White Squirrel Coffee Shop Gets a New Mascot
Character Design, Illustration
HOW IT STARTED
client
White Squirrel Coffee Shop
Location
Toronto, CA
Art Direction
Jessica Brasil, lg2
White Squirrel Coffee Shop is a well-loved local business nestled in the heart of Toronto. Directly across the street, you'll find Trinity Bellwoods Park—a place made famous by mythical creatures from which White Squirrel Coffee Shop derives its name. It's taken as a sign of good luck if you can spot one of these white squirrels as you stroll through the park.
In August of 2021, White Squirrel had recently undergone an ownership change and they felt it was time to update their branding. They were working with lg2, the largest independent agency in Canada, to improve their logo and website. It was at that time lg2 reached out to Good Craft to develop a mascot based on the white squirrels that live across the street.
The project began with a kickoff call with Jessica Brasil at lg2 where we discussed the concept for the new mascot. Being that it was important for the new mascot to represent the people and the neighborhood that White Squirrel Coffee serves, we took great care to ensure the character was designed to be friendly, welcoming, and approachable.
CONCEPT SKETCHES
NOTE: When drawing characters, defining the emotion you want to portray is extremely important. For the White Squirrel character, we needed every sketch to show a character that's friendly, welcoming, and approachable. It's important to note that emotion is depicted in how the body is posed as much as it's shown in a facial expression.
HOW IT WENT
White Squirrel Coffee Shop loved the concept sketches so much that they requested to expand the scope of the original project to include the drawing the mascot in two poses instead of one. The 'Ta-Da' concept was selected as the primary character pose and the 'Marching' concept would be as a secondary illustration.
The final results were a great success. Each final character is armed with a winning smile and dynamic pose that capture the original brand strategy goal outlined at the beginning of the project.
Contact
Jared's work is influenced by a passion for early comics and vintage ephemera to create a new and lasting aesthetic. Do you have a project that would be a good fit? Let's talk.
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