Shake Head Milkshakes
Branding & Visual Identity | Ryland Smith
Project Overview
Shake Heads is a character-driven brand concept built around expressive illustrated personalities. The project explored how character design and visual identity could work together to create a recognizable, playful brand language.
The Challenge
Develop a visual identity with enough personality to feel immediately recognizable while creating a flexible character system that could extend across multiple applications.
Character Development
The characters began as exploratory sketches focused on exaggerated silhouettes, facial expressions, and distinct personalities. Each character was developed to remain recognizable through simplified forms and a consistent illustration style.
Design System
Although each character has a distinct personality, shared proportions, linework, color treatment, and facial language create consistency across the collection.
Brand Application
The character system was designed to remain recognizable across different scales and applications, from small digital graphics to larger physical merchandise.
The Outcome
The final system established a recognizable character language that could expand beyond individual illustrations into a broader visual identity and merchandise ecosystem.