Suifrens
Role
Brand Identity
Creative Direction
UX and Brand
Visual Systems
Web Design
Creative Direction
UX and Brand
Visual Systems
Web Design
Overview
SuiFrens is a leading NFT project on the Sui blockchain, featuring characters like Capy, Bullshark, and Narwhal, who represent key elements of Sui’s architecture and infinite scalability. As collectibles, SuiFrens can extend into other Sui apps, with their distinctively anthropomorphized cuteness offering an accessible and friendly way to engage the builder community on the network.
The creative goal was to launch a brand and creative strategy for SuiFrens that would generate interest in the Sui blockchain and align with other leading Web3 projects. The visual identity was designed to keep SuiFrens composable, enabling other builders, brands, and partners within the network to integrate their IP—similar to how brands activate presences in open-ended platforms like Lego or Minecraft.
Brand Strategy
Capy Beginnings
Capy.art was the initial NFT demo, built as a minimum viable prototype to test features in the early stages of Sui. The capybara—famous for its cuteness, adaptability, and indifference to challenges or predators—was chosen as the signature character.
Frens Strategy
Essentially the objective was to get Gen Z, crypto-curious and the Sui community to interact with and spend time on the network, to see the value and innovation of the ecosystem and platform, by creating an exciting new website, brand, and art direction for the web3 project.
Brand Artifacts
Partnering with the eclectic Portland-based creative agency Fisk Projects, we developed a visual art system and brand artifacts. Guided by the strategy, the brand’s color palette and graphic symbols are warm, earthy, vibrant, and inspired by emojis. The system serves as a toolkit for communicating about the Sui blockchain and allows users and builders to express themselves.
SuiFrens Art System
Capy developed a following on the Sui and Mysten Labs social channels, becoming a mascot for the blockchain. Aware that a drastic change in visual style could complicate community relations, we decided to evolve the characters rather than starting from scratch.
The character design art system was created with several constraints and requirements to support product functionality, as well as future expansion and evolution.
1. Ability to generate hundreds of thousands unique characters.
2. Customizable to let users express themselves with a SuiFren they own.
3. Renderable as an SVG and configurable by the front end engineering work.
4. Posable, ready to be animated
5. All features and accessories must work on all characters equally.
6. Approachable appeal, i.e., make them cute.
1. Ability to generate hundreds of thousands unique characters.
2. Customizable to let users express themselves with a SuiFren they own.
3. Renderable as an SVG and configurable by the front end engineering work.
4. Posable, ready to be animated
5. All features and accessories must work on all characters equally.
6. Approachable appeal, i.e., make them cute.
Accessories
To further demonstrate composability and create a fun product experience accessories were developed for users to customize their own SuiFrens. Available to purchase as individually, SuiFrens owners can mix and match items to give their character a unique look. The accessories are mapped to zones, head, face, torso, legs, and feet, and every accessory can be worn by any SuiFens, the characters do not require specialized art tailored to their form.
Web3 dapp and merch store
The brand and visual art system culminate in the product experience, and have extended into partnerships with dapps on Sui and a token gated physical merchandise store. Suifrens.com is the gateway to purchase and interacting with the characters. The design leverages the brand system and common UI/UX patterns in web3 to realize the product. SuiFrens remains in the top 10 NFT projects on the Sui network, and to date over 500,000 and accessories have been collected.
