Aesop Launch Invite
Back in June I worked with new brand agency Aesop to develop a digital invitation to their launch party. Aesop are a unique brand agency who put emphasis on unearthing the valuable stories behind brands, defining them, and marketing them effectively to enhance consumer engagement.
It was this unique approach that brought the Aesop partners together to create a great story themselves, and since they are brand storytellers their own messaging and identity couldn’t be more appropriate. They have created their own set of universal branding guidelines and principals based upon the famous Aesop’s Fables, “little friends, may prove great friends” and “grasp the nettle” are familiar sayings that relate wonderfully to brands and storytelling.
I was called upon to design and build the digital invite for Aesop’s launch party. An entertaining digital animation based on Aesop’s brand identity, inspired by Terry Gilliam’s illustrative styling for Monty Python. The brief was to create an impactful microsite in which the user lands on a page displaying an old fashioned canon which instantly sparks to life with a burning fuse followed by a flashing explosion. Some illustrations are fired from the canon which the user can then explore by hovering over to view an animation, and clicking to view wonderfully ornate picture frames containing details on the launch party with an interactive RSVP form.
The site was created using hand coded HTML, CSS, Javascript and PHP. With the request to avoid using Flash (which is increasingly common these days) I achieved the required interactivity for the site using static images and Javascript classes to enable animated gifs on mouseover.
Aesop’s launch took place on 12th May at The Royal Institution of Great Britain. It was a wonderful evening hosting many of their exciting new clients, speeches from the company founders, and modern day storytelling and poetry from the talented Francesca Beard.
