Bully Bites
Philadelphia’s First Cheesesteak Hop to Benefit the Philly Bully Team
Bully Bites is a monthly recurring Philadelphia cheesesteak hop to benefit the Philly Bully Team, a Philadelphia-based Pit Bull-centric animal rescue. We raise money and awareness for this non-profit organization through friendly competitions.
PROJECT PROMPT
Design for the Public Good
When Spring 2022 rolled around, I was enthusiastic about the course Design for the Public Good with professor Kelly Holohan (this class had been on my radar for about two semesters at that point). I have a passion for helping others, so naturally, as a designer, I want to create and improve experiences for the greater good.
Class Objective
Design an event branding project for a non-profit organization of my choosing to help effectively engage their audiences by satisfying the organization’s needs, goals, and motivations.
PHILLY BULLY TEAM
Background & Research on a Non-Profit Organization
When selecting on which non-profit to focus on this semester, I struggled to decide on just one. I narrowed in on the Philly Bully Team, as I have been a follower of their organization since the beginning.
Who are they?
The Philly Bully Team is a Philadelphia-based non-profit animal rescue founded in 2018. Due to the overwhelming amount of bully breeds ending up in shelters, this rescue was created for —but not limited to— pit bulls and bully-type dogs. Philly Bully Team is most well known for taking in severe medical cases, which is why they are constantly in dire need of donations.
The Philly Bully Team:
- Pulls time-stamped dogs from Philly’s animal control team
- Takes in strays and abandoned dogs (and cats)
- Provides medical and behavioral treatment for rescued animals
- Finds fosters and adoptees
- Raises money to conduct urgent surgery for dogs with life-threatening emergencies
RESEARCH & BRAINSTORM
Project Goals, Naming, User Personas & Mood board
Goals
With a non-profit set in stone, brainstorming began. My goal was to create an event, authentic and true to Philadelphia, that would increase awareness and raise money to help the Philly Bully team continue providing the service they do.
Initial project proposals consisted of a pet fair, a paint your pet event run by Tyler School of Art & Architecture students, and a Philadelphia cheesesteak hop (this is basically a bar hop, but with cheesesteaks).
Philadelphians love a variety of things including, but not limited to: meat, booze, competition, and sports. Philly is really well known for our cheesesteaks, which fulfilled a goal for authenticity. The combination of cheesesteaks paired with a little competition was the perfect solution for this event. After proposing all three ideas, it was clear I was most passionate about a cheesesteak hop, as it was unheard of.
Naming
When it came time for naming, mind mapping is the tool that I employed. Creating mind maps for dogs, Philadelphia, and cheesesteaks helped me produce words relating to my brand. Eventually, the name was established: Bully Bites. Bully Bites is a double meaning and plays against the Pit Bull stereotype, which I deemed appropriate given my organization’s passion for ending the stigma around bully breeds.
Audience
Families and 20–30-year-olds located in or surrounding Philadelphia.
User Personas
Drafting personas helped pinpoint my audience and determined brand decisions by having detailed participants in mind. The Bully Bites audience is adventurous, enjoys helping others, and loves animals.
Moodboard
Friendly, loose, playful, and inviting are all ways I wanted my audience to perceive the brand. Bully Bites was largely inspired by expressive illustrators like Fred Blunt. A pastel color palette of gentle oranges and cool blues is appropriate for Bully Bites, as it conveys a non-aggressive tone when paired with the topic of Pit Bulls.
Branding
Logos & Style Tile
Logo development began with lots of sketches. Sketching gets the creative juices flowing and thinking about the brand. Ideas initially started off as loose linework with a vector execution in mind. As the brand evolved, the Bully Bites logo took on an illustrative and expressive approach. Designing a brand that held a balance between playful visuals and the name Bully Bites was important to effectively engage our audience and convey who we are.
Final Logo
Many revisions later, an approach with more personality was adopted. Having a serious name combined with a friendly, non-aggressive illustration style depicts a brand that is trustworthy, yet playful. The final logo has a gentle sense of urgency to it and subtly references a dog collar.
