Design of Fanmade Merchandise T-Shirt with Comic Strip Illustration Inspired by CORTIS Music Videos

Abstract

The growing popularity of Korean pop culture has increased public interest in various K-pop products, including T-shirt merchandise. However, most merchandise designs are still dominated by idol photographs, group logos, or member portrait illustrations, resulting in limited visual variety and creativity. This project aims to design a fan-made T-shirt inspired by the music videos of the boy group CORTIS using a comic strip illustration approach and to evaluate fans’ responses to the resulting design. The design process employed the Design Thinking method, consisting of the empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and testing stages. Data were collected through literature review, observation, documentation, and questionnaire distribution to K-pop fans as the target audience. The design concept was developed based on an analysis of fan preferences and a visual study of the “JoyRide” and “Fashion” music videos, which were then translated into manga-style comic strip illustrations. The final outcome is a fan-made T-shirt merchandise design that highlights themes of self-expression, friendship, and teenage life. Feasibility testing using a Likert scale showed highly positive responses from participants. The design achieved an average score of over 81%, indicating that it falls within the “highly feasible” category. These findings demonstrate that comic strip illustrations can serve as a communicative, creative, and relevant visual approach for fan-made K-pop T-shirt merchandise.