Context
At the beginning of my internship working on marketing Seen, I had brought up a few concerns with my boss about the app's design and branding. Over two weeks I suggested and made revisions to the following proposal which did not end up in the app.
I have still included it in this case study as it helps provide context to what I learned in this internship.
I have still included it in this case study as it helps provide context to what I learned in this internship.
Problems
☹︎ The UI of the app looks too similar to a rival app, BeReal, specifically the blurred image which indicates a new message
☹︎ The app icon feels separate from the app experience and branding
☹︎ The app icon feels separate from the app experience and branding
Pitch
Rather than blur the messages on the screen, I proposed pixels. From a branding angle, pixels can then be used to create cohesion for the app's UI and marketing. With pixels, Seen is able to take features that are tried-and-true in competitive apps and make it their own. For example, Snapchat's Bitmoji can be "Seen Pix" where users are given a grid to draw their profile picture. Example "Pix" are provided for inspiration, but the commotion lies in the ability to create any image. At the time, a similar trend on TikTok had risen where users could use a filter to create a pixel PowerPuff Girl icon of themselves.
Mockups
These iterations include the first few logo exporations along with an example home screen with pixels to distort the unread message. I shifted from just the eyes as a logo to incorporating the eyes into the app name.
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Design Breakdown
The final design of the proposed Seen splash screen and logo focuses on playfulness and pixels. The yellow-green evokes both messaging (green) and a playfulness (tennis ball shade of green). Pixels are used instead of a screen blur to hide unread messages, which would create some differentiation to BeReal. These pixels can then be identifiable as a brand in itself. The brand is meant to range across multiple age groups: from gen Alpha audiences for its novelty to millennials for its nostalgia.
To tie in the company name "Seen," the e's form into eyes. This is also animated into the proposed splash screen and its slogan: "see your friends. see your messages."
As pitched in the inital concept, there is room for more branding within the app through pixels (pix : Snapchat bitmojis)
To tie in the company name "Seen," the e's form into eyes. This is also animated into the proposed splash screen and its slogan: "see your friends. see your messages."
As pitched in the inital concept, there is room for more branding within the app through pixels (pix : Snapchat bitmojis)
The presented designs