Building Toped Universe
How the logo and mascot can change your perspective about the brand.
How do you recognize one brand from a dozen others? It can be from the logo, color, or even the font of their said logo. Branding has already become a must-have for every business entity out there. It is what drives the potential audience and customer towards them — and also what makes them stay.
Just like Tokopedia.
There were a few things our audience can tell us apart, such as our logotype, distinctive green color, and obviously our beloved mascot, Toped. Tokopedia logo continues to grow and change along with the development of its business line and target market. We continue to strive to make visuals that are getting better and more able to represent Tokopedia as a brand.
Logotype
Tokopedia logo has changed since it was first created. Which initially consisted of a basket icon and the text of “Tokopedia”, now has been simplified to become “Tokopedia” text. Because as the development of our business line, Tokopedia requires a more representative visual, from a marketplace to something broader with a more general target market.
In terms of usage and application, the simplification of the Tokopedia logo makes the logo space wider and easier to apply in various media.
Mascot
Tokopedia need to engage the users, not only physically but emotionally too, to create a stronger connection and establish strong positioning. We might want more than a logo to accommodate our needs, something to tell users more relatable stories.
Fortunately, ever since 2014, Toped has been the friendly face of Tokopedia. He sat together with our logo in every page of our social media, website, banners, and mobile app platform.
As we keep learning about how our user responds and relates to Toped as a mascot in 5 years, we might need more than that. We realize, Toped can be explored more. We were sure Toped, as a friendly face of our brand, can be more uniquely different and make our visual storytelling richer, which will reflect our value even more.
As Tokopedia celebrates our 10th anniversary, an idea of refreshing our brand image came to mind. How can we reach a wider audience and grasp their attention? As we want to bring higher engagement, and expanding the usability of our mascot, we try to redefine our mascot first.
The Product Design team collaborated with the Creative team to kick off the project. It started with what Toped’s backstory would be, as he never had a defined origin or even a set of personalities. With a bigger concept, we find it easier to create a storyline from it. So we can make some continuous storytelling, not only based on one case or scenario.
To give Nakama — Tokopedia’s employee — a sense of ownership in the Universe, we set up a workshop. Everyone who participated from different tribes and divisions, from Business, Technology, to Brand, gathered in one room and together brainstormed and triggered one another to issue ideas. The outcome was a vast range of ideas for Toped and his future friends.
After a lot of development for both the visual and the story, Toped Universe was officially born. Toped now has Pedi, Cody, Dot, Citizen, Piko, and Eggo with him. With distinctive personalities from each other, our audience would be able to find the one character who they can relate to most.
Now, let’s meet the whole gang!
Toped
Our original mascot is a helpful little friend who loves working together to collect the Lucky Eggs. Named after the brand itself, Toped is a persona that we always believe represents Tokopedia’s core values.
Pedi
The little cutie loves fashion and makeup. She’s also the one who brings the most energy to the group!
Cody
For any technology or finance problem you have, Cody is here to help! He’ll be able to whip up a solution right away and display it on his screen.
Dot
He’s small but mighty. Toped’s loyal companion can expand in size, which will be convenient for storage and even transportation!
Piko
Piko is the troublemaker of Toped Universe. He likes to steal the Lucky Egg to experiment on and create more Eggos.
Citizen of Toped Universe
With their many colors and shape, you won’t be able to miss out on the Citizen. They help Toped and others on their daily tasks.
Eggo
Despite Piko’s wish to build an army, Eggo is an innocent little creature who can only say its name and follow Piko everywhere.
Conclusion
Finally,
We dare to take further steps to open up new possibilities. Starting from our DNA to make it happen, make it better, we go the extra mile to make our products even better.
As we want to pursue the emotional engagement within our communication to the users by deepening and broadening the story of our dearest Toped, now the most extensive way is open for the development of the story itself. With “Tokopedia brand” that combines the branding, product, and marketing aspects, it is possible to be explored further.
See more about the whole process of Toped Universe in Tokopedia Design.