Style Tile
The Bully Bites brand is friendly, playful, and inviting to reach an audience of 20–30-year-olds and families living in and around the city of Philadelphia. Our pastel color palette conveys a gentle tone which was vital when branding an event about bully breeds. The typeface Baloo fit the tone of the brand perfectly as it already exudes playful characteristics. The outline of the name contributed to the friendly tone and created a strong connection to the logo. As for image treatment, illustrations laid over pet photos creates a special feeling for the audience when forming connections to these pups.
FINAL DELIVERABLES
Website, Registration, Mobile Application, Social Media Campaign, Shuttle Bus, & Adoption Certificates
Bully Bites’ website is designated for learning about the event and registering for the hop. With the complexity of the brand, it was important for the website to be as user-friendly as possible. Deciding how to arrange the user flow began with card sorting. I wrote down all steps that were being considered for both desktop and mobile and asked my roommate to arrange post-it notes in the way that made the most sense to her. Sourcing outside opinions provided insight into how different users might interact within the platform.
When the card sorting phase was complete, a user journey was defined to identify the flow of users across both desktop and mobile platforms. Simplifying the process of interaction by narrowing in on only what is vital to the user's journey creates a seamless, accessible experience for all.
Website
Bully Bites landing page is defined with a hero image featuring an illustration to foreshadow our brand. The homepage includes the most important information participants will need to access such as about us, how it works, this month's participants, and CTA registration buttons. Bully Bites website is a clean, informative spot that briefly introduces users to who we are.
Registration
Bully Bites registration lives on the desktop website. Registration is simple: sign up, select donation, order your meals, checkout, and pay. Following registration comes a confirmation page. Confirmation is important because often I find myself confused after making a payment without receiving verification after. Bully Bites registration was user tested through my classmates to create a flow that was seamless for users to get in and get out with no mishaps.
Mobile Application
The most important interactions that users perform is within the mobile application. Participants scan tickets, call shuttles, and vote on their favorite cheesesteaks. The Bully Bites mobile app provides an easy, intuitive experience for users. Orders are pre-determined during registration, so each participant has a QR code to be scanned at every stop on the hop. After login, the user lands on the homepage with their personalized QR code and a restaurant checklist. Through usability testing with classmates, it was determined a landing page consisting of a ticket and a checklist is the most user-friendly design experience. A navigation bar lives at the bottom of each page, providing quick access to the main screens in the app. Participants then call shuttles to pick them up and drop them off at the next location of their choosing. When each restaurant has a checkmark next to it, users are prompted to vote. Each participant has access to a voting screen to rank their favorite to least favorite cheesesteak of the day. After submission, a feedback screen pops up requesting the user to rank the hop and provide feedback on their experience with Bully Bites.
Social Media Campaign
Our Instagram page is a place to learn more personally about Bully Bites and the Philly Bully Team. On Instagram, we announce participants/winners and pups for adoption. When looking at pictures of adoptable dogs, I noticed a common theme of photos that seem to be taken half-heartedly. Our solution to this is adding a simple illustration to an image, making the dog feel much more special.
Shuttle Bus
When a user calls a (free) ride through the mobile application, this is the shuttle bus that arrives. The purpose of the shuttle is to advertise Bully Bites around the city to spread the word. In addition, providing this shuttle helps participants avoid taking costly Ubers from point A to point B that may not always be within walking distance of each other. There’s no way you can miss this on the road!
Adoption Certificates
When a registered participant adopts a dog through Bully Bites, the proud new owner receives an adoption certificate. This features a personalized illustration and a brief breakdown of the dog. Adoption certificates are a memorable way to celebrate the newest addition to the family while having a record of their gotcha day.
CONCLUSION
I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to work with Kelly Holohan and participate in designing for the greater good. Designing Bully Bites was never a dull moment and by far is a favorite project of mine. I learned a lot this semester about designing and applying a brand, and I am excited to take this knowledge with me and continue to work on projects that make both me and others feel good and make a difference.
Credits
Designer | Lexi Birzes
Art Direction| Kelly Holohan
Institution | Tyler School of Art, Temple University
