Little Wilder & Co is a small business that sells Vegan leather play-mats that are inspired by Portland, OR. As the lead designer, I was responsible for illustrating the play mats, establishing the branding, and the design/development of their ecommerce website. The play-mats were loosely based on Portland, Oregon, with nods to the Columbia and Willamette rivers, downtown Portland, Sauvie island farms, Omsi’s submarine, and a variety of bridges. The roads themselves were designed to the width of a Mellissa and Doug wooden car, and are made to be connected with other mats in the future. 

The branding for little wilder needed to be simple and friendly, not to distract from the intricate illustrative design of the play mat. I hand-lettered an organic sans-serif typeface and created a custom font to be used in a wide variety of applications, including to add a playful but legible and user-friendly touch to the website. The small trees in the logo were illustrated to the same thickness and line quality as the custom font, and were later animated as an interactive loading element for the website. 

The Little Wilder website strikes a balance between clean e-commerce functionality and whimsical illustrations, with carefully selected photography to highlight the play mat's texture. We aimed for a shopable homepage layout, featuring new products and best sellers prominently, and prioritizing competitive value propositions. This cohesive approach has successfully established Little Wilder & Co's visual identity and boosted engagement in the competitive PNW market.