Photography: Guarionex Rodriguez Jr
Web Developer: Jesse Hsu
Designer: Andrew Lee
With the rebrand, we wanted to invoke a new sense of energy. Revolving around the idea of “optimistic futurism”, we envisioned Pintrill® as a universe where every world and fandom can fit seamlessly. We used a meshwork of gridded lines to represent the “universe” that holds everything together. On the atomic level, “pixels” resemble the building blocks that materialize everything within the Pintrill® universe. This allows the any intellectual property and artists from all ends of the spectrum to coexist while still maintaining the Pintrill® branding without being heavy-handed.
Using this versatile typeface from Pangram Pangram Foundry, PP Neue Bit offered the most dynamic “pixel” font that felt futuristic without giving much 8-bit retro aesthetics. The glyphs also add a lot of playfulness.
Body
Faced with limited resources, we opted for a typeface that was easily accessible and seamless with Google products. This clean sans-serif offered a lot of font weights that met our needs to establish type hierarchy.
Technical
Our products contain a lot of use cases for legal and technical copy. Roboto Mono was not only versatile but also offered various font weights to help distinguish the different types of messaging, such as legal and technical.
Largely influenced by the in-game dialogue of Kingdom Hearts, we lean in on the following traits:
- Optimistic
- Friendly
- Human
- Informal
A collection is usually comprised of, but not limited to, other products such as keychains, woven patches, magnets, and more. The packaging would “absorb” the theme to feel cohesive when viewed as an entire collection.
To elevate the overall experience, we would ensure to apply special printing techniques such as UV spot gloss, hot foil stamping, and embossing when deemed relevant for the IP.
L: Previous packaging
R: Rebranded packaging
When used for marketing, we brought some brand elements along with the IP’s branding to give it an overall visual treatment that still felt within brand.
In addition to soft lighting, prop materials, such as clear acrylic blocks, were used to not only give dimensionality but subtly hint at special printing treatments used on the packaging and/or products.
We worked very closely with Jesse Hsu, an accomplished web developer, and considered many factors such as e-commerce functionality, an incentivized shopping experience, and user heuristics. We went through many iterations before landing on this current version.
The first point of interaction of our home page is our hero image. This usually communicated the latest collection, release, or an on-going promotional event.
Following the hero image, this section features the most recent and current product collections. A collection’s product family is featured alongside the feature “hero” image.
Near the bottom of the site, related collections and also upsell categories were added before reaching the footer that contains the site map and newsletter signups.
The idea of materializing was made evident as an immersive experience. Working closely with our production team, our products were displayed in custom retail fixtures to show that they were “materializing” into this realm to give a branded experience.
A postcard-sized checklist listing all the participants of GTH. Being a sub-brand of Pintrill®, GTH took visual cues from the brand’s primary color with hints of warm tones, gridded patterns, pixel textures and brand typeface.
Participating brands each had their own pin and were packaged with our “square cards” but continuing the visual language of GTH. Brand elements such as the brand color, pixel textures, and gridded pattern can be seen on the pin backing cards.
In addition to promoting GTH through various digital channels, traditional flyers were also effective in reaching audiences. Upon learning about the scavenger hunt, many were genuinely excited to partake. Even well after the pins had run out.
Inspired by experiences of purchasing from a record store or niche boutique, we wanted to recreate that sense of excitement and discovery of their purchase for our patrons through our shoppers.
Working for the first time on a holographic print on a tight timeline, the results were reached without the assist of swatches or templates and were decided based on independent research on what was readily available.
An accessory that securely fastens your enamel pin. I developed a packaging system that made in-house, core products feel heavily branded to distinguish from other collections including technical illustrations instructing on how to use it.
Given away as add-ons to purchases, I created a quick solution to conceal pins in a branded manner. Taking the liberty to distort PP Neue Bit allowed the product to take on a more fun approach for patrons when revealing which pin they received.
A quick modification for most phone cases, it allowed users to attach keychains and accessorize their phones. I created a branded accessory along with instructionals that made it overall feel within the same Pintrill® universe.