Electronic Arts
- Design System
- Campaign Creative
- Campaign Toolkit
- Motion Graphics
- Packaging Line Look
The Sims Says Sul Sul to Gen Z
The Process
Our long-standing partners and friends at The Sims asked us to help them reach the next generation of players.
They knew Gen Z wanted more bite-sized, cheaper, shareable, and on-trend content, so we created a fresh approach to storytelling and visual design with Kits.
We developed a new, social media first approach to art creation that optimized production of motion and dynamic content. Instead of encountering the game art for the first time on the packaging—whether in retail or a digital storefront—players learned about Kits through social content.
We crafted a comprehensive system—including typography, color, and graphic elements—designed to evolve with the brand over time and optimized to support monthly content drops. We wanted to allow for maximum flexibility and the fast (and continual) release of fresh content.
Working collaboratively, we created key art for six Kits, motion assets, corresponding brand identities, and style guides — as well as cultural insights and activation ideas to engage The Sims audience in a variety of ways.
A key insight that guided our work: Gen Z players love to feel empowered as creators. We positioned Kits as a fun, of-the-moment tool for self expression.
Shifting Focus
The draw of The Sims base game has always been rich character creation and the customization that comes along with it. Kits shifted the focus to the items Sims use to storytell and personalize their worlds, unlocking additional gameplay and making each player’s experience feel unique.
This presented a fun creative challenge. Our solution utilized aspects of the classic Sims visual language to ground players in the familiar while introducing them to something wholly new: each fresh, snackable, and playful Kit of parts.
The design system for Kits highlights each item in a snackable and immediate way.
We needed a robust system capable of delivering a dynamic new look, customizable to each Kit, so we designed a 3D studio environment where we could easily move cameras and objects to swiftly iterate on compositional makeup. This generated compelling, quick-to-grasp motion content for social and email channels.
Skylight thoughtfully approaches each project from a strategic mindset, incorporating unique selling points, marketing moments, and proper tone into multiple concepts for discussion that all hit the mark in
different ways.