Gift Design - Design Lead
Type: Art Direction. Design, Conceptualization, Product Implementation, Marketing
Ideation and Approach
My goal to design a virtual gift for TikTok LIVE, is to effectively convey excitement, gratitude, and admiration toward live streamers and creators. The gift should appeal to TikTok's diverse audience, incorporating modern and visually engaging design, and scale seamlessly across three tiers of increasing complexity.
I approached the project with a focus on balancing creativity, scalability, and leadership. My goal was to craft a narrative-driven virtual gift that would resonate with TikTok’s dynamic audience while ensuring the design remains versatile and engaging across three tiers: a simplified version, a mid-tier with playful interactivity, and a premium scenic experience.
Planning and Concepts
The Paragliding Panda project began with careful planning and conceptualization to ensure the character and animations would resonate with TikTok’s diverse audience. I started by sketching initial concepts and quickly developing a 3D model to visualize the panda in motion, showcasing its playful energy and the paragliding theme. This approach allowed me to explore angles, proportions, and animations in real-time, refining the design before moving to the next phase.
Creating a detailed character sheet was a critical step in the process, providing clear guidelines for the panda’s expressions, poses, and movement sequences across all tiers. This ensured consistency and scalability in the design while giving the character a distinct personality that aligned with TikTok’s fun and dynamic branding.
For TikTok’s Creative Lead position, I conceptualized and designed virtual gifts, aimed at enhancing creator monetization on the platform. The project involved developing a tiered series of animated assets tailored to different audience budgets, each showcasing the playful and vibrant spirit of TikTok. This initiative highlighted my ability to balance creative storytelling with platform engagement strategies, creating a fun and memorable experience for both creators and their audiences. Here I will focus on one called Paragliding Panda.
Storyboarding
Creating a storyboard for the Paragliding Panda project was an essential step in visualizing the progression and animation for all three tiers of the virtual gift. For the simplified tier, I sketched a lighthearted animation featuring the panda gently gliding through the air, accompanied by minimal motion effects to keep it budget-friendly yet visually appealing. The mid-tier version introduced more dynamic elements, such as the panda performing playful spins and interacting with vibrant clouds, emphasizing TikTok’s energetic tone.
Finally, the high-tier gift brought the scene to life with a fully immersive environment, showcasing the panda soaring through a lush, scenic mountain range complete with cascading waterfalls and sparkling lights. Each frame was meticulously planned to ensure a seamless flow of animation, and I balanced simplicity with intricate details to maintain TikTok’s playful yet polished aesthetic. This storyboard served as a blueprint for execution, ensuring each tier conveyed increasing levels of engagement and value for the user.
Animation
By taking a methodical approach—starting with sketches, 3D modeling, and storyboarding—I ensured the Paragliding Panda project was well-prepared for the final stages of execution. Creating a pre-vis animation proved invaluable, as it allowed me to test motion, timing, and the overall flow of each tier in a real-world context. This step not only identified potential challenges early but also ensured that every detail, from the panda’s gliding movements to the dynamic background elements, aligned with the intended user experience. Pre-vis acted as a bridge between concept and final delivery, providing a clear vision that could be easily communicated to stakeholders or production teams. By following this process, I was able to cross the finish line with a cohesive and polished set of animated virtual gifts that encapsulated TikTok’s creative and engaging spirit.
The Paragliding Panda virtual gift was designed to deliver a memorable, emotionally resonant experience that celebrates the journey of creators and their audiences. By combining storytelling, scalability, and TikTok’s modern, playful aesthetic, I’ve crafted a concept that is engaging, visually appealing, and purpose-driven across all three tiers.
This project reflects not only my creative vision but also my ability to think strategically about audience engagement, design scalability, and team collaboration. As the Creative Lead, I guided this concept further with animators, illustrators, and developers to fully realize and align it seamlessly with TikTok’s standards.