In-World Brand System

MERGE MANSION
2023

Merge Mansion is built around the mystery of Hopewell Bay, a world full of stories, rumours and memorable characters. Yet most brand communication happened outside that world through traditional marketing. I saw an opportunity to make the brand itself feel like part of the player experience.

THE IDEA

Rather than speaking to players as a company, I explored how the brand could communicate from within the fictional world itself. The result was The Boulton Bugle—a local newspaper published in Hopewell Bay, delivering game updates, events and character stories through headlines, gossip and local news.

The concept transformed marketing into storytelling, allowing players to discover information as if it belonged naturally inside the Merge Mansion universe.

BUILDING THE SYSTEM

The Boulton Bugle was never intended to be a one-off campaign. I designed it as a scalable brand communication system that could grow alongside the game.

Alongside creating the visual identity for the newspaper, I developed the broader in-world brand system by defining typography, colour palette and visual guidelines that established a cohesive visual language for Hopewell Bay. The editorial format was designed to be flexible enough to support live events, seasonal campaigns and ongoing storytelling across web and social media while remaining true to the humour and mystery of the game.

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MY CONTRIBUTION

I initiated and developed the concept for The Boulton Bugle, defining its editorial vision, visual identity and overall creative direction. I also built the visual brand world that supported the concept, establishing the design principles and guidelines that allowed the newspaper to become a natural extension of the Merge Mansion universe. Working closely with stakeholders, I positioned the concept as a scalable communication platform that could evolve alongside the brand.

REFLECTION

Although the concept was never fully rolled out due to organisational changes, it reinforced one of my core beliefs about branding:

The strongest brand communication doesn't interrupt the experience—it becomes part of it.