and tears. Drawn as cute stickers and goods, it is both ironic and sad, and observers disagree whether it opens talk about mental health or glamorises illness.

More combinations

With Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning

With Yami-Kawaii

Every style combination