Hot Dots rebrand
BRIEF
Hot Dots is an educational line of books and cards with an interactive pen that allows children to engage with content and learn with minimal adult guidance. The decades old brand was a top seller at Educational Insights and was well overdue for a refresh of the look. I spearheaded competitive research, trends for color, design and illustration, pitched the research and concepts to directors, and implemented the new look by redesigning the logo, packaging, book covers, and art directing an illustrator to redo every spot illustration for the entire line (over 850 illustrations). Once the rebrand was complete, I art directed lifestyle photoshoots to promote the new look and used the photography for web design, email promotions, web ads, and the Amazon Storefront design.
MY ROLE
- Competitive Research
- Trend Research
- Logo Design
- Package Design
- Art Direct Illustrator
- Book Layout and Design
- Photo & Video Art Directoin
- Web ads, Amazon Storefront, Email Design
RESEARCH
LOGO REDESIGN
COLOR RESEARCH AND PEN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
Once I chose an illustrator to refresh the images, I also needed to propose a color palette for the new line look as well as the pen printing and ID.
ART DIRECTING ILLUSTRATIONS
I researched and proposed a handful of illustrators, and we landed on hiring Mark Bird to refresh the artwork for this educational line. I collaborated with the Account Director, Janene Russel, to create a list of needed illustrations provide feedback to the artist to ensure they were on brand and in line with the core educational needs of the target age group. Below are some examples of the process of line art, feedback, coloration, feedback, and then final artwork.
ART DIRECTING BOOK COVER ILLUSTRATIONS
Once we had an established illustration look, we needed to apply this as a system to various book covers. Below is the process of sketches and feedback between myself and the illustrator to develop the line look for this brand. The artist provided me with layered files so that I could manipulate the final layout and design and integrate it with the logo, background, and typography.
PACKAGING DESIGN, BOOK COVERS, AND BOOK LAYOUT
I used a combination of Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign, and even Keyshot 3d to create the final design system to build pieces that found their way on to shelves at Costco, Sams, Wal-Mart, Target, and more.
PHOTOGRAPHY
I produced and art directed several photoshoots for the brand so that we would have plenty of lifestyle images to promote the product.
EMAIL, WEB ADS, AMAZON PAGES
In addition to redesigning the Amazon landing page and Amazon A plus pages, I created a variety of digital assets for email, ads, and social.
ANIMATIONS
I created a few animations for promotions as well as some explainer videos to use as a sales tool on Amazon and Target.com. Some assets were done on my mobile phone, while others were done in Photoshop, After Effects, and Keyshot 3d.
