Harrison Phan

Project concept moodboard - The interest in horror and the grotesque came about early in the project; leading to a moodboard that holds these values.

[AI]dols

Branding - animation - packaging

Software: Blender, Unreal Engine, After Effects

Fall 2024 - Individual Project

This project explores the creation of a distinct brand identity for a next-generation NFT project that bridges digital and physical experiences through contemporary cultural trends. While NFTs have declined in mainstream popularity, their perception can be reshaped through a more familiar and tactile mode of engagement. Drawing inspiration from the growing appeal of blind box culture among Millennials and Gen Z, (AI)dols reimagines the NFT experience as one of mystery, collectibility, and surprise.

By combining the digital mechanics of NFT distribution with the physicality and playfulness of blind box collecting, [AI]dols establishes a brand that is both nostalgic and forward-looking — reviving digital ownership through an experience that feels engaging, tangible, and culturally relevant.

Branding Concept: The Digital & Horror
[AI]dols explores the intersection of artificial intelligence, horror, and digital culture through the lens of brand design. The concept for this project began with an exploration into how generative AI reacts and produces when confronted with grotesque prompts. Through a series of iterative conversations with LLMs and image-generation AI models, I developed a collaborative workflow that helped me more accurately produce prompts and images that depict horror, distortion, and the indescribable.

The visual language of the project emerged from an investigation into the concept of fear. Inspired by HP Lovecraft’s descriptions of the uncomprehensible, the project embraces ambiguity and abstraction as design tools. The project utilizes the human instinct of fear of the unknown, the unseeable, and undescribable to create the overall atmosphere - building a world that feels unstable, haunting, and alive.

Rooted in the NFT-sphere, the adoption of a surrealist take on the retro-digital identity made sense for the project. The brand direction utilizes static, graininess, and jittery motions to produce the anxiety of digital decay.

In the concept trailer, rythym is broken by jittery jump cuts, static noise, and layered, unintelligible whisperings. Viewers are invited into a world that oscillates between fascination and confusion while enveloped in a miasma of uncomfortability.

[AI]dol NFT project trailer

Blind Boxes, Culture, and Audience
The concept of the project is to subvert the contemporary mode of NFT purchases by bringing blind box-style purchasing to this niche on the internet. The blind box industry has boomed in a post-pandemic world and has become widely popular amongst all ages, but especially targeting the Millenial and Gen-Z market. The industry has become a goldmine for investors and built itself up to be a multibillion-dollar industry.

The concept of mystery purchases are not new to society, trading cards have existed since the 90s and gachapon machines have been around for decades. What makes blind boxes new and exciting? Blind boxes are seen and treated as art pieces, something worthy of being protected and displayed. Likewise, NFTs are nothing more than digital artwork that has a ledger of ownership similar to how physical art purchases work through auction houses. This brings a familiar understanding of the intrinsic value of an NFT sculpture to people in common society.

Purchases of the NFT follows the standard procedures of buying an NFT on a marketplace like OpenSea, except the buyer will not have knowledge on which sculpture they bought. Instead they will promptly receive a blind box and only once they open it will they know which [AI]dol from the Digital Sculpture Garden they own. This brings the fun and interactive experience of blind box purchases to the NFT marketplace.

Collaborating with AI models to produce figures and atmospheres that capture the concept’s vibe. Curated generations were then 3D modeled in Blender.

Sculptures in casual vs. eerie setting; Untextured vs. textured film

Unfolded packaging design - Design process mockup to final

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