Here are the second round of the American to British reference images where my cousin and I explain the difference in the english language between the Brits and the Yankees.
To answer Micah’s question from the last round and to explain this a little better–the format is first and foremost a mobile app and secondly it will either be a book or deck of large format cards like flash cards.
Two of the difficulties that we are trying to solve for are:
1.figuring out how funny we want the cards to be (if they are funny at all) and how to communicate the idea and be funny at the same time.
2. My cousin and I discussed, at first, that we would have the American version alongside the British version on the cards, but after looking at the cards we realized that it wasn’t going to work.
So, I thought out loud at my cousin, “we should do an American version that explains the Britishisms and a Brit one that explains American words.” She then explained to me that (she currently resides in London) in Britain they watch American television shows quite a bit and so they know most of them already; and she said that, also, they just wouldn’t care to have an American slang reference. We Yanks, on the other hand, can’t wait to learn foreign British phrases and start saying them aloud in our best Cockney accent. “Gooday Gov’na!”




I like the format of the second card the best. I also love the ‘savory’ comment bubble. That gives the illustration more personality than the rest. I’m going to go watch Mary Poppins now to brush up on my bad cockney accent.
Looks like this is coming along nicely and it seems that you are asking yourselves good questions. I listen to a decent amount of BBC radio podcasts (therefore making me an expert) and I agree that there is no reason to make this cross-directional. They already know more than they want to about the colonies. Focus on the crazy Yanks.
I agree with Brad that the feel of the second sketch is the strongest. Probably best not to go overboard, but I think a decent amount of humor is imperative. The whole idea of an English to English dictionary is comical so it would be strange if it didn’t make you at least smile.
Good luck Gov’na!