• Brand Identity
  • Digital Design
  • Animation
  • Illustration
  • Packaging
  • 3D Design
  • Social
  • Video
  • Motion Graphics

We did it all for Nik Bentel Studio — with a sparkling new identity system, mascot and e-comm site.

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NIK is a New York-based studio with a focus on releasing limited-edition, performative art objects. Led by “storytelling and visual comedy”, Little Troop were approached to re-brand the company, capturing the magic, play and curated chaos of NIK’s world.

Inspired by the playful and 3D, “larger than life” nature of Nik Bentel Studio’s work, LT created an identity that felt bold and eye-popping, but rudimentary enough to house its ever-changing work. Referencing vintage typography from Italy, Nik’s original homeland, LT created a series of brand “building blocks” — a collection of logos, brought to life through playful animation.

A joyful, graphic, and rudimentary mascot was created as the face of the brand, — as a nod to the tactile and squishy, claymation characters from decades past.

Nik’s identity was created after an initial discovery phase with the studio’s team, that got to the heart and soul of who the company was — “We see ourselves as visual comedians. We are a group of magicians. We always have something up our sleeve.”

Optima Pro, the identity’s hero typeface — was chosen for its “default” back-to-basics yet highly legible, refined feel. ROM, the brand’s supporting typeface, takes inspiration from conceptual art catalogs from the ’60s and ’70s, with wide and generous proportions.

Endlessly moving and looping, the identity plays with the concept of infinity — referencing the limitless nature of NIK’s projects.

The NIK mascot system is built to take on endless characters — representing the studio’s team, or as above, “Evil Nik” — the face of the studio’s most bold projects.

A snapshot of the full NIK world — an identity system designed to feel big, fun and “juicy”.

The NIK mascot system can also be used to turn into objects that represent the studio’s projects and products, either abstractly (above) or more literally (below).

Website

With storytelling contributing so strongly to NIK's work, the new website had to deliver an equal part artists folio site with an efficient shopping experience. The solution was a thin Product Detail layer of ecommerce that sat on top of the entire site, allowing shoppers access to the studio's work in context of its story.

The homepage was designed to allow for a monthly drop product takeover to replace an evergreen showcase of the studio's permanent collection. Every product drop is seamlessly documented (and never forgotten) to The Archive, or the Evil Archive (NIK's most offensive work).

Each piece was then provided its own folio page that allowed the NIK studio team to tell the full creation story — featuring large video, image slideshows and a behind the scenes interactive spotlight.

The presentation of the full collection was elevated to make every product look and feel like the art piece that it is, with new photography for the full history of the studio's work replacing the old. E-comm is integrated as an easily accessible layer on top of the site's key product and project pages (and even home).

The NIK team pushed Little Troop to work in an abundance of easter eggs and discoverable interactive surprise and delight moments that brought the studio's curated chaos to the online world.

Inspired by Microsoft Word's "Clippy" — our mascot pops up on the homepage with new things to say on each page refresh.

Photography and Video Nik Bentel Studio Website development Laurton Digital

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