Designing a men’s chat: the fruit saga

In 2022 my friends and I created a small men’s Telegram chat. A private place where you could drop something interesting, share news, arrange meetings, or argue, finally. We launched it during one of our gatherings in Minsk — spontaneously, in just a couple of minutes. There were no ideas for a name. Why not just put a fruit emoji 🍑 instead of text? Perfect.

For three years we didn’t touch or change anything. It worked well enough. This year I decided to play with the group’s visual identity using AI. The task was simple: to pull the peach out of the emoji world into reality.

First I drew our main character. Now it’s an image you can use as an avatar, send to friends, print, and even hang in a frame.

Illustration for the men’s chat: peach — Peach — the main symbol of our chat

Screenshot of our group’s main page — This is what our fruit chat now looks like

But of course I didn’t stop there. I created a boyfriend for our peach so it wouldn’t be lonely. After all, it’s good when fruits have friends.

Illustration for the men’s chat: banana — Banana — the boyfriend of our peach

And then it all took off. Grab some popcorn, the saga begins.

He noticed her among thousands of fruits. And that little leaf suited her so well.! — He noticed her among thousands of fruits. And that little leaf suits her so well!

I worked in real time, posting everything straight into the chat. That’s when our hero first saw the beauty in a local popular social network¹. And it turned out this platform was needed not only by fruits.

Comment from one of the chat members: “Brilliant 😁 this platform is for me” — A comment from one of the chat members

Banana and peach sit at a small table, drinking wine from glasses. — A meeting over a glass of good wine

And what’s an evening without music? Such a night needs a soundtrack. Let’s put on an old warm Sinatra record.

Banana hugs peach — And here they finally met

But then I get another comment from the audience:

Reply to me on Telegram: “A recipe for a good smoothie”

I couldn’t miss such a challenge. Let’s put our heroes in very uncomfortable conditions (by fruit standards) and see what happens next. Is this the end?

Banana and peach ended up in a blender — Oh, no!

Banana and peach run away from the blender, holding hands — But our heroes made it through

Close-up: banana and peach holding hands — Hardships temper love

Finally, it’s time to relax and enjoy a favorite movie.

Banana and Peach are cuddling on the couch, watching TV. A cup of popcorn stands nearby, and the remote lies on the floor. — A cozy evening together

A whole story grew out of a simple task — making an avatar for a private men’s chat on Telegram. Not everything worked on the first try, not everything looks perfect. But it turned into a fun, light-hearted graphic experiment.

What I’ve really taken from this project, and what I want to hold on to: a machine can draw for us, but it can’t add a single ounce of soul.

We can.

Banana gives Peach a friendly pat on the shoulder

To be continued…

This social network is not banned in the territory of the Russian Federation and other countries. ↩︎