Design as a strategic tool

When I was approached to work on Chooby the client had a business concept and a name - Great Aussie Toystore.

After discussing some of the implications and strategies regarding brand names, the client was open to new possibilities. My proposal was to create a pliable brand that would enable the company to sell its own brand of toys outside a purely online context.

The objective was to create a character-based identity to give the business a personality. I began the naming process with "Benny" an example of an imaginary animal I called a "Koalaroo". This imaginative process eventually produced Chooby, an identity capable of bringing the company's brand to life.

Creating mischief

A key objective of the brand was to personify 'fun'. This was translated into Chooby character mischievously appearing on the letterhead, business cards and throughout the web site.

The online experience

When it came time to design the web site it was important to understand who the audience would be. Since it is an online toy store it was adults and not children who would be searching for gifts. The design therefore reflected the needs of this adult audience by providing a site based on simple product categories and age classification to simplify the gift search process.