AMBUSH X OBAKE
EXPRESSING THE YOUTH OF TOKYO 2040
OBAKE / “The term is often translated as “ghost”, however, more literally, the term means a thing that changes, referring to a state of transformation or shapeshifting.”
As the city continues to shift and grow around them, Tokyo’s youth struggle to bridge the generational gap between progress and tradition. Representative of both the bright future of the culture and a suppressed ultraviolence, the Obake by Suzuki provides an alter for the generation’s exhausted ego.
The Ask:
Enable the youth of Tokyo, 2040 to establish unique riding personas under AMBUSH Design’s lens.
The Answer:
Suzuki’s timeless approach to design has allowed them to remain a household name for several generations. Ambush Design represents the bright future of the Japanese youth culture. Playing on the generational differences that are pushing the youth to act out more than ever, this collaboration between the two cultural behemoths celebrates the youth and their thirst to leave their mark on Japan’s illustrious culture.
Roles:
Concept Ideation + Development
2D/3D/Prompt Ideation + Development
Creative Direction
EXPANDING THE UNIVERSE
THE STATE OF AMBUSH ONLINE
Ambush has silently been building a catalogue of Web3 accessible releases: most notably their POW! associated collections. Pulling inspiration from the omnipresent “universe” sphere motif and POW! Energon series, the OBAKE! series champions their defining transformative characteristics so that it fits seamlessly into the future of the Ambush NFT universe,
BUILDING VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES
AMBUSH’S SILVER FCTRY
For those unfamiliar with the space; today’s interpretation of the “Metaverse” is some ambiguous concept. By 2040, Ambush is seeking to make it part of their core brand experience. From this idea came the conception of the Silver Fctry:
A Web3 based communal space to develop the future of the brand and consumer experience.
FUNCTIONS + FEATURES
MORE THAN A JPEG
The OBAKE! collection is more than just a showpiece: it’s an extension of the rider themselves. Minting in itself makes you part of a hyperconnected community. In a Tokyo exclusive release, a supply of 100 unique bike units will be available. Each bike has it’s own unique ID to pair with it’s rider which functions as both a key and exclusive colorway/lighting scheme for the bike. Utilizing trained AI models, the system will take the users profile image and combine it with the bike’s unique color scheme to generate a customizable user ID. When riding together, sport your unique persona or share your style with the whole group using the on board display.
FORM DEVELOPMENT
COMMUNICATING FUNCTION
The base unit’s design for the OBAKE! series is simple and communicative. Featuring AMBUSH’s signature universe sphere motif and Suzuki’s Obake Supersport, each individual unit has varying color/lighting characteristics represented by the finish of the sphere and the coloring of the background. The base collection consists of 90 base units and 10 F&F. Users will establish facial recognition when receiving their units and AI will generate a rider avatar based on a blend of their facial data and the unique color scheme.
AI IN ACTION
BUILDING THE COLLECTION
After rendering out the 100 potential color combinations for the OBAKE! collection, the images were then run through Midjourney where iterative prompting and blending images resulted in the beginnings of a community. To ensure quality for user ID images, final results were exported then run through Topaz AI for upscaling and post processing. The potential for “team” or “group” ride avatars was also explored in various multi-rider ID iterations.
This project is purely conceptual and has no affiliation to
AMBUSH Design nor SUZUKI Motor.