Brand Backstory

Owner Teri Hustins is one of those Rock Star Clients, who treats me like a Rock Star Designer because she trusts my creative vision and expertise. She came to me with a brand design by The Number Creative that is playful, yet calm; sophisticated and refined, yet whimsical. Teri wanted this brand applied to Two Otter’s new Shopify website, as well as updated print collateral including a postcard, packing tape and stickers for shipped orders, plus business cards and bookmarks.

Website Strategy & Design Process

While I didn’t design the brand visuals, I did expand the colour palette to highlight different sections, functions and user-directions on the new website. In addition to the few custom icons included with the brand design, I also purchased stock illustrated icons, which I customized to use the expanded colour palette and used to feature the main product categories on the homepage. I simplified the brand typography to just a single secondary typeface, Montserrat — the closest match available on Google Fonts to Avenir, which is used for all secondary text in print, such as the tagline, paragraphs and contact info. Overall, I ensured other brand design elements were carried through the entire page design, reinforcing the brand to the end of each page.

The homepage offers visitors the option to browse shop sections either by toy category or by age; highlights their delivery, shipping and return policies; and encourages newsletter subscription, all while presenting the information in a way that is cohesive with Two Otters’ real-life shop experience.

Print Design

Carrying the IRL shop experience through to online shopping also meant carrying it through to the unboxing experience! For that, I designed a Thank You postcard, packing tape and stickers included in all shipped orders.

Teri also wanted a business card, specifically vertical, of which the contact info layout translated well to the bookmark and postcard designs. It is highly beneficial to design all print collateral at the same time for consistency and cohesiveness — and to save time! We did all of the print work in two back-to-back VIP Days.

The business cards, postcards and bookmarks incorporate all the elements of the brand design: of course the typography and colours, but also the illustrated icons and the wave as a divider.

A bookmark is a fun freebie to give customers who buy a book (or don’t, but grab a takeaway) that is useful as an item in and of itself, as well as keeps the brand top-of-mind in customers’ minds. They had a previous design, which didn’t feel very refined. It needed an update anyway, to add the website address. I recommended (and they easily agreed) to make side one non-commercial with a fun ocean/learning related quote. I couldn’t find a suitable existing quote, so I actually wrote this one myself! Side one is all fun, while side two is all business, with the logo, expanded tagline, and contact info, highlighting the website address.

For a cohesive unboxing experience, I designed custom stickers and packing tape and a 4×6 postcard to tuck into the package, thanking the customer for their order:

Results

We just launched this shop early November 2023, so we’ll check back soon with stats and shopper feedback.

Print Design Work 2 Days
Shopify Customization 2 Days