“That Close” Music Activation

Every day, people send more than 2.4 billion messages with emojis on Messenger. Emojis add color and vibrancy to Messenger chats all over the world, and we rely on them to say what words can’t. Now imagine if your emojis could talk, what sound would they make? Introducing Messenger’s latest expression tool: Soundmojis.

So, what is a Soundmoji? It’s a next-level emoji that lets you send short sound clips in a Messenger chat, ranging from clapping 👏, crickets 🦗,drumroll 🥁, and evil laughter 👻, to audio clips from your favorite artists like Rebecca Black and your favorite TV shows and movies like Universal Pictures’ F9, NBC and Universal Television’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Netflix and Shondaland’s Bridgerton. “Ah, the drama of it all.”

To announce limited-edition soundmojis and an extension of the “That Close” campaign the Messenger team created an exclusive virtual performance by creators and real-life friends Steve Aoki and Travis Barker, and a sticker pack capturing moments from the performance.

My role was direct, manage and drive the visual system ( broadcast kit) for delivery of the virtual performance. As well as oversee the sticker pack creates to make sure it creates a holistic visual experiences with all the assets. I worked in partnership with the art director & copywriter on the project who oversaw the edit of the music performance.

+ CLIENT - MESSENGER
+ AGENCY - Scholar
+ ROLE - Design Lead

The Approach

The looks and feel guidance I have Scholar was to have it had to feel like a natural extension of the Messenger Campaign visual systems, especially the fluid movement, and the brutalistic big type posters. I did a lot of research on Steve Aoki and Travis Barker visual aesthetic to make sure it reflected their uniques styles. As they had to approve the visual concepts, which they did immediately.

Messenger Motion Principles

We use motion to add energy and dynamism to our brand. It brings to life the fluid, responsive ways our community interacts on Messenger – and the closeness and connection it facilitates.

Brutalism References:

Visual Toolkit:

Sticker Pack

Sticker pack in-product to announce the Music Activation to be watched on Facebook Watch and to nod to the soundmoji. Available on Facebook sticker store.

The Process:

My role was to provide a brief on the visual style to be used for the sticker packs. Knowing Steves love of cyberpunk it was an easy choice, one he and Travis quickly approved. I also worked with our internal Messenger in-product team to get identity stickers best practices to be used for this project. Being such a fast moving project I prioritized brutal transparency by sharing every round sticker delivery with the product team to get approval.

Stylistic options:

Initial Concept Sketches:

I created a list of concepts to be shared with Steve and Travis team for approval before they were animated. Scholar created rough sketches of each concept.