Vault49 has designed the identity and visual language for slime brand Moon Cotton, including full un-boxing experience for the direct to consumer brand. The brand was so compelling, the first batch of nine flavors sold out on their first day.
Moon Cotton was launched in 2017 before becoming part of the IMGN Media portfolio, which includes viral, social media brands Daquan and So Satisfying. Led by IMGN Media creative director Katie Woolly, Moon Cotton had carved out a premium space in the slime category with inspired flavor combinations and considered settings for the videos. Now within IMGN Media's portfolio, Woolly sought to refresh her brand's visual identity and the company took the challenge to Vault49.
"Slime as an industry has exploded. People love to play with slime or watch videos of other people playing with it," commented Leigh Chandler, Partner and Creative Director, Vault49. "Slime is an effective form of relaxation, or escapism and is just one of many types of ASMR content, which we have seen taking off in recent years and adopted by brands as big as Ikea and Nickelodeon.
"Yet this was an industry started by young people, fabricating slimes in their bathrooms, videoing themselves playing with it in their living room, and selling it online.
"This DIY, almost 'brandless' aesthetic and belief is welcomed by the slime community - when big brands such as Walmart have tried to enter the space they are greeted with scepticism. They don't have permission to play in this space."
Vault49's design solution takes inspiration from the punk spirit of the DIY world through the lens of premium craft. Hand-drawn flavor illustrations which capture the brand's whimsical personality are complimented by a color palette that is bright, joyful and irresistible, just like its products. A flirty tone of voice was used to add a playfulness to the experience.
"Moon Cotton grew from the ground (or bedroom) up and the founder Katie quickly grew her tribe," Chandler added. "It was important when designing her refresh that we didn't lose the spirit of what she created, so instead we embraced what was working and tweaked what could be improved.
"The brand name was perfect - we felt it captured the surreal, nonsensical world that slime takes you to in your mind. It also provided inspiration for the logo treatment - by simply replacing the O's with full circles and stacking the words, we could replicate the lunar cycle. These playfully come to life through animation.
"A total of 70 'flavor' illustrations were created in-house and communicate the breadth of weird and wonderful scents. Iridescent materials feel intriguing and hypnotic. An overall feel of rawness and imperfection combined with premium finishes captured what we were hoping to achieve for the evolved brand."