Intent behind the design of Mamang & the Gang

I feel like I just need to explain why I designed this image the way that I did. If not for you, then for me, because I might forget. lol.

Firstly, it is important to acknowledge that fact that I am a millennial, and most of my ideas are either consciously or subconsciously influenced by that. I mean, I guess that is true for most people no matter what the generation. How many times have you heard your parents say, "You know.. when I was younger, I walked five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes (miles) to fetch water?" And how many of you have responded with an eye-roll and maybe a cuss word under your breathe? It can't be just me.

Anyway... Mamang & the Gang was part of ONE order. At this point, I couldn't believe people were ordering not just ONE doll, but MORE THAN one! She said I could do what I want, so I made Mamang, because I had been dying to make her. After I made Mamang, I made the Gang.. and when I was taking a picture of them, I immediately thought, OMG, they are a girl band. Mamang & the Gang came to my mind quickly.. I guess because it rhymes.. and because honestly.. my Mamang was a gangsta. She had 12 kids and a gang of grandchildren, and she kept it up like it was a kite in the sky on a windy day. A real powerful woman, who was a bit scary, but now being a mom of JUST TWO, I can totally understand how having to raise 12 kids and a bunch of grandbabies can make you strict. She really just wanted everyone to stay alive, you know? #IYKYK

As for the graphics on the image.. if you are from the CD era, then hopefully you can tell that it is an album cover. I remember the first time my parents bought me a CD. It was my birthday, and my dad got me a boombox with two CD's. Selena Live and Celine Dion. If that doesn't scream 90's, then you weren't there. I remember going to the music store in Saipan after school with my friend and her mom where she got Britney Spears, Hit Me Baby One More Time, and Spice Girls. Again... if you didn't do this too, you weren't there. Fast forward to high school... we used to skip class to go to Tower Records.. I remember for 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin,' then later Kanye West, College Dropout. If you weren't around for this time, I am sorry.. it was amazing. Nothing brought cooler vibes than carefully placing that fragile reflective circle in a CD player and trying patiently to listen to each song from start to finish without skipping a track. Gen Z, you have it so simple now. $9.99 a month and you get trillions of songs at your fingertips, no truancies, and a Portable CD Player on your Christmas wishlist.

So yes.. this was a conscious effort for sure. I lovvveeeeee band merch. I try to buy merch at every concert I attend, and tbh, they are all I wear these days. They are comfortable, obnoxious and encapsulate a moment in my life. So, of course Mamang & the Gang couldn't be a band without band merch (you can buy here in case you want to be cool like that! haha).

On the top left of the image is BMC, Belau Music Company, which was originally my Uncle's, then my parents. My parents had a recording studio in a container in our front yard long before containers became cool places to live in. We just loved it for the air condition, but I love that that memory is a part of our childhood. Having musicians in and out of our lives fostered a love for music in us, even though I sing like a frog. Of course, we couldn't be a band without making a song, so I asked my parents to sing and play guitar, you can see the music video on my Instagram.

The bottom left is obviously a dupe of Parental Advisory on albums with explicit content... but for Mamang & the Gang, it signifies our Matriarchal Culture as Palauans, where women are truly respected, appreciated, and make the big decisions in our community.

No band merch is complete without a list of the touring cities, but I wasn't going to alienate a hamlet, and sure wasn't going to list all of them (I don't even know them all, lol....) so I listed all the Palauan States and their area codes, because those matter to us. Also, the yellow triangle shape represents the Bai

And basically, this is what happens inside my brain. Details matter, all the time, not just in design, but everything else in life.

And now it's time to go to bed, because all the focus on details has me sleeepppy. Thanks for being here!

With Love all the time,

Mazel