Altered Carbon

Background

Altered Carbon is a Netflix series that premiered in 2018. The series is based on the book of the same name by Richard K. Morgan. The series takes place over 300 years in the future, where a person's memories can be decanted in a disk-shaped device called a cortical stack, which is implanted in the vertebrae at the back of the neck. Takeshi Kovacs, a political operative with mercenary skills, wakes up in a new body and is enlisted to help solve the murder of one of the wealthiest men in the settled worlds.

Project

Within the story, the main character (Kovacs) obtains a backpack from a street dealer that features a cartoon character called "Hello Unicorn". The backpack is a hard shell pack that is noticeably distressed and has 'graffiti' style scribbling.

Netflix wanted to be able to promote the show at conventions and events and, to that end, decided to have duplicates created that would be carried into the events. These duplicate backpacks were filled with promotional items from the show, and when anyone recognized the pack and commented on it, the person carrying it would open it and give out the 'swag'.

I was contacted by an agency working on the promotional campaign and asked to recreate several bags. I was sent concept art with the design and various graphics to be added to the bags. I then found some hard shell bags with the right proportions and pink color on the back.

The graphics for the Hello Unicorn were designed in Illustrator and printed on vinyl. The packs were then skinned with the graphics, distressed with dye, paint and a steel file, and the 'graffiti' added by hand.

This is one of the five backpacks created for the promotion.