If you had approached me 15 years ago and told me I would have the opportunity to conceptualize and design a convention booth for a group of idols, I would have thought that there was absolutely no way. For the majority of my career, except in a few choice occasions, the fandom that my now-wife introduced me to in 2005 was mutually exclusive to the rest of me.
My time at VShojo as head of design and product changed all of that. VShojo, for those unfamiliar with the concept, is a talent agency that focuses on promoting VTuber content creators. The concept of VTubing is an entirely separate rabbit hole in and of itself. That said, it’s worth the journey if ever you find yourself in need of a good rabbit hole.
Back to the booth. VShojo has never been short of innovative ideas, and when compared to their competition, has always pushed the envelope when it came to connecting talent and fans. From iPads on Segways to technology that allowed talent to sign posters from the comfort of their home. So when the opportunity arose to upgrade their TwitchCon 2022 booth experience for Anime Expo 2023, I leapt at the chance.
By a fan, for the fans.
The centerpiece of the original booth was the meet-and-greet with VShojo’s talent: a portrait-oriented flat-screen TV where they would be displayed. A complete audio/video setup allowed communication between the fan and the talent. It got the job done and was a simple and novel way to bring the spirit of a meet-and-greet to VTuber fans.
To back up just a little bit, it is important to know that the soul of the original VTuber movement shares a lot of the same DNA as Japan’s J-pop idol industry. Terms like “oshi,” which translates to “favorite,” also occur in the idol fandom.
Meet-and-greets for Japanese idols can be heavily gated depending on the agency, but I did have the chance to attend a handshake event with my oshi of Morning Musume back in 2014. The experience was just that, a handshake. You’d line up, step into an area that the other people in line couldn’t look into, come face-to-face with your oshi, shake her hand, smile awkwardly because you’re me and you forgot all of your Japanese, and get ferried away by staff out the other side of the area before you had a chance to register what just happened. All in all, this took around 10 seconds.
My memory of that handshake event inspired the vibe that I wanted for fans meeting VShojo talent at the Anime Expo booth.
Wait, how many screens?
I once again found myself in an environment that I thrived in: an empathic one. The song had changed, but the lyrics stayed the same. I was an open-source developer at GitHub, I became a streamer at Twitch, and I was an idol fan long before VShojo. I could myself, what would I want out of this?
I thought back to my own experience: the feeling of intimacy, being surrounded by the aura and power of that moment. That was it. A single 75+” screen wouldn’t be enough. Streamers have set backgrounds that are used for the “talking head” portions of a broadcast, and VTubers are no different in that regard. What if we could bring the fan to that background that they’re so familiar with?
I pushed, hard, for this to happen and worked tirelessly to sell my superiors and the firm we had contracted to work on the idea. The latter was easier to convince than the former, but we got there.
To keep costs low, I originally drew out an area that had one screen with two side walls that we could stage with picture frames and other props. But I didn’t complain when my partner at the firm suggested we use three full screens instead.
As if things couldn’t get any cooler, I was invited to the vendor of the screens to see them in action. From the moment I walked in, I was in video screen heaven. I got into graphic and web design while I was part of my high school’s A/V club, so seeing these screens reached all the way back to my 18-year-old self and pulled him into the present. There’s a multiverse out there in which I work with this technology for a living, I’m sure of it.
Thanks to the experience, I was able to learn a lot about the intricacies of booth design and queue management. I mean, if you told me that I would have a 2-hour conversation about the art of placing stanchions, I would’ve gotten a good laugh out of it. I honestly didn’t even realize they were called that until my first call with the firm. The entire process, the partner I had at the production firm, everything around it was akin to lightning in a bottle. We were mad, and we loved every minute of it.
A familiar melody.
Unfortunately, I never got to see the booth in person. But from the pictures I saw and the comments I read, the booth was a resounding success.
I set out to give VShojo fans a connection with their oshi in a way that was, up until that point, unmatched by its competitors. I got the chance to test my skills in a completely new arena, and for a split-second I was more than just a web designer. As one half of the team that self-funded four fan parties (including one at The New York Times Center in New York City), you could say supporting fans and fandom is part of my DNA. I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention Elsie and the amount of love she poured into this project both while I was there and after my time had ended. She drove the entire booth home in spectacular fashion, and the folks at VShojo are lucky to have a person with her talent on their team.
But for now, I eagerly await the next time I am given the chance to proudly show off my devotion to fandom once again.