Wyrd Familiars Button Decals
Illustration and Print Design
Digital product design: print-at-home ideogram decals.
In late 2019, Augmentative Interspecies Communication (AIC, or “talking pet buttons”) went viral on social media platforms. Out of that, a community of pet parents grew around the shared experience of learning how to communicate with our non-human companions. Best practices for teaching were developed, shared, and refined; while a variety of AIC products entered the marketplace.
By 2025, the AIC community was thriving. However, most of the available resources, products, and even scientific research was heavily centered on communication with dogs, largely to the exclusion of cats. Decal sets currently on the market included words like “bone” and “tug,” but did not include cat-specific words such as “litterbox” or “scratcher.” In addition, the ideograms depicted a dog, and there were no sets available that depicted a cat.
Seeing an obvious gap in a growing market, I created a set of cat-focused button decals. The ideograms were hand-drawn with graphite pencil on paper; then scanned, converted to vector, and edited in Adobe Illustrator. I expanded upon currently available products to include words that are uncommon in other sets -- such as “training,” “window,” and body parts such as “paw” and “tummy” – for a set of 105 decals. I created a layout that could be printed on a home printer using Avery brand round labels. The printed labels could then be placed on individual buttons to identify the word that the button represents.
The decal set is currently available for sale online as a digital download.
Client
Wyrd Familiars / Personal Project
Role
Illustration, Design
Other Projects
Descent Macabre: a dark psychological horror novella.
Synesthesia Theatre: an audio drama anthology podcast.
Wyrd Familiars Button Decals: Augmentative Interspecies Communication button decals for feline learners.
Copyright © Kat O'Connor. All rights reserved.
My art is human-made, with genuine talent, skills, and experience.