A board game design and patch design we made, spread out over a table in a grassy field

The Wild Life

Creating outdoor explorers

What we did:

Brand Identity
Packaging Design
Product Design
Illustration
Layout

In a world where outdoor play has become increasingly forgotten, The Wild Life helps kids reconnect with nature again.

We were tasked with creating a gigantic suite of fun, woodsy packaging designs, products, and illustrations to help grow The Wild Life's brand and keep kids exploring.

A top-down view of a subscription box design we made for kids in the outdoors. This one features a batch design, enamel pin design, booklet design, and sticker designA top-down view of a subscription box design we made for kids in the outdoors. This one features a booklet design, enamel pin design, and packaging design

Creating subscription boxes that kids love

At its core, The Wild Life is a subscription kit service for kids 6–12 (and their grown ups) that teaches them useful and practical skills about the world around them.

Each of the 12+ themed kits is constructed around a particular theme—like survival, exploration, or cooking—and is brimming with incredible activities, gear, and fun tools that help kids develop useful skills, while having plenty of fun along the way.

Interactive Field Guides that keep kids interested and engaged

Every kit contains a Field Guide jam-packed with funny and educational content, created with the help of professional educators. They also happen to be the brand’s most popular product.

Among the pages of each Field Guide sit informative and silly illustrations, realistic objects, and plenty of colourful photos to depict the varying concepts in each themed booklet.

Together, we developed ongoing systems to organize content and make complex ideas easy to understand, and most of all, fun,  for the entire suite of kits.

A young person holding open a booklet design we made. It features vibrant illustrations, and a captivating page layoutA top down view of a subscription box design we made for kids related to outdoors activities. It features a booklet design and enamel pin designs, and shows the page layout design
Merit Pins
An enamel pin design with the theme of cooking over an open fire
An enamel pin design showing a bear, eagle, and a grassy lake
An outdoor themed enamel pin design showing a set of binoculars and bigfoot
An outdoor themed enamel pin design of a bear with a band-aid giving a thumbs up, representing a theme of safety
An outdoor themed enamel pin design of a bear in a backpack, with the theme of going on an adventure
An outdoor themed enamel pin design of roots underground, with the theme of growing a garden
An outdoor themed enamel pin design collection, pinned to a flag
An example of print packaging design we made for an outdoor kids company; this tool is a star wheel
Star Chart

Getting physical

Each kit contains a variety of tools that compliment the activities in each kits’ Field Guide—many of which are for sale independently in stores.

Each tool teaches kids to navigate, explore, and understand the world around them, so it was key the design of each item was as functional as it was fun.

An example of print packaging design we made for an outdoor kids company; this tool is a cloud investigator
Cloud Investigator Tool

Getting seen on the shelf

For every tool or game available in stores, an attractive packaging option was designed to match.

Utilizing full-bleed brand colours, alluring typography, and easily digestible illustrations, we made a series of themed packages to help their products stand out in stores.

An example of print packaging design we made for an outdoor kids company; this packaging is for a safety bandans
Safety Bandana
An example of consumer packaged goods print packaging design we made for an outdoor kids company; this packaging is for a pair of compact binoculars
Compact Binoculars
An example of consumer packaged goods print packaging design we made for an outdoor kids company; this packaging is for a signal mirror
Signal Mirror
Know the Ropes Card Game
A top down shot of a board game design and patch design we made for an outdoor kids company, on a picnic tableA mockup of the board game design we made for a knot tying card game showing the consumer packaged goods packagingAnother shot of the board game design we made. This image shows the differences in the card game design

A growing library of games

Skill-building in the wild is a large umbrella, giving the team many opportunities for game development.  “Know the Ropes” is one such game that teaches players how to tie different kinds of knots quickly.

We handled the packaging and design, illustrating a series of easy-to-follow technical illustrations to teach players along the way.

We had such fun working on “Know the Ropes”, we were delighted to hear that more games are in the pipeline.

A collection of various illustrated stickers for kids from an outdoors brand
A map illustration we made for an outdoor kids company; this design shows the journey of each subscription box in an annual plan

Illustration: The backbone of the brand

Each of the Wild Life’s subscription kits, games and merchandise feature a dizzying array of illustrated content that bridges the gap between nature, education and hilarity.

Invoking the childlike wonder and sense of adventure that we all felt as kids ourselves, we developed a simplistic illustration style unique to the brand that resonates with the young explorers of today.

Apparel design for an outdoor kids brand
© All Photos Credit of The Wild Life

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