Kraft Mac & Cheese:
Help Yourself Campaign
Defining a Dynamic Visual World
Creative Director / Oversight of Character IP, Animation Strategy, and Asset Standardization
Client: Johannes Leonardo, Kraft Mac & Cheese
Design Philosophy Everything starts with the noodle—our hero visual that drives the entire story. We designed characters to feel "noodly," capturing the essence of movement, flexibility, freedom, and pure vibrancy.
Our Goal Create a radically accepting space where everyone feels welcome. Through imaginative movement and dance, our animations celebrate confidence, joy, and the simple pleasure of feeding yourself well. Every character move hits our sweet spot: bright, cheeky, and wonderfully inviting.
We built our "NOODLY" characters around these playful principles
Shape & Form — Characters mirror macaroni geometry in delightfully unexpected ways. Think vibrant, quirky, and totally pasta-inspired.
Expressive Mouths — Every character gets a signature "noodly mouth" that does double duty: showing pure joy and actually eating (important!).
Character Pairs — When characters hang out together, they share visual traits for balance. If one has eyes, the other gets eyes or glasses—they're visual buddies.
Animation Magic — We amp up the noodliness in motion with extra-stretchy arms and feet. All that squash-and-stretch brings our pasta people to life with both logic and creative flair.
