Yuki

For this project, I worked with designers Denna Alece-Dom and Tyler Townley. Our original prompt was to produce a 30-second motion graphics animation that introduces ‘Nature’s Culture’ (a fictional probiotic yogurt drink), communicates its health benefits, and positions it as a delicious, organic, and probiotic-powered beverage for modern wellness seekers.

Storyboard

Our first storyboard focused largely on a bold, toon-shaded style. We took inspiration on the modern Japanese graphic design style of bold colors, bubbly font, and a cute and memorable mascot. At this stage in the project, we were still attempting to work with the constraints of the ‘Nature’s Culture’ brand concept.

Pencil storyboard of eleven frames: a fade in, yogurt flowing downwards, fruit spiralling in, a zoom, a bottle, and the Nature's Culture name

Mockups

Four generated mockups of Nature's Culture yogurt bottles: on a kitchen counter, in splashes of yogurt with fruit, and in a meadow
Five more generated mockups of Nature's Culture bottles: in splashes with peach and mango, with matcha and yuzu, and on stone plinths

AI-generated mockups made with Gemini

Branding

Once we were given permission to think outside the premade ‘Nature’s Culture’ concept, we were able to redesign the assets we were given to better align with our goals. We started with the brand name and logo: Yūki means organic in Japanese, and it was punchy-sounding and easy to remember.

Five versions of the Yūki logo in black outline, each with a different shape dotting the i
A strawberry Yūki bottle beside the pink Yūki logo and the line: Taste the difference your body will love
Tsubu, Yūki's strawberry mascot
Yūki's blueberry mascot

Mascots

I designed a series of Sanrio-style characters for the Yuki rebrand. Each yogurt flavor (eg. strawberry, blueberry, vanilla, etc.) has its own ‘mascot’, and the mascots interact with each other in advertisements and on blended flavors.

Label

Style Frames

A glass bottle with a teal label band, cubes of mango tumbling through it, on lilac
A grassy hillside under a silver birch, with mountains behind
A thick splash of yogurt against a mint green background
Strawberries dropping into a swirl of yogurt, seen from above

Final Storyboard

Our rebranding also required a new storyboard that properly represented Yuki. We chose to keep the toon-shaded style and bubbly lettering, but reduced the scope to just strawberry yogurt and added references to Yuki’s new strawberry mascot.

Pencil storyboard of sixteen frames: a bowl of fruit in a mountain landscape, strawberries tumbling and swirling, yogurt pouring around a bottle, and the finished bottle beside its name

Sound

For the “Nature’s Culture” prompt, we were given an AI-generated script and audio to use. For our rebrand, we decided to re-design the audio as well, using non-copyright audio and a custom voiceover from journalist Mariella Santiago.

Animatic

Animation Testing

Charlotte
Raith