Toonly
Escape into the wonders of animated storytelling.
Animation is one of the longest-lasting artforms. However, streaming services have become an endless pit of content and forced companies to give many animated stories the axe. Toonly is an animation network dedicated to connecting viewers to stories thought lost to time and help rediscover their childhoods. The challenge was to build a brand from the ground up with a booklet captures its values, identity, imagery, and applications.
The Journey
To create a platform like Toonly, it needed to be fun and approachable to people of all ages, especially those who want to escape their day-to-day lives from the comfort of their own devices. It needed a bright and friendly color palette to envoke a nostalgic saturday morning cartoon feel, with typography that reinforces the service’s mission to provide access to all kinds of animation.
The Protagonist
Creative Insight intended to offer people a chance to read an enthusiast’s thoughts on storytelling and what makes it so profound, and design a brand system across print and digital to showcase its presence in both mediums. I wanted to explore color theory and typography to learn how they could enhance or embody a brand’s perspective on journalism and content creation. The brand also required consistency across platforms to best reflect my love and appreciation for the discussion of narratives.
To do this, I researched competing media outlets and publications and how they display information across their websites, print publications, and social media. This helped to identify attributes that may help or harm each brand’s identity and how they reach their target audience. The breadth of information and design elements within each brand execution was immense and difficult to implement. Considering this, I allowed my initial concept and sketches, namely Creative Insight’s more playful and narrative-based tone of voice, to fuel the rest of the brand’s identity. Then, I chipped away at making each execution legible and enjoyable for users and readers alike. I wanted people to understand the brand at a fundamental level—from its aesthetic, positioning, and tone of voice—and how it all makes for a cohesive product that stands out from its contemporaries.
The result is an expansive outreach across print, website, and social media—all crafted entirely from scratch to support the same identity and allow each to stand tall in its own way.
The Lesson
As an avid supporter of animation and all things storytelling, I have longed for there to be a resting place for lost and removed animated media—a trend that has only increased in recent years. Toonly is the platform I wish existed to support the creators who worked so hard to bring their stories to life, and it looks just as ibrant and supportive as I hoped a service like it would.