Los Angeles-based creative agency for BIPOC businesses

Red Eye Creative is a Los Angeles-based marketing agency who helps black-owned, women-owned, and minority-owned businesses get visible both online and in real life. Founded by two Gen Z entrepreneurs, they are deeply tapped into culture and create stories that break the corporate rulebook.

What sets Red Eye Creative apart is their personal and hands-on approach to small business marketing. They aim to create a safe space where brands can share their stories while providing opportunities for BIPOC businesses to have a voice through social media campaigns and community events.

Our challenge was to design a bold and vibrant brand and website that reflects their playful personalities and rule-breaking spirit.
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Deliverables: Brand Design, Brand Assets, Web Design and Development
Timeline: 2 months, split into 2 phases
Year: 2023

Out-of-the-box, yet approachable

When starting the brand design phase, I took a deep dive into Red Eye’s audience, competitors, and positioning to create a visual identity that truly stands out.

We identified Red Eye Creative’s brand archetype as a blend of The Regular Gal and The Rebel. The Regular Gal is approachable, down-to-earth, and thrives on building community, while The Rebel breaks the mold, challenges norms, and celebrates being different. Red Eye’s unique balance of hands-on marketing and innovative ideas perfectly embodies both archetypes.

Our research also revealed that most of Red Eye’s competitors leaned on a minimalistic, neutral, and basic brand identity. To differentiate Red Eye, we pushed towards a bold and edgy look with a hint of weirdness, creating a visual identity that is both out-of-the-box, yet still approachable.

Culture-shifting

Experimental

Rule-breaking

Vibrant storytellers

Culture-shifting

Experimental

Rule-breaking

Vibrant storyellers

Culture-shifting

Experimental

Rule-breaking

Vibrant storytellers

Culture-shifting

Experimental

Rule-breaking

Vibrant storytellers

The twinkle of an eye

We choose a bold and funky serif typeface for Red Eye Creative’s logo suite to create a distinct, standout look for their brand while differentiating them from competitors. The font features unique, organic swooshes in the letterforms, reflecting Red Eye’s fun and confident personality.

For the logomark, we customized the “R” to make it feel playful and instantly recognizable, even when used on it’s own.

To add a clever and creative touch, we included a sparkle element in the logo, alluding to the twinkle of an eye - a fun nod to their name. This playful detail highlights Red Eye’s wit and creativity, while symbolizing the “magic sauce” they bring to help brands thrive.

Funky cutouts with a hint of weird

For Red Eye’s branding, we chose to prioritize high-quality vintage-like imagery over illustrative elements, steering clear of a minimalistic look. To add a playful and unique touch, we incorporated a magazine cutout style into their brand identity.

The eye and lip cutouts symbolize the diverse community that Red Eye serves, showing off their commitment to advocacy and their ability to make their audience feel seen and heard. These cutouts also achieve our goal of creating a brand that feels bold, edgy, and just the right amount of weird.

(Hint: images are draggable)

Ethereal and otherworldly color palette

I expanded on Red Eye’s previous colors of purples and greens to create a color palette that was vibrant and ethereal. Gradients and textures were added to bring depth and richness.

The founders wanted to avoid the color red (despite the name) and primary colors in general, so I focused on secondary shades like blood orange, lime green, and deep purples and greens. These colors symbolize passion, energy, and growth, aligning with Red Eye’s personality.

Color palette for Red Eye Creative featuring rich purples, deep greens, and bright oranges

Fun and vibrant instagram posts for Red Eye Creative

Playful and versatile pitch deck

I designed a customizable pitck deck template in Canva for Red Eye Creative, making it easy for them to showcase their social media work. While the layout remains relatively simple due to Canva’s design limitations, Red Eye’s vibrant visual identity keeps the presentation dynamic and engaging. The template includes a variety of layouts, giving Red Eye the flexibility to adapt and expand the deck as needed.

Fun, playful, and vibrant pitch deck template designed for Red Eye Creative on Canva

A mockup of Red Eye Creative's website on top of a rug

Sophisticated yet bold website

Creating Red Eye Creative’s website was the second phase of our project. While their brand as a whole was very playful, Red Eye wanted their website to feel more sophisticated.

To achieve this, we used more neutral backgrounds while strategically pulling in Red Eye’s brand colors in key sections. Because most of their competitors had neutral websites, we differentiated Red Eye by breaking this pattern and infusing bold pops of color throughout the site.

Red Eye only needed three key pages - Home, Case Studies, and Inquire - so we kept the layout straightforward and easy to navigate. Despite its simplicity, we introduced unique sections and interactive elements to keep the site engaging for their visitors.

An ipad mockup of Red Eye Creative's website against a rich purple gradient background

Adding in interactive elements

Red Eye didn’t have a fully developed offer suite when we worked together, but they still wanted to showcase examples of the work they could do. This section was fairly minimal, making it the perfect place to experiment with magazine-style collage layout. To add an interactive touch, I pushed the boundaries of Squarespace by making the images draggable for desktop visitors.

A phone mockup featuring Red Eye Creative's website surrounded by a pink rose and a keyboard

A phone mockup featuring Red Eye Creative's website surrounded by a green bottle, a houseplant, sunglasses, and keys

Hover below to scroll through the homepage

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Client love

Founders Alex and Jadah of Red Eye Creative smiling at the camera

Olivia has been so amazing to work with! We’ve worked with her for our branding and website, and each time she’s been incredibly thorough and in-depth, helping my business partner and I gain a deeper insight into our look, feel, and audience. Her designs are not only fun and creative, but also deeply thoughtful, making it easier for us to connect with our audience. Thanks to her work, we now have a strong online presence and a place to direct people, which will be immensely helpful as we grow.

-Jadah C, Red Eye Creative

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Ready for a brand and website that is backed by strategy and kicks boring in its teeth?

We don't design pretty for the sake of pretty. Our work is backed by strategy so you can gain more trust, more sales, and more visibility with your dream audience.

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Los Angeles-based creative agency for BIPOC businesses

Out-of-the-box, yet approachable

The twinkle of an eye

Funky cutouts with a hint of weird

Ethereal and otherworldly color palette

Playful and versatile pitch deck

Sophisticated yet bold website

Adding in interactive elements

Hover below to scroll through the homepage

View more of our work

Coming Up Roses

Killuh Nails

Lummi

Ready for a brand and website that is backed by strategy and kicks boring in its teeth?

Zig Zag is a global brand design studio specialized in creating loud, bold, and colorful brands and websites for mission-driven creative businesses.

ZIG ZAG CREATIVE LLC

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BRAND & WEB BY ZIG ZAG CREATIVE

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WRITTEN BY KORI WHITBY

WRITTEN BY KORI WHITBY