In-World Brand System
MERGE MANSION/ Concept Design
/ Brand Design
/ Visual Guidelines
/ Graphic Design
2023
CONTEXTMerge Mansion has a strong narrative setting in Hopewell Bay, but brand communication largely existed outside the game world. This created an opportunity to make marketing feel more immersive and aligned with the player experience.
CONCEPTBuilt the visual brand world for Merge Mansion, defining typography, color palette, and visual guidelines. The Boulton Bugle grew out of that world as an in-story artifact: a newspaper published in Hopewell Bay, where Merge Mansion is set, delivering game updates, events, and character stories through local news, gossip, and rumors. The goal was to shift communication from traditional marketing into storytelling embedded within the game universe.
APPROACHThe concept was built around the tone, humor, and mystery of the Merge Mansion world, using editorial formats such as headlines, gossip columns, and local news to create engaging and repeatable content. The system was designed to work across web and social channels, supporting both live events and ongoing storytelling. A key focus was on flexibility, ensuring the format could evolve alongside the game and remain relevant over time.
MY ROLEI initiated and built the visual brand world for Merge Mansion, defining typography, color palette, and visual guidelines, captured in a brand guideline document. From that world, I developed the Boulton Bugle, a newspaper published in Hopewell Bay as part of the Merge Mansion story, and created initial visual explorations to establish its look and feel. I positioned the newspaper format as a scalable system for future brand communication, tying it more closely into the game world to strengthen the connection between marketing and player experience. The work was developed in collaboration with stakeholders, exploring how the concept could integrate into broader marketing efforts.
OUTCOMEAlthough the concept was not fully rolled out due to organizational changes, it established a clear direction for how in-world storytelling could strengthen brand identity and deepen player engagement.
