To celebrate International Women’s Day here at Footpatrol we have enlisted the help of British – Chinese graphic designer / illustrator Yee Poon who has opted for a quirky illustrative spin in the latest instalment of our Communi-T series. Based in Bristol Yee Poon is lauded for her comedic animated designs ranging from bespoke commissions to her fruitful interpretations on classic artwork pieces. We believe that Yee Poon would be the perfect fit for our T-shirt  as she acknowledges and honours women across the globe for their continuous impact on society. Proposing a graphic inspired equali-T that also coincides with Earth Day. 

Utilising an ant print on our amicable design signified determination, unity and loyalty. Dubbed as a spirit animal, the ant possesses great strength and a sense of integrity which reminds us that regardless of your size and worth anything can be accomplished when you put in effort, even a gender equal world. With a strong message of female autonomy and unity we believe that this T-shirt reflects our core values of equality at Footpatrol.

Arriving in a crisp white cotton body construction with bold black graphic lettering ‘Power’ and ‘Unity’ in a puff-print application adorned to the mid chest. What’s more, a green ant print with Footpatrol branding and lettering aforementioned coats the reverse. The fit is finalised with staple hem-lined detailing. 

We catch up with Yee Poon to discuss the admirations behind her designs, how she got started in art/ illustration career and her thoughts on International Women’s day.

For your chance to get your hands on our latest Communi-T project with Yee Poon, head over to the Footpatrol Launches App where an online draw is now live!

Footpatrol: How are you?

Yee Poon : Yeah I am good, thank you ! A bit of a trek to get here today.

FP: Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do?

YP: I am a graphic designer. Firstly, it is my main job and I take up illustration on the side that was kind of built when Covid happened and I had more free time to do more drawings and paintings. Then slowly, I built a following on my Instagram.

FP: Where did your initial love for drawing and illustration come from? Was that something that you always had, or did it develop at school?

Yee Poon: Yeah, I think it’s cliche to say that I have been drawing since I was a kid and everything but I have genuinely always loved drawing but my parents never saw a career in that. So graphic design was something I could get a job in and make money from.

FP: This month signifies International Women’s Month and we are so happy to have you produce the design for the t-shirt. Could you break down the design?

YP: So when the brief came in, I knew I wanted to create a powerful slogan Tee, something that you would wear on the streets and resonate with other people. So I did a little research on the words I wanted on this T-shirt and I wanted to put some animal on it or some creature that’s my style – food and animals. I decided to do some research on some powerful animals and I found myself looking at ants. They are really incredible creatures, the way they work in teams and their determination to build things so I thought this was the perfect analogy for this International Women’s Day T-shirt. Using ants to represent power and unity and when you come together you can really create something beautiful.

FP: Have you ever done anything like this before like for an awareness day as such? Or is this the first time doing a kind of project like this?

YP: This is definitely the first time for International Women’s Day as a campaign.

FP: Just in general, both personal and work, just to promote a positive message or something that you might have done in actual employment.

YP: Funnily enough, Covid brought me a lot of opportunities, loads of people wanted to help the NHS and create things to raise money for charities. I have done a few T-shirt designs just to raise money for it. One company they called it ‘Life On Hold’ was all about putting your life on pause and creating artwork from that. I think they raised 15k for the NHS.

FP: It’s not very often hearing people saying Covid created opportunities

Yee Poon: Yeah I know !

FP: Normally it’s the over way around, I was going to say how did that affect you as an artist but by the sounds of it, it is quite positive in terms of opportunity.

YP: Yeah it’s kind of like when you have all that free time not being able to go outside and do things when you are stuck at home with your pens, computer and paper it is just an outlet to be a bit more creative and fill up my time a bit.

FP: For yourself as an individual or artist, what does International Women’s Month mean to you? 

YP: I think it is important to raise awareness for sure but I think when they say this month we are looking at this, I feel like it is an issue. It should be a year long thing and we should be working towards gender equal roles. There is a lot of emphasis on women doing things, actually it is just as important as men playing their part and championing the women in their lives.

FP: Are you seeing a change of opportunities being created for females within the art world and in general ?

YP: I think we are improving like in the creative industries. There are changes happening but it is all down to people like yourself, Footpatrol that are championing women and giving us the platforms to this kind of thing. This wouldn’t happen without people like you putting us in that place, I am really grateful for that.

FP: To sign we always leave the final question as an opportunity for anyone we have worked with to spread a message of positivity, to raise awareness or build hype – anything.

Is there anything you would like to share ?

YP: It’s really funny because I saw a snippet of a podcast, I don’t know if you have heard of or watched ‘Life Of A CEO’, he was talking about how you should be nice to everyone you meet all the time because you never how that is going to pay back in the future and I wouldn’t be here without meeting Jake for example. Then through uni and then just keeping in touch and bringing me on board, it is all these little connections and those touchpoints you don’t notice that people do and it will just play out well.