Pinky Brand Mascot Case Study
🦩 Creating Pinky wasn't easy, but it was worth every minute.
Here's the untold story.
It's a big one...
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💡 1. THE GENESIS
Pink has been JUST Creative's brand color since 2007.
In 2020, I did a pro-bono job for my mate’s gym that had a lion as their mascot. It was a roaring success!
This led me to ask ‘What if our brand had a mascot?’.
The flamingo naturally came up and not JUST because of its pink color.
Flamingos are extraordinarily unique, vibrant, creative, joyful creatures and… they Stand The Flock Out!
These values aligned perfectly with the JUST Creative brand.
Pinky was born.
I created a poster for my office using a stock illustration and bought an extra large flamingo float for our pool.
I shared these on my socials and before you know it, I was receiving flamingo gifts & photos regularly.
Pinky the flamingo was stuck in people’s minds.
But it wasn’t until a few years later that I really leaned in.
Cue AI.
🤖 2. EXPLORATION
Early 2023, #AI came into the picture.
I used various AI tools to explore unique flamingo mascot ideas.
I created literally 100s of them.
I settled on a ‘low poly’ style which matched our brand aesthetic.
I shortlisted a dozen ideas & shared these openly.
I experimented with how they would work with our brand as a proof of concept.
But I quickly learned one thing...
AI lacked Consistency.
🎨 3. CREATION
So I hired a Fivver ‘Pro’ to recreate the 3D AI model.
Their work was useable but mediocre at best.
That’s when detaility. slid into my DMs.
They showed me their incredible portfolio & I was sold.
We got to work.
👨🎨 4. RECREATION
Using my vision & AI models as reference we created a brand new Pinky mascot.
The brief: “Cool, sleek, vivid magenta, low poly with distinctive sunglasses.”
We started with sketches exploring the beak & eye structure. This was a unique creation that allowed us to give human emotion to the character.
Then we moved into the body, wings and glasses. These took the longest to get right and we worked on these over several months.
We shared our progress on social media and gathered valuable feedback.
Finally, we settled on the base character and 3D rigging was put in place to bring Pinky to life.
We explored different poses and emotions, plus different colours for the wings.
I literally could not decide between yellow or pink wings so I got you guys to vote and provide feedback on the colors...
Pink won in the end!
🦩 5. THE RESULT
A mascot that embodies the JUST Creative brand & Stands The Flock Out!
We created six static poses & two animations:
- Pinky flairing his wings
- Pinky sliding off his glasses and winking
🔑 Key Takeaways:
1. Share your process in public → You never know who may help.
2. Use AI to ideate → You’ll get new ideas, fast.
3. Use humans to elevate → Remember, you get what you pay for.
What's your favorite Pinky pose?
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Want a mascot character design or brand identity of your own? Contact Jacob Cass.
