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Meet Mr. Purrl! 😺
Recraft Project:https://www.recraft.ai/project/e88ddbca-8f13-49cd-b19f-28379683466c
Character Brief
Mr. Purrl is a knitted yarn plushie who works at a London cat café. Stern by design, soft by nature. He takes the rules seriously because they exist to protect the cats: harder than it sounds, since the cats themselves love to sleep on him and use his tail as a toy, doing nothing for his authority. His bowler hat transforms magically into whatever the situation requires: an umbrella, a ball of yarn, a sign. Every kitten about to find their forever home leaves with a miniature Mr. Purrl, hand-knitted by the original himself.
Applications:
- Character
- Logo wordmark
- Sticker sheet
- Merch mockup
- Lifestyle photography
- Comic
- Video
- Notice board
Project Walkthrough vid in the comments.
Read ahead if you want to know how I created this.
OK so, I love cat cafés. And you know, they are pretty strict about rules (for cat and human safety). And I kept thinking... how funny would it be if the actual guardian of the cats was a toy?
Cats approach respect in a very specific way, so the idea of this stern, old-fashioned (cute) little plushie trying to enforce the rules felt so funny to me. Stern (not his fault, he was knitted this way), yet adorable. Rigid, but soft.
He adores the cats. That was always the point. And he found a way to keep them company even when they leave. Turns out, he knits tiny versions of himself: one for every kitten/cat that finds their forever home. So the mascot becomes merch, but within his own world, which I loved.
The magical hat was something I really wanted to get right. It should be important, but it's just a detail. Think about it, he's a plushie with actual powers, and he decides to use them for: an umbrella? Some yarn? A sign? And that's what's funny: if a magical plushie chooses to spend his powers on cat café rules, that means the cat café rules matter. I think that's kind of sweet.
He's English because my favorite cat cafés are there, honestly.
Everything was built by iterating and iterating. At some point I think Recraft was more frustrated than I was, but we kept going and it was so helpful.
In the end, I wanted softness and rules to coexist in a fun way, and I think they do. It took longer than I expected. I ended up completely falling for him. Hope some of you do too.
Love how specific the concept is. A knitted plushie enforcing cat café rules is funny, sweet, and very brandable. Good luck
Thanks! That was exactly the idea. Glad it landed 😄
It definitely landed. The concept felt clear and memorable. Good luck!
Here you go!
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Pucker is the sourest bear in the bag — a chubby pink bear permanently frosted in sugar crystals, whose entire right arm turned lime green the day he ate his first FizzBear. As the mascot and self-appointed Chief Sourness Officer of FizzBears sour candy, he guards the bag, distrusts anything sweet, and communicates almost entirely through side-eye and slow, disappointed head shakes. Every bite still makes his whole body flinch — and he will never, ever admit he loves it. The green arm isn't a costume; it's a warning. If your face isn't scrunching, Pucker isn't done.
Built entirely in Recraft Studio. The character was locked through Exploration mode — dozens of directions, one survivor — then held on-model across every application using reference-image workflows, with a single master render driving the whole system. The name-logo was built in V4.1 Vector.
https://www.recraft.ai/project/bad319a2-c05d-4bb9-a5e1-be9b7051d96c
Really strong character hook. Pucker feels funny, memorable, and perfectly built for a sour candy brand. Good luck
✨ KEEPLI, a mobile app mascot created specifically for the Recraft × Contra Mascot Challenge
🧩 Problem
People constantly save photos, notes, places, ideas, and small reminders, yet most of them eventually disappear into digital noise.
Apps can store information, but they often lack the emotional feeling that something meaningful is being genuinely cared for and kept safe.
💡 Solution
That is how KEEPLI, The Little Keeper of What Matters, came to life.
KEEPLI is a warm, observant, and quietly optimistic mascot that keeps forgotten ideas, meaningful places, photographs, tiny joys, and memories, then brings them back at the right moment.
I specialize in mobile product design and have worked on 350+ mobile apps, so KEEPLI was never designed as a standalone illustration. From the beginning, it was created as a character capable of living inside a real digital product.
For this project, I developed:
a distinctive silhouette and personality
a system of emotional states
a custom wordmark and app icon
a sticker pack
mascot integration across the mobile interface
a physical keepsake kit
🎯 Result
The result is a cohesive mascot system that remains recognizable across the mobile app, brand identity, stickers, and physical applications.
My portfolio already includes mascots created for real mobile products, some of which were also developed with Recraft. KEEPLI, however, is an original concept created specifically for this challenge as a complete character, brand, and product system.
💜 Not everything lost is gone.
📎 KEEPLI, The Little Keeper of What Matters.
🔗 Recraft project:
https://www.recraft.ai/project/b4f3c24f-55fc-484a-899a-3fc98e389c6a
#recraftchallenge #recraftai #contra #mascotdesign #characterdesign #branddesign #branding #visualidentity #mobileappdesign #productdesign #uidesign #uxdesign #appdesign #stickerdesign #illustration #characterbranding #designsystem #creativeconcept #artdirection #mobileproduct
Mascot Alimation
Which cover should lead my Recraft × Contra Mascot Challenge submission?
A.Light and product focused.
B.Dark, premium, and brand focused.
Same mascot system, different first impression.
Which one would you choose? A or B? 💜
🔗 Recraft project
https://www.recraft.ai/project/b4f3c24f-55fc-484a-899a-3fc98e389c6a
#recraftchallenge #mascotdesign #branddesign #mobileappdesign
58 voted
56%
46 voted
44%
104 votes
Closed
B, and the reason matters more than the vote. B opens with the title lockup and the mascot so the brand idea lands before the screens do, A opens with mockups and reads as one more app shot. The gallery is also full of light covers, so B wins the scroll before anyone reads a word
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