Onnff rebrands a kids clothing company, with an illustrated character doubling up as a logo and slide

Onnff’s fresh new look for the clothing brand Aicocken is about as fun as rebrands get. Sporting a fresh orange and blue colour combination, cute illustrated characters and playful uniquely shaped packaging, the whole project exudes fun. Onnff’s founding director Zhengrui Hu explains that to achieve such a look the studio had to put himself “in the shoes of children”. But, in tandem with this, Zhengrui was also keen to ensure that Onnff created a brand that had a visually simplicity that would impress adults too.

Upon first being approached by the brand, Zhengrui recalls being drawn in by Aicocken’s “interesting and lovely product content”. But, Aicocken’s branding wasn’t doing the product justice; the designer explains that too many characters and haphazard colours were causing “visual confusion” and its logo was too weak to make an impression. The challenge for Zhengrui, therefore, was to work out how to “unify all visions, dig deep into interesting meanings, and connect product packaging with applications in everyday life”.

To remedy the previously outlined issues, Zhengrui started with the product logo. Blocky and rounded, to realise the logo Zhengrui chose the open licence font Erica One, which he Zhengrui gravitated toward for its “heavy” feel. Using the two curved feet to create the impression of the A standing up, Zhengrui says that the silhouette is intended to mirror one of children’s greatest playground loves – slides. To add a “curious” feeling to the logo, Zhengrui added a pair of eyes, their rounded top giving the impression of wonder, or amazement. Such a simple addition adds so much, turning a previously lifeless logo into a full blown character.

Not only attending to the visual aspects of the design, Zhengrui also made advances to the structure and make up of the brands packaging. One particularly stand-out element for the designer is the packaging for the brand’s socks – a compact triangular structure, adorned with the logo character, that folds out with bright yellow flaps. To further solidify the brand’s image and identity on the market, Zhengrui also designed a number of lifestyle products (all sporting the charming logo) like brooches, balloons and flags – things well known to strike joy within any child.