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KARMAE: ASTER | Brand Identity, Packaging & 3D Direction
ASTER explores the softer side of KARMAE.
Where Orbit leaned into shadow, mineral weight and atmosphere, ASTER brings the same brand world closer to light. Frosted glass, pale botanicals, muted metallics and softer tonal contrast create a quieter, more tactile expression without losing the core identity behind it.
For this refresh, I kept the original KARMAE foundation and expanded the system rather than replacing it. The goal was to show how one brand can hold two very different moods while still feeling cohesive across product, packaging and visual direction.
Everything shown here was designed and directed by me from start to finish, including the product design, packaging, environments, materials and final 3D renders built in Blender.
Part one of ASTER.
Gorgeus! Super clean and elevated
aster > orbit ngl
Honestly, I kind of agree 😂 These two directions are almost six months apart, which also means six months more experience for me in Blender and in how I approach the full visual world around a product. I still love Orbit for what it is though. They each have their own strengths...
Not really for me, but I think it depends a lot on your Blender skill level. Once you understand materials, transmission, roughness and lighting, frosted glass is pretty manageable. The trickier part is usually getting it to feel realistic in the final scene rather than just technically “frosted.”
Looks nice, May!
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Amazing work!
rediscovered some old favorites of mine, my first real ventures into any sort of motion design. these were our primary advertisement visuals for a private, fiction-based writing community around this time some 18 months ago. these featured archetypes that were requested as connections for members onsite to spice up our plot, offering an insight into the depth everyone has hiding behind their curated grids & posts, even if only in seeing what apps they have running in the background of their device, what notifications are enabled.
i have so much more material in the arsenal where this style comes from, & given our community's focus on interpersonal dynamics' impacts thanks to pressures from both social & news media sources (in spite of their potential unreliability, exaggerations, etc.), i haven't found a design system since that encapsulated the sort of 'ERROR 404' / 'uncanny valley' energy that we've always gone for in our storytelling, but in spite of content warning tags for glitching & potential eyestrain? lashback from external sources was far too severe to keep this style up & running for as long as i'd have liked.
what are your thoughts? any favorites of the four shown below? good start to an unconventional little case study, perhaps?
The ERROR 404 / uncanny valley angle is a clever way to visualize interpersonal dynamics without illustrating them literally. My favorite of the four is the top right, that cracked type treatment does a lot of storytelling on its own. Was the eyestrain pushback coming from...
A brand should solve a business problem - not just look good.
For Oneclick, the goal wasn’t simply to create another visually appealing identity. We wanted to build a brand that could communicate simplicity, accessibility, trust, and modern technology in a way people could instantly understand.
The challenge was turning a broad digital service into a brand with a clear point of view - something that could work across digital products, campaigns, social media, and real-world touchpoints.
So we focused on building a visual system that is simple enough to understand, flexible enough to scale, and distinctive enough to be remembered.
From the logo and typography to the color system, imagery, social assets, advertising applications, and digital touchpoints - every decision was made with the business in mind.
Because good branding isn’t decoration.
It’s a business tool that helps people understand what you do, why they should trust you, and why they should remember you.
Brand Strategy → Visual Identity → Art Direction → Digital & Marketing Applications
#Branding #BrandIdentity #BrandStrategy #VisualIdentity #LogoDesign #GraphicDesign #CreativeDirection #ArtDirection #BrandDesign #DesignThinking #BusinessBranding #SaaSBranding #DigitalBranding #Contra #DesignPortfolio
