Le Puzz
Little Troop• Date added
• Date added
Le Puzz is a jigsaw puzzle company inspired by vintage puzzles from decades past.
Melbourne and New York-based design studio Little Troop worked on the design for Le Puzz, creating every element from branding, illustration and packaging to art direction and website design. The studio drew inspiration from the playful vernacular of vintage game boards, as well as the weird and wonderful looseness of old cereal box graphics
Client
Le Puzz
Year
2021
Creative Director
Noemie Le Coz
Jeremy Elliot
Designer
Noemie Le Coz
Typefaces in Use
The Le Puzz brand introduces a mascot by the name of "Scotty", which pays homage to vintage stamp ephemera and is named after the founder's cat. Their website features this iconic mascot, whose eyes are designed to follow users as they navigate through the site
The Le Puzz wordmark, based on a now-defunct wood-manufactured typeface called Winchester, was designed to exude a bold yet amicable aesthetic. The logo was intended to stand out on games shelves, and serve as an ever-changing emblem with unique letterforms moving around like individual puzzle pieces.
"Full of hidden details to discover, Le Puzz's puzzle boxes feature games and playful copy, along with Little Troop-illustrated elements, type and layouts made for meandering."
As a tribute to vintage typography that was often deemed as random and rule-breaking, Little Troop wanted to create a type system with the flexibility and potential for customisation, yet still remain recognisable to the brand.
To achieve this, Helvetica Neue and Times Now were chosen for their neutral, "default" feel. These universally recognised serif and sans-serif fonts provided a blank, conventional canvas that could be taken and reimagined into its own unconventional family of typefaces.
"The logo was intended to stand out on games shelves, and serve as an ever-changing emblem with unique letterforms moving around like individual puzzle pieces."
Yellow was selected for its universal association with feelings of optimism and happiness, which aligns with Le Puzz's own brand values. It's also widely recognised as the colour of sunshine, warmth and smiles, lending the puzzle artwork a standout presence on the shelves.
Full of hidden details to discover, Le Puzz's puzzle boxes feature games and playful copy, along with Little Troop-illustrated elements, type and layouts made for meandering. The studio was encouraged to break conventional norms to recreate the fun oddities of vintage cereal boxes, resulting in quirky elements such as grumpy apples and giant matchbooks.
"Helvetica Neue and Times Now were chosen for their neutral, "default" feel. These universally recognised serif and sans-serif fonts provided a blank, conventional canvas that could be taken and reimagined into its own unconventional family of typefaces."
Echoing the 'throwback-meets-today' brand sentiment, the launch art direction for Le Puzz focuses on highlighting the joy and warmth of puzzling with Le Puzz and friends, as captured by co-founder Alistair Matthews.
Le Puzz's website merges moments of delight and surprise with best-in-class ecommerce conventions. To achieve the custom stretched and squished typography present throughout the web experience, Little Troop worked closely with developer Anthony Smith from Laurton Digital. The site is peppered with unexpected and playful interactions, featuring spinning click-throughs and rich product storytelling that bring the joy of Le Puzz's puzzle experience online.
Little Troop
Little Troop is a creative studio that enjoys collaborating with good people on smart projects. Although their work is very diverse, their aesthetic approach often involves a distinct sense of play with the aim of putting the fun in functional. Their strategic approach focuses on distilling core messaging down to its clearest and freshest visual form in order to elevate brand offerings
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