Ok, make room on your jean jacket and laptop, because you’re about to fall in love with HC writer Franki Hanke‘s self-love campaign, complete with iconic enamel pins & stickers. As part of a capstone project, Franki took a major project of creating a print magazine and turned it into a movement. Specifically, she just launched her own Kickstarter for one of her fave parts from the magazine — the Sassy, Sexy, Self-Loving Magic Wand pin she designed herself.
As if the design of her enamel pins and stickers weren’t beautiful enough, the message behind the project is everything — it’s all about sex positivity and having not one bit of shame about your pleasure. We chatted with Franki to learn more about the beautiful products in the works, how she did it with little to no funding, and the power of being genuine and bold along the way.
Photo courtesy of Chloe McElmury
The inspiration behind the iconic Magic Wand Enamel Pins
As part of a year-long course with a capstone project, Franki aimed to create a project on a topic she deeply cared about. Like many other public school students of the U.S., Franki felt as if the sex education she received failed her.
“I suddenly thought about the failed sex education that I received growing up,” Franki tells me. “I recognized so many of us have experienced failed sex education in public schools in America. It’s often done in a way that’s very shameful and it doesn’t breed a healthy outlook on sex, relationships and pleasure.”
This unhealthy perspective she and many other students had been fed in school gave her major inspo for breaking these boundaries and creating a new definition for what sex and pleasure looks like to her peers.
Behind the stunning design
Franki’s beautiful magic wand pin was born out of the main portion of her capstone project, being her print magazine.
“A lot of my peers and I were so excited about having a visual of something bright, colorful and friendly for something that some people don’t really associate with being something bright and friendly,” Franki tells me. “I was interested in easing the public eye [into this topic] in subtle and fun ways. I wanted something that people could easily add to their lives, like a badge that says ‘I care about this’ and ‘my pleasure and sex positivity is something that’s important to me.'”
From project to product
The process of lifting this capstone project up into a product that can be worn and adorned on your fave jean jacket is especially notable. As a college entrepreneur with tight resources, Franki had to lean on the support from her peers and those who truly believed in the message of this project.
“We don’t have any sort of built-in financial assistance for these projects. The whole time I was thinking about, ‘how am I going to get this magazine printed?’ I wanted it to be something that can be held and didn’t look cheap.”
After hearing a friend’s advice about crowd-funding and knowing about her boyfriend’s love of all-things Kickstarter product, it clicked for her. She then took things into her own hands and started her own Kickstarter. “My thought was: worst-case scenario, the project fails. Best case scenario, I can go to my department and said ‘hey, I did everything I wanted,'” says Franki.
Being genuine and bold
Franki’s best advice for starting your own venture such as hers? Be genuine and be bold.
“I feel like I always say those two words when I’m describing this to people,” she tells me. “Most of the work I’ve done has been just connecting with people. I used Instagram as a platform to reach out to people who are interested in pins or pushing the boundaries of sex positivity and self-love through the realms of sex and masturbation.”
When she found a brand or fellow artist she really supported and resonated with, she slid in their DMs. “I would just say, ‘Hi, you don’t know me, but I love what you’re doing. I wanted to let you know that I do something similar and I genuinely think you’d be interested.’ I had so many people get back to me and support me back.”